Bunzl Acquires Joshen Paper & Packaging

Bunzl has acquired Joshen Paper & Packaging to enhance its supplies and disposables side of its business.

Joshen—which distributes into several segments, including grocery, foodservice, convenience, retail and janitorial sanitation—was founded in 1988 by President Bob Reiner and CEO Michelle Reiner in Cleveland to service a single local supermarket chain with packaging supplies. Company officials cite superior customer service and deep industry relationships as keys to enabling Joshen to grow substantially to now include locations in 11 states and customers across the country.

“We are proud to join Bunzl to help Joshen expand our growth and service profile, leveraging Bunzl’s scale and footprint,” Reiner said in a statement. “The people of Bunzl are very professional and are dedicated to servicing our customers and improving the business. For us now, being with a worldwide leader in value added distribution is great.”

Reiner will continue as an executive adviser to Bunzl, which delivers value-added distribution services and industry leading category management programs to customers in the grocery, foodservice, food processor, retail, c-store, safety and agricultural industries.

In welcoming Joshen’s 450 employees to his organization’s family, Derek Goodin, division president of St. Louis-based Bunzl, said he “looks forward to embracing and growing with their important customer base that Bob and team have cultivated over the years.”