Encore Consumer Capital, a private equity firm that invests exclusively in leading consumer products companies, is pleased to announce its portfolio company Tourtellot & Co., Inc. has completed the acquisition of Ryeco Inc. from the Reilly family, who continue to be an owner in the combined business. Tourtellot | Ryeco creates a super-regional produce distributor with multiple facilities and geographical reach from the northeast through the mid-Atlantic U.S.
Ryeco is a leading distributor of fruits and vegetables located in Philadelphia, PA, servicing customers across the mid-Atlantic region. Ryeco sources products from across the globe, offering a diversified mix of high-quality produce sold into multiple end markets through long-lasting and well-fostered relationships with wholesalers, supermarkets, restaurants and other retailers.
“I am thrilled to be partnering with Michael Reilly Jr., President of Ryeco, to drive continued growth in our businesses,” said Tourtellot CEO, Andrew Maniscalco. “We developed a trading relationship with each other before the transaction closed and are excited to broaden those efforts as one organization,” added Mike Reilly Jr.
“The combination of Tourtellot and Ryeco creates one of the leading independent produce distribution platforms on the east coast. We’re excited about the opportunities to drive further scale by leveraging each organization’s respective strengths,” stated Kisen Nathu, Director of Encore Consumer Capital. “We continue to believe in the food distribution sector broadly and remain very active in seeking other companies to add to our portfolio.”
Encore believes perishable food distribution is an attractive sector with compelling underlying market fundamentals. The demand for fresh foods continues to increase, and supply chains are critical in delivering high quality products to both foodservice and retail channels. Perishable distributors, such as produce distributors, are gaining share from broadline distributors given their heightened focus on service, quality and fill rates.
The sector has proven to be recession resilient and less impacted from Amazon effects since warehouses need to have multiple temperature states to adequately handle short shelf-life products. In both normal and inflationary times, distributors are able to rapidly pass through costs to customers as the purchasing and sales cycle is fluid.
Despite an overall increase in M&A activity in distribution over the past several years, the landscape remains highly fragmented across the U.S. and ripe for further consolidation. The sector still contains many family owned businesses and not all of them have been able to keep up with increasingly stringent requirements of food safety, technology and associated capital expenditures.
For more information: 
Encore Consumer Capital
111 Pine Street Suite 1825
San Francisco, CA 94111
Tel.: +1 (415) 296-9850 encoreconsumercapital.com