The Charles C. Parks Company is a grocery distributor that primarily supplies convenience stores in more than half a dozen Southern states. It distributes a variety of food items and dry goods, as well as beverages, cigarettes, candy, and general merchandise. The company also offers support programs for in-store delis and other quick-service food operations. Carl C. Parks, Jr., started the family-run business in 1934.

Tamro is one of the top wholesalers and distributors of pharmaceuticals in Northern Europe, claiming a 54% market share in Nordic countries. Customers include hospitals, clinics, physician offices, and pharmacies. In addition to its 20 distribution centers in eight countries, the company has retail pharmacies in Estonia (as Apteek 1), Lativa (under the Gimenes Aptieka name), Lithuania (as Seimos Vaistine), Poland, and Norway (through Apokjeden Group). Tamro Corporation also operates in Russia through its 42% ownership of wholesaler ZAO Rosta. Tamro is owned by German drug distributor PHOENIX Pharmahandel.

Sherwood Food Distributors,a large independent food wholesale distributor, the company ships more than 16 million pounds of food a week to grocery retailers and wholesalers and foodservice operators in the Midwest and southeastern US. It carries beef, pork, lamb, veal, poultry, and seafood, along with dairy, bakery, deli, cleaning products and more. Sherwood boasts 5,000 customers and five distribution centers in Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Miami, and Walton, Kentucky. It operates a fleet of some 250 trucks. Sherwood Food Distributors was formed in 1987 through the merger of the food distribution operations of Orleans International and Regal Packaging.

Celesio likes being a middleman when it comes to pharmaceuticals. The company is one of Europe's largest drug wholesalers, holding market-leading positions in several of the countries it serves. Its largest wholesale markets are France, Germany, and the UK. In addition to more than 140 wholesale distribution branches, Celesio owns retail chains consisting of 2,300 pharmacies in Europe, including Norway, Italy, and the UK. The company also offers marketing, logistics, and transportation solutions to pharmaceutical manufacturers through its manufacturer solutions division (and its Movianto and pharmexx units). German conglomerate Franz Haniel & Cie. owns a majority stake in Celesio, which was founded in 1835.

Founded in 1992 as an industrial, oil, and food products supplier, ITERA moved into gas markets in 1994. ITERA had interests in chemicals, construction, finance, insurance, securities, and agriculture, but shed most of these to focus on gas production and marketing. ITERA Group Ltd. company has teamed up with Gazprom to develop infrastructure to deliver gas condensate from production sites. Executives, including CEO Igor Makarov, control ITERA Group Ltd. company. Rags to riches -- Russian style. ITERA Group, Russia's largest private gas trader, delivers natural gas via pipeline to several former Soviet republics. It also produces natural gas in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region in Western Siberia.

Omnicare, Inc., a pharmaceutical services company, provides pharmaceuticals and related pharmacy and ancillary services to long-term healthcare institutions. Its Pharmacy Services segment distributes pharmaceuticals and provides related pharmacy consulting and other ancillary services, data management services, and medical supplies to skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, retirement centers, independent living communities, hospitals, hospice, and other healthcare service providers. It purchases, repackages, and dispenses prescription and non prescription pharmaceuticals; provides computerized medical record-keeping and third-party billing services; and offers consultant pharmacist services. This segment also provides intravenous medications and nutrition products, respiratory therapy services, medical supplies and equipment, clinical care planning and financial software information systems, electronic medical records systems, pharmaceutical informatics services, retail and mail-order pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care management for hospice agencies, and product support and distribution services for specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as offers pharmaceutical case management services for retirees, employees, and dependents who have drug benefits under corporate-sponsored healthcare programs. As of December 31, 2009, it served long-term care facilities, and chronic care and other settings comprising approximately 1,377,000 beds in 47 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The company’s Contract Research Organization Services segment offers product development and research services to client companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostics industries, as well as provides support for the design of regulatory strategy and clinical development of pharmaceuticals for its client’s drug development programs. Omnicare, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is based in Covington, Kentucky.

A.F. Blakemore and Son (AFB) is a leading wholesale grocery distributor that serves more than 700 SPAR convenience stores in England and Wales. It also operates more than 200 of the chain stores through its Tates subsidiary. In addition to its broadline grocery distribution business, AFB supplies foodservice operators through its Blakemore Food Service unit, and it operates about 10 cash & carry outlets through Blackmore Wholesale. The company's Blakemore Fresh Foods unit distributes meat products throughout Europe. The family-owned business was started by Arthur Blakemore in 1917.

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.

Kendall Frozen Fruits is an industrial food brokerage company specializing in the marketing and sale of concentrated, dried, frozen, powdered, and pureed conventional and organic fruit and vegetable products. Offerings range from the common, such as apples, bananas, oranges, to the more exotic, including acai berries, lingonberries, and rose hips. The Beverly Hills, California-based company represents food manufacturers in the US and abroad. It was founded in 1939 by Mort Kendall and is now owned and operated by Mort's daughter, Susan Kendall.

Wham! Frozen Foods is a wholesale food distributor that specializes in close-out and discontinued products. It acquires goods from manufacturers around the world and distributes the discounted items primarily to dollar stores, food banks, and thrift stores. The company makes it a point that it does not supply traditional retail chains. Company president Jon Auspitz started the business in 1993.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.