Gordon Food Service Signs Purchase Agreement to Acquire Land Near Pottsville, PA

Gordon Food Service (GFS) announced today the signing of a purchase agreement to acquire 47 acres in the Schuylkill Highridge Business Park near Pottsville, PA. Gordon Food Service is working with Schuylkill County and the state of Pennsylvania on plans to expand its distribution network in this northeastern market. It intends to build a 150,000 square foot distribution center to support both new and existing multi-unit customers in this region. The new facility will be located in portions of Cass and Foster Townships. The facility is expected to be operational in late 2009 and will employ nearly 100 full-time employees when fully operational.

In making the announcement, Gordon Food Service President Jim Gordon said, “We are excited to expand our distribution network into the northeast region. Our physical presence in Schuylkill County will provide us growth opportunity while enabling us to offer greater geographic coverage to our many key multi-unit customers with operations in this area.”

“It’s exciting, especially in these tough economic times, to announce the creation of nearly 100 family-sustaining jobs for the hard-working men and women of Schuylkill County,” said Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell.

The Schuylkill County facility will be the company’s eleventh distribution center in the United States and its first in Pennsylvania. Currently, Gordon Food Service operates distribution centers in Grand Rapids (2) and Brighton (2), Michigan; Springfield, Ohio; Shepherdsville, Kentucky; Greenville, South Carolina; and Ocala and Miami, Florida. In addition, a new distribution center is under construction in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Gordon Food Service, founded in 1897, is North America’s largest family-owned and managed broadline foodservice distributor. Gordon Food Service is an international corporation offering more than 16,000 GFS and nationally branded products to over 45,000 customers in 15 states within the United States and throughout Canada. The company also operates 129 GFS Marketplace retail stores. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.gfs.com.