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Sysco has agreed to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot in a deal valued at about $29.1 billion, handing 94-year-old billionaire Nathan Kirsh a landmark exit from the cash and carry wholesale empire he built over nearly five decades into the largest business of its kind in the United States.
The transaction, announced Monday, would give Sysco a major foothold in the cash and carry segment, a part of the food distribution market it has never fully penetrated, and expand its customer base significantly beyond the large accounts and national chains that have historically been its core.
Under the terms of the deal, Jetro shareholders will receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares. Based on Sysco's March 27 closing price of $81.80 per share, that implies an enterprise value of approximately $29.1 billion. Jetro shareholders are expected to own roughly 16% of Sysco's outstanding common stock when the transaction closes.
Kirsh founded Jetro in 1976. What started as a single warehouse concept grew into a national operation now running 166 locations across 35 states, serving more than 725,000 independent restaurants and food service operators. The company generated about $16 billion in revenue, $2.1 billion in EBITDA and roughly $1.9 billion in free cash flow in calendar 2025. It has posted EBITDA growth for 30 consecutive years.
Sysco chief executive Kevin Hourican described the combination as the creation of a preeminent multi-channel food service distribution platform. The two businesses serve different customers in different ways. Sysco built its dominance through scheduled delivery to larger operators. Jetro built its following among smaller independent restaurants and grocery operators who want to walk into a warehouse on any day of the week and buy in bulk at low prices without waiting for a delivery route. Putting both models under one roof gives the combined group coverage across nearly the full spectrum of the restaurant economy.
That customer base is a significant part of what Sysco is paying for. Independent restaurant operators sit outside the major national chains, and they represent a large and persistent source of food service demand even in difficult conditions. In recent years, inflation, labor costs and supply chain disruption have squeezed the restaurant industry hard. Independent operators, in particular, have needed reliable, affordable supply channels. Jetro was built specifically around that need, and it has served it consistently.
Sysco said it plans to keep Jetro running as a standalone business segment with its current management team in place under Richard Kirschner. The headquarters will remain in Whitestone, New York. That decision signals that Sysco understands the risk of integrating a fundamentally different operating model too quickly. Cash and carry customers are price sensitive and operationally distinct from Sysco's traditional accounts. Disrupting what makes Jetro work would be a costly mistake.
The deal is also a growth bet. Sysco said it sees room to open more than 125 additional Jetro Restaurant Depot locations over at least the next two decades. It expects to realize about $250 million in annualized net cost synergies within three years, primarily through procurement savings and supply chain optimization. The cash and carry market in the United States is estimated at between $60 billion and $70 billion, and Sysco is buying its way into it at scale.
Financing will stretch the balance sheet. Sysco plans to fund the cash portion with $21 billion in new debt and hybrid debt, plus $1 billion from cash on hand, equity or equity linked securities. The company is pausing its share repurchase program and has committed to reducing leverage by at least 1.0 times within 24 months of closing. It said it intends to maintain its current dividend and preserve its Dividend Aristocrat status.
Regulatory clearance is the main remaining hurdle. Both boards have approved the transaction unanimously, but the deal still requires customary regulatory signoff. Sysco said it expects the acquisition to close by the third quarter of fiscal 2027.
Jetro Executive Chairman Stanley Fleishman tied the sale explicitly back to Kirsh's founding vision, saying the business had always been about supporting independent shopkeepers, restaurant owners and food businesses that depend on low-cost, one-stop shopping seven days a week. Nearly 50 years after Kirsh opened his first warehouse, that mission is now passing to the largest food service distributor in the world.
