Food service giant Sysco acquires Holtsville company

Sysco Corp., a food distributor with annual revenue of more than $60 billion, has acquired J. Kings Food Service Professionals, a 45-year-old Holtsville company.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

J. Kings, founded by chief customer officer John King, primarily serves independent restaurants in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and has annual sales of about $150 million, according to a Sysco news release. 

Sysco has a facility in Central Islip and upstate locations in Warners and Halfmoon, according to the company website.

In announcing the deal on Monday, Sysco said King and other senior executives will "continue to manage the business."

Privately held J. Kings has a 125,000-square-foot facility in Holtsville, about 300 employees and more than 80 vehicles tracked by GPS, according to its website.

“As Sysco continues to focus on M&A as part of our strategic growth plan, we believe J. Kings, with its strong local presence, combined with Sysco’s scale and depth, will provide our customers with even more of what they need to be successful in the competitive New York area market,” Greg Bertrand, Sysco's executive vice president, U.S. food service operations, said in the statement.

Executives at J. Kings and Sysco did not respond to requests for further comment.

On Monday, Sysco reported sales for the quarter ended June 29 of $15.5 billion, a 1 percent increase compared to the previous year's period. Net income rose 19.3 percent to $535.8 million.

In addition to its U.S. food service business, Sysco, with more than 69,000 employees, operates in Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, the Bahamas and Europe.

Shares of Sysco fell 1.5 percent to close Wednesday at $72.28 amid a downturn in U.S. stock markets.

By Ken Schachter

kenneth.schachter@newsday.comkschach

Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.