Shore Capital Partners has formed Whetstone Distribution as a new food distribution platform to consolidate its recent investments in the sector.
Whetstone Distribution is a specialty meat distributor of beef, poultry, pork and seafood through the retail grocery, redistribution and foodservice channels in the Midwest. The company is headquartered in Chicago with an additional facility in Kansas City that operates under the Queen Foods’ brand.
The launch of Whetstone follows Shore’s May 2022 investment in Chicago-based Moesle Meat, a wholesale meat distributor supplying beef, poultry, pork, and seafood to Midwest-based grocery store, foodservice, and redistribution customers; and the May 2024 buy of Pritzlaff Wholesale Meats, a full-service meat distribution and processing company serving restaurants, hotels, country clubs, healthcare facilities and re-distributors across southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois.
Pritzlaff’s products, sold under the Riverside Meats label, include pastrami, corned beef, sausage, and other smoked and marinated specialty meats. The company was founded in 1942 by Herb Pritzlaff and has been owned and operated by four generations of the Pritzlaff family. Today the company is led by the founder’s grandson, Bruce Pritzlaff and is headquartered southwest of Milwaukee in New Berlin, Wisconsin, with a second facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin.“After 80-plus years of family ownership, and four generations of family involvement, I’m extremely excited to be partnering with Whetstone Distribution,” said Mr. Pritzlaff. “This partnership allows us to further strengthen and grow all core aspects of our company as well as expand our geographic footprint, from Wisconsin and Northern Illinois further into the greater Midwest.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Pritzlaff to the Whetstone family,” said Don McIntyre, the CEO of Whetstone. “By combining our strengths with those of Pritzlaff’s, we are poised to enhance our offerings and to continue delivering exceptional service to our growing customer base. This is a significant milestone for Whetstone, and we look forward to supporting Pritzlaff’s continued growth.”
“Whetstone’s newest acquisition of Pritzlaff is a testament to the team’s commitment to building a robust and diversified food distribution platform,” said Richard Boos, a partner at Shore Capital. “We are excited to support the platform as these partners continue to create long-term, transformational growth in the food distribution industry.”
Shore Capital invests in lower middle-market healthcare, food and beverage, business services, industrial and real estate-related companies that have $5 million to $100 million of revenue and $1 million to $10 million of EBITDA.
In April 2019, Shore closed its third healthcare-focused fund, Shore Capital Healthcare Partners Fund III LP, with $293 million of capital, and its inaugural food and beverage fund, Shore Capital Food & Beverage Partners Fund I LP, with $148 million of capital.
Shore Capital is headquartered in Chicago with an additional office in Nashville.
© 2024 Private Equity Professional | June 4, 2024
