Thanks to a combination of acquisitions and organic growth that has been faster than total market growth, Sligro Food Group is now active on the foodservice markets in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Sligro Food Group was formed on 17 April 1935 as a wholesaler in margarine, fats and oils by Abel Slippens, the grandfather of the present chairman of the Executive Board, Koen Slippens.
The first Sligro Cash & Carry wholesale outlet was opened in 1961 and formed the basis of the current network of 50 Sligro outlets across the Netherlands. In those years, food retailers were the most important customer category.
Sligro Food Group's history is one of acquisitions. Since the first acquisition in the early 1960s, there have been over a hundred more.
Expansion of range of products, including fresh produce, to serve the hospitality sector through acquisition of wholesaler Jan Louwers in Eindhoven.
Sligro Food Group admitted to listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange.
The first delivery wholesaler to the hospitality sector was acquired in 1992 in the form of Arnhem family firm Wunderink.
1996 saw the acquisition of Van Hoeckel, giving Sligro Food Group an important position in the institutional segment of the foodservice market.
The acquisition of Prisma Food Retail in January 2001 marked a sharp increase in the importance of food retail activities to the Group. With over 300 supermarkets running four formats, Prisma brought 400 employees and 325 million euro in sales to the Group and, on 16 November 2001, annual sales topped 1 billion euro for the first time.
With the acquisition of EMTÉ Supermarkets (badged EM-TÉ at that time) in May 2002, Sligro Food Group went into business with its own supermarkets for the first time.
In 2004, there followed the acquisition of the foodservice wholesaler VEN, generating sales of 227 million euro with a workforce of 900 in that year alone. The acquisition of VEN significantly strengthened the position of the Sligro brand in the foodservice market.
On 29 May 2006, 'S & S Winkels, the Sligro-Sperwer consortium, bought the Edah stores. Of the supermarkets that came under the management of Sligro Food Group 38 were converted into EMTÉ and 22 to Golff supermarket. The remaining stores were sold to other supermarkets or retail formulas.
On 21 September 2008, Koen Slippens, grandson of the founder Abel Slippens, became CEO of Sligro Food Group. Since 1998 Koen Slippens works at Sligro Food Group.
In 2010, a programme was embarked upon to integrate all the supermarkets under the EMTÉ badge -both company-operated and franchise stores. Also in 2010, the Group acquired Sanders Supermarkten, which, with a chain of 22 supermarkets in the Twente region, enjoyed a strong market position. These stores were converted to the EMTÉ format in 2011.
In 2012, Sligro Food Group finally managed to take over Van Oers. Sometimes it pays to be patient, as it was the second generation of the Slippens family that made the first attempts to acquire the Van Oers delivery business.
In January 2014, Rooswinkel Horeca Groothandel, in Roermond, was added to the Group. Rooswinkel has been supplying the entire needs of small hospitality establishments, seasonal businesses and institutional customers for more than 40 years and has built up a strong position in the South-East of the Netherlands. The business and the market it serves is a seamless match with the foodservice activities of Sligro Food Group. The Rooswinkel activities will be absorbed into the Roermond Sligro Cash & Carry outlet and the Sligro Delivery Service base in Venray.
On 20 October 2014 Sligro Food Group celebrated the 25th anniversary of the company’s listing. In 1989, Sligro Beheer N.V., as the former Slippens family business was then known, was floated in order to raise capital to finance further growth. The past 25 years can best be described as a period of value creation.
In the year that Sligro Food Group celebrates her 80-year anniversary, CFO Huub van Rozendaal leaves Sligro Food Group. Van Rozendaal was 24 years CFO of the company. Rob van der Sluijs is his successor.
In 2015, Sligro Food Group took over Bouter B.V. Bouter is specialized in consulting, design, delivery, furnishing and maintenance of professional kitchen equipment.
With the acquisition of De Kweeker in Purmerend and Texel, the number Sligro Cash-and-Carry outlets turned into 50. De Kweker focuses on restaurants, cafes and small scale catering, and that fits perfectly with the Group's activities.
In February 2016, the Belgian JAVA Foodservice was acquired. JAVA Foodservice focuses on the institutional market segments, business catering and a number of hotel chains. This acquisition is an important step in the ambition of the Group to become a leading player in the Belgian foodservice market.
On November 30th, the ZiN Inspiratielab of Sligro was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium.The ZiN Inspiratielab is a foodlab for foodprofessionals, situated in Veghel.
In January 2017, Sligro Food Group announced the acquisition of the Belgian wholesale ISPC. ISPC has two combined cash & carry and delivery offices in Ghent and Liège and a wholesale of fresh fish in Brussels. With this acquisition Sligro Food Group strengthens its position in Belgium.
On December first a final agreement was reached concerning the strategic partnership announced on May 2017 for beer and cider logistics in the Netherlands and sale of other parts of the HEINEKEN beverages wholesaler to Sligro Food Group. The partnership has a duration of 15 years.
Because of the focus on Foodservice, Sligro Food Group decided to sell the EMTÉ supermarkets to the consortium of Jumbo and Coop. The sale puts an end to 16 years of EMTÉ for Sligro Food Group.
Sligro Food Group acquires De Kweker in Amsterdam. Food wholesaler De Kweker has a cash-and-carry warehouse at the Food Center Amsterdam (‘the wholesale market’) and focuses mainly on the restaurant sector in the Amsterdam urban area. The warehouse will, in the future, continue its activities with the same successful positioning and under the De Kweker name.
Sligro Food Group acquires nine Metro wholesalers in Belgium (Antwerp South, Wevelgem, Liège, Hasselt, Middelkerke, Namur, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Brussels and Vorst). With this takeover, the objective of establishing a national network of cash-and-carry and delivery wholesalers for food professionals in Belgium is realized. In recent years, the organisational structure, the teams and logistics and IT infrastructure in Belgium were already prepared for this situation.