GrubMarket Makes 4th Acquisition in New York

L&J Produce enables food tech company to reach $100M of annual run rate revenue in state

8/17/2021

Newly acquired L&J Produce is a key sourcing channel for fruits and vegetables in the New York metro area.

GrubMarket continues to grow its nationwide food supply chain presence with the acquisition of New York wholesaler L&J Produce. L&J is a key sourcing channel for fruits and vegetables in the New York metro area, and has deep relationships with domestic farms in New England, Florida and California. The company works with many customers in New York, ranging from supermarkets to restaurants and e-grocers.

This latest acquisition marks the fourth for GrubMarket in the state of New York. Amid its produce acquisitions in the state was Terminal Produce, a wholesale provider of high-quality fruits, vegetables and seafood to a wide variety of businesses throughout the greater New York area.

Founded in 2014, GrubMarket is a San Francisco-based food technology company operating in the space of food e-commerce both to businesses and to consumers, as well as providing related software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to solve inefficiencies in the American food supply chain.

"This acquisition enables GrubMarket to reach $100 million of annual run rate revenue in New York, and further strengthen its producer relationships in the New York metro area in many categories,” said Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket. “We are excited to welcome the L&J Produce team to the GrubMarket family. Together, we will build a greater customer base and a stronger digital producer network in the food ecosystem of New York and nationwide. We also look forward to working with the L&J Produce team to digitally transform their business and operations via our best-in-class software solutions."

The wholesaler will now be able to use GrubMarket's proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, the company's SaaS platform providing food industry suppliers and vendors with financial management, easy-to-use online ordering and sales, inventory management, and CRM tools.

"We are excited to join the GrubMarket family and embrace the new growth opportunities that GrubMarket's software technology and business network can offer," noted Joanne Chu, general manager of Brooklyn-based L&J. "We look forward to joining GrubMarket's technology-enabled e-commerce platform and supplier network. Together, we aim to take L&J Produce to the next level of success."

L&J was founded in 2010 and supplies a wide range of produce, including local seasonal fruits, tropical fruits and Asian vegetables. After the acquisition, L&J will continue to be managed by its current leadership team.

GrubMarket has been on a roll this year with its acquisitions in the produce sector. Just a few weeks ago, it revealed its acquisition of West Coast wholesaler Grant J. Hunt Co. The ultimate goal is that GrubMarket eventually grows to more than $100 billion in annual sales, with an initial public offering in the near future, as recently mentioned by Xu in an interview with Produce Blue Book.

Currently, GrubMarket operates in California, Washington, Texas, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Massachusetts, Oregon and Arizona, with plans to expand to other parts of the country.