The Sysco-Jetro Question: Is Structural Antitrust Coming to Food Distribution?

[Luis Gonzalez]

The Sysco-Jetro Question: Is Structural Antitrust Coming to Food Distribution?
The legal theory now being tested in the Paramount-Warner merger could reshape how regulators evaluate competition in America’s foodservice supply chain.

The Last Wire

I spent more than 30 years in foodservice distribution. It wasn't just my career. It was the business that put food on my family's table and taught me how America's restaurant supply chain really works.

I've called on independent restaurants, hospitals, schools, and institutions. I've competed against broadline distributors, warehouse clubs, cash-and-carry operators, and specialty suppliers. I've watched the industry evolve through consolidation after consolidation.

That's why the proposed Sysco-Restaurant Depot deal caught my attention.

This isn't about rooting for or against one company. Sysco is a great company, and Restaurant Depot filled an important niche for independent operators. My concern is what happens when two very different ways of serving the market become one.

Competition isn't just about today's prices. It's about preserving choices tomorrow.

In my latest article, I examine whether this merger represents more than another acquisition. I ask whether it changes the structure of the food distribution industry in ways that deserve serious antitrust scrutiny.

Whether you agree with my conclusions or not, I'd appreciate your thoughts. Many of us built careers in this business, and we've watched it change dramatically over the last few decades.

Read the article at The Last Wire

If you've ever worked in foodservice, owned a restaurant, or sold into this industry, I'd be interested in hearing your perspective.

[Cyber Liberty]

You've written about this before, and I have great respect for your learned perspective on this topic!  This would be a good submission to the Thinker!  Nobody there has ever written about this....

[Luis Gonzalez]

You've written about this before, and I have great respect for your learned perspective on this topic!  This would be a good submission to the Thinker!  Nobody there has ever written about this....

This is something they’d publish?

[Cyber Liberty]

This is something they’d publish?

Nobody that I can recall has ever written about food distribution.  It's virgin territory.

[Luis Gonzalez]

You've written about this before, and I have great respect for your learned perspective on this topic!  This would be a good submission to the Thinker!  Nobody there has ever written about this....

I wrote about it when they announced the merger/buy. I recalled how the Courts intervened when Sysco tried purchasing USFoods, so I started digging into the case files, and any articles.

Now, the Courts have temporarily stopped an announced merger between Paramount and Discovery+, while they investigate the notion of structural antitrust, which was my argument in the original pieces.

That appears to back my analysis.