GrubMarket strengthens connection to California farms with latest acquisition
GrubMarket, a San Francisco-based food technology company, has completed the acquisition of Daylight Foods of Union City, Calif. A foodservice provider of produce, dairy, specialty items, dry goods and more, Daylight works with farms throughout California to provide fresh food to a diverse customer base, including restaurants; grocery and retail chains; corporate offices and cafeterias; hotels; and universities.
“We are excited to join the GrubMarket team and welcome the opportunities brought forth by joining GrubMarket,” Chris Vlahopouliotis, CEO of Daylight Foods, said in a release. “We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares our long-term goals and has built out such a well-integrated and much-needed e-commerce and technology-enabled platform to bring fresh food to so many people across the country. We sincerely look forward to joining the GrubMarket team and bringing more premium and farmer-direct fresh food to our customers.”
Founded nearly 50 years ago by original owner Bob Vlahopouliotis, Daylight Foods is now run by his son, Chris Vlahopouliotis, who became president of the company in 2003.
Daylight Foods is a full-service food wholesale and delivery business with a more than 100,000-square-foot warehouse that includes processing rooms, coolers, repacking areas and loading docks.
“Daylight Foods’ reputation in California’s farmer-direct food supply chain ecosystem is unmatched,” GrubMarket CEO Mike Xu said in the release. “It has been incredible to see how the business has grown with over 50 years of hard work and passion. Chris and the outstanding team at Daylight Foods have scaled the company to hundreds of millions in sales with high gross margins and profitability. In addition, they are mission-driven with strong ESG practices around food waste and carbon footprint reduction, which aligns with our sustainability goals.
“This acquisition enables GrubMarket to further strengthen our customer base across the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California,” Xu continued. “We are excited to welcome the Daylight Foods team to the GrubMarket family.”
In addition to conventional items, Daylight Foods sources seasonal, organic and locally grown produce and deploys eco-friendly, hybrid, diesel-electric delivery trucks, says the company.
In 2021, Daylight Foods packed and delivered several million USDA Farmers to Families food boxes to households and homeless shelters across the San Francisco Bay Area. After the acquisition, the business will continue to be managed by its current experienced and mission-driven leadership team, said the companies.
As a part of GrubMarket’s portfolio, Daylight Foods will now use GrubMarket’s proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, the company’s software-as-a-service platform that provides food industry wholesalers and distributors with financial and inventory management, easy-to-use sales and online ordering features that include lot traceability and tracking, grower accounting, and automated routing and logistics tools, according to the release.
Founded in 2014, GrubMarket operates in the space of food supply chain e-commerce for both business customers and end-consumers, and provides related software-as-a-service solutions. Currently, GrubMarket operates in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and British Columbia, Canada.
