Acosta was founded in 1927 by Lou Acosta. Founder Louis “L.T.” Acosta opened L.T. Acosta Company, Inc. This family-run, single-market food broker served the greater Jacksonville, Florida area for 50 years before it expanded across the Southeast.
An office in Tampa was opened and the service area expanded to central Florida. Expanding beyond Jacksonville in 1977, Acosta opened offices in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, which set the stage for continued growth. In 1981, Acosta opened a local office in Miami, Florida. In the 1980s, Acosta's operations spread throughout the southern United States. This included local franchises in Georgia through a 1983 acquisition of Raley Brothers, North Carolina and South Carolina in 1989, and later franchises in Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.
Acosta participated in multiple consolidations with other food retailers, manufacturers and procurement centers. By the mid-1990s, the company was servicing 27 markets and employed over 2,000 people.[3][4] These merges included:
C. Lloyd Johnson Company, a military sales agency, in 2008[7]
From 2010 to 2017 Acosta focused on diversifying its services and expanding its national footprint via the acquisition of FrontLine Marketing, multiple foodservice agencies, Anderson Daymon Worldwide, Mosaic Sales Solutions, George Food Marketing, Etherton, Lenhart & Associates, The Pet Firm and ActionLink.
acquisition of Mosiac Sales Solutions, an interactive experiential marketing firm, in 2012[9]
acquisition of Anderson Daymon Worldwide in 2014[10]
acquisition of ActionLink in July 2017
In December 2019, Acosta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in efforts to eliminate long-term debt. The company's international operations were not included in the filing.[11] The company emerged from bankruptcy in January 2020 after shedding $3 billion of debt.[12]
From 2021 through 2022, Acosta created CORE Foodservice and acquired Impact Group, Premium Retail Services and Amazon agency OeP, signaling a new dawn in the company’s history.
acquisition of The Core Group in 2021, creating CORE Foodservice
acquisition of Impact Group in 2021
acquisition of Premium Retail Services in 2021
acquisition of Amazon agency, OeP, in 2022
Outside advice and equity partner
Acosta has had partnerships with investment companies such as Berkshire Partners, AEA Investments, Thomas H. Lee, and The Carlyle Group.[13]
Leadership
In 1956, Common & Company Food Brokers merged with Acosta. Robert "Hy" Albritton, who owned Common, became president and CEO of Acosta when Lou Acosta retired in 1959.[citation needed]
In 1974 Hy Albritton retired and Delmer Dallas became company president.[3][14]
Former company president Delmer Dallas recruited Gary Chartrand from the Carnation Company in 1983. Chartrand was named president in 1993 and CEO, when Dallas retired in 1996. Two years later Chartrand was elected chairman of the board.[15]
On January 1, 2009, Gary Chartrand appointed Robert E. Hill Jr. as the company's president and CEO.[16]
