KeHE Distributors Announces New Partnership with Allegiance Retail Services Supporting Their Members’ Growth in Natural, Organic, Specialty, and Fresh
Naperville, IL – February 16, 2022– KeHE Distributors®, today, announced they are the new primary distributor partner for Allegiance Retail Services (ARS) and will be providing support for their member’s needs through data-driven information, store-level operational excellence, and superior sales and promotional growth marketing.
Allegiance Retail Services provides independent supermarkets customized retail services to enhance their success. With natural, organic, and specialty business seeing steady growth amongst consumers over the last several years, ARS has keenly focused its efforts on these categories, believing shoppers will continue to increase their purchasing of better-for-you products as they move towards healthier lifestyles. With this focus, the organization has set out a strategic plan to grow this area of the business, including a new partnership with the next-generation distributor, KeHE.
“We are confident that KeHE can serve Allegiance Retail Service members with excellent service, value, and industry expertise,” said Jennifer Mihajlov, Vice President of Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest Independent Sales at KeHE. “We are like-minded companies that share a commitment to optimizing the success of the independent grocer with first-to-market, highly-focused assortment, evolutionary marketing, and merchandising expertise while maintaining individual banner identity.”
With this new partnership, Allegiance Retail Services, a co-op serving communities through over 100 stores and 28 members in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, will open doors to an expanded product portfolio for ARS’ independent supermarket members at a significantly reduced cost. The co-op, which supports banners such as Foodtown, Gristedes, D’Agostino’s, Brooklyn Harvest, and Green Way, will not only develop a partnership with suppliers who are singularly focused on natural, organic, and specialty business through KeHE, but will also receive proactive and data-driven support from the distributor.
“We are excited to pursue this partnership with KeHE Distributors”, said Mike Conese, Vice President of Center Store for Allegiance Retail Services. “Allegiance Retail Services chose to work with the leading distributor in natural, organic, specialty, and fresh products, because of their profound understanding of this business segment, deep knowledge of independent retail stores, and expertise in trend analysis, which we believe will help us better serve our members.”
As one of the largest and most respected pure-play distributors focused on natural, organic, specialty, and fresh products, KeHE is dedicated to supporting Allegiance Retail Services’ goal of elevating its product selection to its members.
For more information on how KeHE serves retailers throughout the nation, please visit www.kehe.com/retailers.
About KeHE
About Allegiance Retail Services, LLC
Allegiance Retail Services, LLC supports independent supermarkets (e.g., Foodtown, Freshtown, D’Agostino, Gristedes, Pathmark, LaBella Marketplace, Brooklyn Harvest, Market Fresh, Big Deal Food Market, Green Way Markets and Shop n Bag) for retail success by providing them with marketing, advertising, technological and merchandising support, as well as a full line of private label products, including Foodtown, Green Way and Rancher’s Legend. For more information, visit www.allegianceretailservices.com.