Advantage Solutions Sells Foodservice Businesses

Tech-driven sales and marketing company focuses on brands and retail services

2/2/2024

Advantage Solutions is streamlining its businesses to zero in on services for grocers and brands, such as shelf optimization.

Sales and marketing firm Advantage Solutions, Inc. has spun off its foodservice businesses, focusing on its retail and brand solutions and future growth. The Irvine, Calif.-based company sold its collection of restaurant and hospitality services to Prospect Hill Growth Partners, LP for approximately $100 million.

The new owner will integrate those units, including Waypoint, Marlin Connections, Primeline, CSSI, Ettros, Halverson Group and Coleman and Greear & Associates, into its KeyImpact Sales and Systems, Inc. portfolio to form a group called Acxion Foodservice. Advantage Solutions will be have a stake in that expanded foodservice solutions company and have a seat on its board of directors.

The sale allows Advantage to streamline its offerings while maintaining complementary connections. “While we continue to see growth potential in the foodservice category, we believe that our clients are best served when we focus on our core retail capabilities while partnering to compete in adjacent segments,” explained CEO Dave Peacock.

In addition to that structural move, Advantage is entering into two separate agreements with third-party tech companies to enhance business functions. One new partner is Genpact, which will deploy its AI-powered technology and process expertise to build a custom digital platform for Advantage to automate back-office processes. Advantage is also collaborating with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to modernize its IT services.

“Both initiatives with these world-class providers will make Advantage stronger, more nimble, more competitive and better enable us to drive our clients’ and our customers’ businesses,” declared Peacock.

While making changes to its operations, Advantage continues to provide brands and retailers with tech-enabled insights to grow their own businesses. In late January, the company shared insights from its executives on notable retail trends as 2024 gets underway, including seamless shopping experiences enabled by AI, the continued growth of store brands, and the pivotal need to minimize out-of-stocks, among others.

Ongoing market volatility will likely continue, too, and lead to a widening of the omnichannel. “Until there are meaningful declines in macroeconomic pressures, ‘everyday consumers’ across the U.S. will continue to struggle to make ends meet and fall well short of accelerating any retirement plans,” observed Andrea Young, COO, experiential services at Advantage Solutions. “As a result, consumers will switch from prestige, premium, mass and ‘mass-tige’ channels and seek out warehouse, direct-to-consumer and value channels and brands more than ever before.”