Thursday, November 19, 2009
Salem U.S. Foodservice plant takes up slack
U.S. Foodservice will close its Virginia Beach facility and serve customers from Salem.
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One community's loss can be another's gain.
But it is not yet clear how U.S. Foodservice's closing of a Virginia Beach distribution center will affect the food wholesaler's Roanoke division operations in Salem.
Illinois-based U.S. Foodservice announced Monday plans to close its Virginia Beach facility by the end of January. About 206 workers there will lose their jobs, although some might accept transfer offers, according to the company.
The announcement reported that U.S. Foodservice will serve the Virginia Beach customer base from "larger, more modern facilities in Roanoke and Raleigh."
Company spokeswoman Christina Koliopoulos said Wednesday that effects on the Roanoke/Salem distribution center's employment will not be known "until after the transition of business is made." The Salem operation has about 425 employees, she said.
Koliopoulos said the company decided to consolidate operations to increase distribution efficiencies. A company statement described a long-term program of capital investment in "strategically situated" distribution centers that include the Roanoke division, which is close to Interstate 81. The small Virginia Beach center "did not allow for expansion," she said.
The larger Raleigh, N.C., and Roanoke centers allow the stocking of about 3,500 additional products for customers, she said.
U.S. Foodservice's customers include, among others, neighborhood restaurants, hospitals, schools, colleges and universities, and hotels.
Many restaurants, like other businesses, have suffered during the recession. The National Restaurant Association reported Oct. 30 that restaurant sales remain soft and that the association's latest research suggests that "the restaurant industry's recovery has yet to fully gain traction."
But Koliopoulos said the restaurant industry's woes were not a factor in the decision to consolidate operations.
The Roanoke/Salem distribution center traces its roots back to the mid-1950s, the Roanoke Restaurant Service and a franchise to sell Maxwell House coffee.
The business has changed hands several times in the past 20 years. Royal Ahold, a Dutch company, was an owner earlier this decade, but in 2007 two private equity firms acquired U.S. Foodservice.
