Lipari Foods Acquires Wholey's Wholesale
WARREN, Mich. - Lipari Foods, Inc. based has inked a deal to acquire the wholesale operations of Pittsburgh-based Robert Wholey & Co., a leading provider of seafood, meat and poultry for supermarkets and foodservice accounts throughout Western Pa., West Virginia, and northeast Ohio.
Lipari Foods, which currently operates a distribution arm in nine states, is a privately held specialty foods distributor that provides deli, bakery, specialty grocery, confections, and packaging products to over 4,000 customers throughout the Midwest.
"Given an increasingly competitive wholesale food distribution market, our family believes that the acquisition by Lipari Foods will offer more value to our customers and leverage our respective product expertise in a much greater geographic area," said Jim Wholey, president of Robert Wholey & Co. "Our current wholesale customers will have access to Lipari's much deeper and varied product offerings."
Wholey added that Lipari will retain the majority of the present staff in Pittsburgh.
Lipari officials said while they plan to integrate warehouse and office services, which will result in combining some redundant positions, they expect to ultimately add new jobs in Pittsburgh as the business expands.
The Wholey family will continue to own and operate their renowned retail market on Penn Avenue in the Strip District and will continue to focus on high quality seafood, meat and poultry.
"Both Wholey and Lipari Foods have earned excellent reputations with our customers," said Thom Lipari, Lipari Foods' president/c.e.o. "We believe that the synergy of these two companies will significantly benefit all of our customers in our respective markets."
Lipari Foods, which currently operates a distribution arm in nine states, is a privately held specialty foods distributor that provides deli, bakery, specialty grocery, confections, and packaging products to over 4,000 customers throughout the Midwest.
"Given an increasingly competitive wholesale food distribution market, our family believes that the acquisition by Lipari Foods will offer more value to our customers and leverage our respective product expertise in a much greater geographic area," said Jim Wholey, president of Robert Wholey & Co. "Our current wholesale customers will have access to Lipari's much deeper and varied product offerings."
Wholey added that Lipari will retain the majority of the present staff in Pittsburgh.
Lipari officials said while they plan to integrate warehouse and office services, which will result in combining some redundant positions, they expect to ultimately add new jobs in Pittsburgh as the business expands.
The Wholey family will continue to own and operate their renowned retail market on Penn Avenue in the Strip District and will continue to focus on high quality seafood, meat and poultry.
"Both Wholey and Lipari Foods have earned excellent reputations with our customers," said Thom Lipari, Lipari Foods' president/c.e.o. "We believe that the synergy of these two companies will significantly benefit all of our customers in our respective markets."