SpartanNash acquires Fresh Encounter Inc.

Distributor and retailer SpartanNash is expanding its retail operations with the acquisition of Fresh Encounter Inc., a 49-store supermarket chain with stores in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. 

Owned by third-generation grocers Michael Needler Jr. and Julie Anderson, Fresh Encounter has been a food distribution customer of SpartanNash for 58 years. SpartanNash will continue employment for the company’s 2,500 employees.

“This acquisition is an exciting milestone in our company’s strategic growth plans,” said SpartanNash CEO Tony Sarsam in a press release. “Not only will we welcome 2,500 new Associates to the SpartanNash family, we will also begin serving shoppers in Kentucky and grow our existing footprint across Ohio and Indiana.”

The acquisition expands SpartanNash’s retail footprint by 33% and is the company’s second retail acquisition in 2024, following the addition of the three-store chain Metcalfe’s Market in April. 

Fresh Encounter operates under the retail store banners Community Markets, Remke Markets, Chief Markets, and Needler’s Fresh Market. The transaction is expected to close in late November, subject to closing conditions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. New York City-based investment banking company Solomon Partners served as the financial advisor to Fresh Encounter on the sale.

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SpartanNash operates two complementary business segments – food wholesale and grocery retail. On the retail side, SpartanNash operates 147 brick-and-mortar grocery stores, primarily under the banners of Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets, and D&W Fresh Market, in addition to dozens of pharmacies and fuel centers.