Chefs’ Warehouse Acquires Del Monte Capitol Meat

The Chefs’ Warehouse Inc., a premier distributor of specialty food products based in Ridgefield, Conn., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets and certain equity interests of Del Monte Capitol Meat Co. and its affiliated companies for approximately $191.2 million including cash, stock and notes.

Founded in 1926, Del Monte supplies high-quality, USDA-inspected beef, pork, lamb, veal, poultry and seafood products to Northern California. In addition, Del Monte’s staff of highly skilled butchers are able to provide fresh, portion-controlled products to satisfy all of their customers’ needs on a fresh, cut-to-order basis. John DeBenedetti, the CEO and principal owner of Del Monte, will be joining the company as executive vice president-protein. DeBenedetti will also be joining the company’s board of directors post-closing.

“We are thrilled to welcome John and the Del Monte family to Chefs’ Warehouse,” said Chris Pappas, chairman and chief executive officer of The Chefs’ Warehouse. “Del Monte is a chef-driven, specialty protein company that believes in a high-quality, high-service model; very much like The Chefs’ Warehouse. 

“Del Monte’s diverse customer base and extensive, experienced sales force, along with their management’s protein expertise, is a perfect fit and complement to our entire organization as we expect them to strengthen and expand our center-of-the-plate offerings.”

“On behalf of everyone at Del Monte, I would like to say that we are excited to join The Chefs’ Warehouse team,” said DeBenedetti. “We believe that joining The Chefs’ Warehouse team will not only benefit our customers by substantially expanding the products we can offer them, but it will also create more opportunities for our employees as we grow together.”

The Chefs’ Warehouse is focused on serving the specific needs of chefs who own and/or operate some of the nation’s leading menu-driven independent restaurants, fine dining establishments, country clubs, hotels, caterers, culinary schools, bakeries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cruise lines, casinos and specialty food stores. It carries and distributes more than 30,000 products to more than 20,000 customer locations throughout the United States and Canada.