Fresh & Easy to Buy Two Suppliers

MARK HAMSTRA

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market here Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire the California operations of two of its fresh-product suppliers that had come over from the U.K. with the Tesco-owned chain.

The suppliers — 2 Sisters and Wild Rocket Foods — both have operations near the Fresh & Easy distribution center in Riverside, Calif., a spokesman for Fresh & Easy told SN. 2 Sisters purchases meat, fish and poultry, and Wild Rocket purchases produce for the Fresh & Easy warehouse. The chain said it planned to retain all 750 employees of the two operations.

The acquisitions will help the chain better serve its expanding “Kitchen” operation of prepared foods, Brendan Wonnacott, the Fresh & Easy spokesman, told SN.

“We are expanding our Kitchen concept after sales have exceeded all targets despite having fewer stores than we originally planned,” he said.

The moves will also help launch a “global sourcing hub” in California for acquiring product from California to supply Tesco’s far-flung operations, Wonnacott told SN.

Terms of the acquisitions were not disclosed.

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