Associated Grocers of Maine is a member-owned grocery wholesale distributor that serves about 300 independent retail grocers throughout Maine and New Hampshire, and in parts of Massachusetts. It delivers brand name and private label products, including bakery goods, deli and meat products, and a wide range of fresh produce. It also provides services such as advertising, accounting, information systems, insurance, marketing, procurement and warehousing for its customers. Associated Grocers of Maine was founded by a group of retailers in 1953.

Wakefern Food is the largest member-owned wholesale distribution cooperative in the US, supplying groceries and other merchandise to a chain of more than 200 ShopRite supermarkets in five eastern states, including parts of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The company supplies both national brands and private-label products (ShopRite, Chef's Express, Readington Farms) to its member stores; Wakefern also offers advertising, merchandising, and other business support services. The co-op, which boasts more than 40 members, was founded by seven grocers in 1946.

Associated Wholesalers is a retailer-owned cooperative that supplies an array of food and nonfood products to independent grocers and convenience stores along the eastern seaboard. From distribution centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, it offers broadline grocery products, bakery goods, meat and dairy items, fresh produce, and frozen foods, as well as a full line of general merchandise products. The company's White Rose Foods unit serves supermarkets and grocers in the New York City area, New Jersey, and throughout New England. Associated Wholesalers also operates about 15 supermarkets, mostly under the Shurfine Markets banner.

Certco is a food distribution cooperative that serves independent grocers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and in parts of Iowa and Illinois. It distributes an inventory of more than 45,000 items, including bakery goods, frozen foods, meat products, and produce, as well as general merchandise under the Surefine, Surefresh, and Top Care labels. In addition, Certco offers its member-operators such services as advertising, merchandising, and other business support services. The cooperative was formed in 1930 as Central Wisconsin Cooperative Food Stores.

Colorado Boxed Beef Company is a leading wholesale supplier of fresh and frozen meat with about a half-dozen processing and distribution facilities in the US. The company packs and ships beef, pork, veal, and lamb under such brands as Angus Ranch, Bridgewater Farms, New Generation, and Cedar Creek. Colorado Boxed Beef also supplies cheese, seafood, and other related products. It serves retailers, foodservice suppliers, and restaurant and hospitality operators in the Southeastern US. Its other customers include cruise ship lines and the US military. The family-owned business was founded in 1975 by Richard and Edith Saterbo.

Airgas, Inc.(NYSE: ARG), through its subsidiaries, is the largest U.S. distributor of industrial, medical, and specialty gases and related hardgoods, such as welding supplies. Airgas is also a leading U.S. distributor of safety products, the largest U.S. producer of nitrous oxide and dry ice, the largest liquid carbon dioxide producer in the Southeast, and a leading distributor of process chemicals, refrigerants and ammonia products.Airgas Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Peter McCausland founded the company in 1982. Through approximately 400 acquisitions and internal growth, Airgas has built the largest national distribution network in the packaged gas industry. More than 14,000 employees work in more than 1,100 locations includes branches, cylinder fill plants, production facilities, specialty gas laboratories, and regional distribution centers to serve a diversified customer base. Airgas markets through multiple channels, including its own branches and outside sales force, a Strategic Accounts Team focused on large customers, distributors and resellers, telesales, catalog and eBusiness channels.

Affiliated Foods is a leading wholesale distribution cooperative that supplies more than 700 member grocery stores and restaurants in half a dozen states, including Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. It distributes fresh produce, meat, and non-food products, as well as dairy products and beverages through its Plains Dairy unit. Its Tri State Baking Company supplies bread and other baked goods. In addition, Affiliated Foods owns a stake in private-label products supplier Western Family Foods. The company was founded in 1946 as Panhandle Associated Grocers, which merged with South Plains Associated Grocers to form Affiliated Foods in 1968.

Spartan Stores, Inc. operates as a grocery distributor and grocery retailer principally in Michigan and Indiana. The company operates in two segments, Distribution and Retail. The Distribution segment provides approximately 43,000 stock-keeping units, including dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, deli, bakery, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, pharmacy, and health and beauty care items to approximately 375 independent grocery stores and 96 corporate-owned stores. It also offers approximately 3,200 private label grocery and general merchandise items, as well as provides value-added services, including site identification and market analyses, store planning and development, marketing, promotion, advertising, technology and information, accounting and tax preparation, human resource, coupon redemption, product reclamation, printing, category management, real estate, and construction management services. The Retail segment operates retail supermarkets under the banners comprising Glen's Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, D&W Fresh Markets, Felpausch Food Centers, and VG's Food and Pharmacy. It operates approximately 96 retail supermarkets that offer dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty care products, delicatessen items, and bakery goods; and 66 supermarkets that offer pharmacy services. It also offers private label items, including its Spartan brand; Top Care, a health and beauty care brand label; Valu Time, a value brand; and Full Circle, a natural and organic brand. In addition, this segment operates 24 fuel centers under the banners of D&W Quick Stop, Family Fare Quick Stop, Glen's Quick Stop, Felpausch Quick Stop, and V.G.'s Quick Stop that offer refueling facilities, as well as a convenience store providing consumable products. The company was founded in 1917 and is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Franz Haniel & Cie. is a five-headed hydra. The holding company is comprised of a handful of operating divisions -- Celesio, CWS-boco, ELG, TAKKT, and METRO -- each of which specializes in a different core business. Haniel derives the bulk of its sales from distributing pharmaceuticals to pharmacies worldwide through drug wholesaler Celesio. Its other divisions offer washroom and workwear products and services; stainless steel scrap recycling; mail-order of office and warehouse equipment; and retail store operations. Haniel has operations in some 30 countries. Members of the Haniel family have controlled Franz Haniel and Cie. GmbH company since its founding in 1756.

Central Grocers, Inc.,the member-owned cooperative wholesale food distributor supplies food items and general merchandise to more than 400 independent retail grocery stores in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin. It distributes products under both national brands and its own Centrella brand. The co-op also operates about 30 stores under such banners as Strack & Van Til, Town & Country, Key Market, and the low-cost Ultra Foods chain. Founded in 1917, Central Grocers acquired rival distributor Certified Grocers in 2009.

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