GrubMarket Expanding to St. Louis
Food tech and e-commerce startup GrubMarket has wrapped up its latest acquisition, that of Vaccaro & Sons, a produce and dairy provider to local grocery stores, caterers, country clubs, restaurants, schools and elder care facilities in St. Louis. The acquisition marks Grubmarket’s expansion into yet another market.
Founded in 1982, Vaccaro & Sons is the second-biggest produce provider of the St. Louis region. During the pandemic, the company grew significantly and provided essential food delivery service to businesses and communities in the area. This past January, it acquired Adolph & Ceresia Produce Co. to accelerate its market expansion. Following its acquisition by GrubMarket, the business will still be managed by its current leadership team, Dale Vaccaro, Dean Vaccaro and Rick Massey.
“We are excited to join the GrubMarket network and welcome the new growth opportunities that GrubMarket's technology and platform bring,” said Vaccaro & Sons CEO Dale Vaccaro. “We are constantly striving for the best customer service and committed to meet the varied needs of all our customers. We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares this same mission of supporting growers and serving customers with the highest standard. We sincerely look forward to joining the GrubMarket team and taking Vaccaro & Sons to the next level of success.”
“Vaccaro & Sons is known in the St. Louis area for its commitment to quality and exceptional service,” said Mike Xu, CEO of San Francisco-based GrubMarket. “The team is a true value-added partner who brings creative solutions to customers and producers. This acquisition puts GrubMarket on a path to further expand to the vital food supply chain corridor of the Midwest. We are motivated to leverage our network and software technology to support the food supply chain ecosystem of the Midwest and explore new ways of creating opportunities for the heartland. We are excited to welcome the Vaccaro & Sons team to the GrubMarket family as we further strengthen our position across the country. Together, we will build a greater customer base and a stronger producer network in the food ecosystem nationwide.”
Further, Vaccaro & Sons will be able to make use of GrubMarket's proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, a software-as-a-service platform offering food industry suppliers and vendors seamless financial management, easy-to-use online ordering and sales, precise inventory management and engaging CRM tools.
GrubMarket currently operates in California, Washington state, Texas, Michigan, New York, Missouri and Massachusetts, with plans to expand to other parts of the country. Earlier this year, the company revealed that it had secured $90 million in 2020 in new funding to drive a growth strategy that Xu believes could someday result in annual sales of $100 billion.
