Eby-Brown and Core-Mark Are Convenience Store Distributors

Reaching convenience stores can be challenging, and may require reaching out to a broker or buyer who will put you in touch with distributors that serve them.

Make sure your product fits within this niche market’s price point – grocery store margins tend to be much smaller so being competitive will be key!

Eby-Brown Co.

Eby-Brown was established in 1887 and today stands as the third largest wholesale distributor of tobacco, candy and convenience products. Serving more than 20,000 convenience stores across 20 states with services like merchandising, technology and insight to increase sales at convenience retailers; Eby-Brown serves retail shops of various kinds from gas stations and drugstores to grocery stores, liquor stores newspaper stands and schools with more than 100 employees in Naperville Illinois as its headquarters.

This company distributes candies, snacks, beverages, health and beauty aids, general merchandises and tobacco products through eight distribution facilities located throughout the US. Customers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana Illinois Michigan Ohio Pennsylvania Wisconsin receive their products either directly from independent distributors or indirectly via retail chains; their total revenue for fiscal year ending January 2014 totaled an astounding $5.3 billion!

Additionally, in addition to distributing prepackaged candy, snacks, beverages and tobacco products, the company also provides foodservice merchandising solutions. Their foodservice offerings feature both brand name products as well as private label offerings created by their team of experts; plus they have access to an impressive array of beverage and snack items from well-known manufacturers.

Eby-Brown has earned a stellar reputation within the convenience channel for its ability to deliver innovative foodservice programs that create value, according to its chief executive officer. Most recently, they won a leadership award from Convenience Store News’ 2022 Category Captains awards program for comprehensive multi-category management – something many retailer partners have been able to experience by visiting Eby-Brown’s 14,000 square-foot Center of Excellence.

Eby-Brown will enable PFG’s Vistar segment to strategically expand in the convenience store channel where there is significant overlap with suppliers and product categories; additionally, this transaction should close by second quarter 2019.

Eby-Brown Brokers

Eby-Brown Brokers distributes food and other products to convenience stores throughout the United States. The Company supplies candies, tobacco, snacks, sandwiches, health and beauty aids, automotive cleaning supplies, general merchandise as well as automotive maintenance supplies from its eight distribution centers located across Illinois and Indiana.

Eby Brown is a wholesale distributor that has been operating for 123 years, servicing 13,500 convenience store locations in eastern and midwestern states. Their items range from food, candy, tobacco and health and beauty items – as well as innovative merchandising and foodservice solutions – for small convenience stores throughout this region. Eby Brown is owned by Thomas Wake and Richard Wake who serve as co-chief executive officers of their family company.

Eby-Brown recently implemented the SAP Best Practices for Wholesale Distribution solution from ITSmobile and Hitachi Consulting in order to address its warehouse management challenges. This solution ensured tighter integration, increased productivity across all aspects of warehouse operations by providing real-time visibility, accountability and standardization throughout its distribution center network. Eby-Brown was then able to scale its operations using expanded mobile functionality without losing operational control or visibility during its growth trajectory.

22nd Century Group recently established distribution partnerships with two of the nation’s leading convenience store distributors – Core-Mark International and Eby-Brown Company. Through these alliances, VLN will gain nationwide distribution capabilities by using 31 Core-Mark and Eby-Brown warehouses – giving their brand access to thousands of independent c-store retailers as well as chain store retailers across all 50 states.

Eby-Brown Distributor Group

22nd Century Group recently entered into distribution partnerships with Core-Mark International and Eby-Brown Company, two of the country’s premier convenience store distributors. These agreements provide nationwide coverage through 31 warehouses owned by these two firms as well as participation in 11 regional trade shows sponsored by them; 22nd Century was inspired to form these agreements through its strategic initiative to expand sales and distribution of VSI Vending Liquid Nitrogen (VLN), an environmentally-friendly food service solution.

This agreement brings together two distributors with a commitment to customer service, enabling both parties to offer a wider variety of products and services to customers, including beverages, snacks, cleaning solutions, POS hardware/software as well as waste and recycling programs across multiple locations.

Eby-Brown has made significant savings since joining forces with William-Thomas Group (WTG), including reduced waste disposal costs and switching from compactors to balers for waste collection. Furthermore, they’ve eliminated trash hauling fees by decreasing disposable items shipped directly to landfills – saving them over $150,000 just nine months into working together!

PFG plans to acquire Eby-Brown at some point later this year. This acquisition will allow its Vistar segment to strategically expand into the convenience channel, serving over 75,000 convenience stores according to company estimates. PFG, with 100 distribution facilities and over 200,000 customer locations served by its Vistar division such as independent restaurants, chain restaurants, schools, office coffee service distributors, healthcare facilities, big box retailers and theatres as well as providing fresh foods through Vistar for convenience stores – is subject to regulatory approval and must meet any required for this acquisition before closing occurs.

Eby-Brown Affiliates

Eby-Brown has been providing America’s small stores with candy, tobacco, snacks, sandwiches, health and beauty aids and general merchandise for more than 100 years. Headquartered in Naperville, Illinois and operating nationwide with 18 distribution channels spanning convenience stores, gas stations, liquor stores, drugstores, grocery stores newsstands schools etc, Eby-Brown also supplies its products to restaurants and bars for purchase and other accounts including other accounts such as restaurants or bars.

As part of their company’s ongoing expansion, its executive leadership recognized the need for real-time visibility of inventory and product movement across all distribution centers. They wanted warehouse operations to transition from manual, reactive environments into an automated, mobile environment – working with Hitachi Consulting and SAP on an enterprise warehouse management solution based around ITSmobile on SAP Best Practice for Wholesale Distribution with suite of mobile functionalities as a means to reach this goal.

PFG’s Vistar segment will benefit greatly from this acquisition as they expand in the convenience store channel. Together Vistar and Eby-Brown will serve over 75,000 locations nationwide and become the No.1 distributor for prepackaged candy snacks and tobacco as well as No. 2 overall non-tobacco convenience store volume distribution.

Skupos provides stores with access to discount and incentive programs by combining market-leading scan data technology with software tools, making purchasing easier for customers, which results in increased sales for retailers and greater profits for themselves. Their cloud-based platform also offers real-time insights and predictive analytics so users can quickly identify issues and take steps to increase operational efficiencies – not only increasing sales but also helping reduce waste disposal costs at Eby-Brown locations while offering recycling options to recover shrink wrap from facilities, and cutting hauling costs by switching compactors for balers will all contribute towards cost savings at all locations.