Byron Center-based food distribution and grocery retailer SpartanNash Co. is expanding in Wisconsin with the purchase of three Metcalfe’s Market locations.
The small, family-owned grocery chain with locations in Madison and Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee, focuses on locally sourced products, including freshly baked goods from 20 local Wisconsin bakeries and local and organically grown produce. The stores also offer a “Food Miles” program, which tracks the distance products travel to reach Metcalfe’s shelves.
Additionally, the grocer offers an in-store bakery and a deli featuring more than 500 varieties of artisan cheeses.
Metcalfe’s Market has been a Wisconsin staple for more than 100 years, founded in 1917 by Henry and Teresa Hess.
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SpartanNash purchased the company from its fourth-generation owners, Tim and Kevin Metcalfe, who will remain with the company.
“Metcalfe’s Market has been a successful family-owned and operated business for four generations, and we are honored that the Metcalfe family is entrusting SpartanNash to build upon their legacy and bring new offerings to its team members and grocery shoppers,” SpartanNash CEO Tony Sarsam said in a statement.
Following the transaction, which is expected to close this spring, all 500 of Metcalfe’s employees will join SpartanNash.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As well, the Metcalfe’s Market storefront and branding will remain in place, a similar tactic SpartanNash took when it acquired Forest Hills Foods in Grand Rapids Township and Martin’s Super Markets, which has stores in Indiana and Southwest Michigan.
“We are incredibly grateful for the support of our communities for more than a century, and we are confident that with SpartanNash, guests at Metcalfe’s Market will continue to enjoy the same high level of service, quality and variety of products they have come to expect here at Metcalfe’s,” Metcalfe’s Market co-owner Tim Metcalfe said in a statement. “SpartanNash has the same commitment to quality and community that Metcalfe’s has been known for over the past four generations.”
With the acquisition, SpartanNash’s Wisconsin footprint will expand to seven stores.
The company currently distributes in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Djibouti, Korea and Japan. SpartanNash also operates 144 supermarkets under the Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets and D&W Fresh Market banners.
SpartanNash Co. (Nasdaq: SPTN) generated net sales of $9.73 billion for the 2023 fiscal year, an increase of 0.9%. The company reported earnings of $52.2 million for the year, up from $34.5 million in 2022.
In the company’s most recent earnings call, Sarsam told brokerage analysts that SpartanNash’s 2024 strategy included “actively … evaluating opportunities in the M&A space,” particularly for tuck-in acquisitions of retail operations.
SpartanNash CFO Jason Monaco said in the call that company is beginning to focus more on M&A as part of its growth strategy after completing some “internal house cleaning” in recent years.
“I think about these as pretty small acquisitions that build scale in margin, but really represent a relatively small contribution to company performance,” Monaco said. “These are things that fit in our geographies, fit in our footprint and are synergistic to what we do.”
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