Merchants Foodservice

The Merchants Company, which does business as Merchants Foodservice, is a leading foodservice supplier that serves more than 6,000 customers in 10 Southeastern states. From a handful of distribution warehouses in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, the company supplies a wide range of food and non-food items to restaurants, hospitals, schools, and other foodservice operations. The company was founded in 1904 as Fain Grocery Co., a wholesale grocery distributor, and changed its name to Merchants Company in 1927. It began focusing on foodservice distribution in 1982 and was acquired by family owned holding company Tatum Development in 1988.

The company's Sunrise Fresh Produce subsidiary acquired a 47,000-sq.-ft. produce distribution center in 2012, renaming it Sunrise Fresh Produce of Jacksonville, Florida. The climate-controlled warehouse represents the subsidiary's second produce distribution center.