The march towards a single, unified coffee entity continues with yet another merger. S&D Coffee & Tea, “the largest coffee and tea manufacturer and supplier to restaurants and convenience stores in America,” has been acquired by Westrock Coffee for $405 million.
Announced via press release on Friday, January 31st, the acquisition is said to be finalized in the coming weeks, by March 1st per the Independent Tribune. You’d be forgiven if S&D Coffee and Westrock aren’t exactly front-of-mind names in the coffee world a la Starbucks or Peet’s. Both businesses primarily trade in the “retail, restaurant, convenience store, and hospitality industries,” meaning no real retail spaces of their own. But they both are big players in their respective regions: S&D in the East and Westrock just about everywhere else thanks to deals with Walmart, Sam’s Club, and CVS. The newly formed mega-company will employee around 1,700 individuals and has the capability of producing over 200 million pounds of roasted coffee a year.
“This is tremendous news for our company and a validation of the work we’ve been doing for our customers and the growers who support our business,” [Westrock CEO Scott] Ford said in a statement. “It’s going to be great news for Little Rock down the road as we work with our new team members to expand our growth organically and through acquisitions.”
Headquartered in Little Rock, both S&D and Westrock will continue to operate under their current names “for the foreseeable future.” S&D’s Concord, North Carolina-based plant “will continue as a major center of operations with plans to continue expansion of these facilities.” For more information, read the press release on Westrock’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.