DETROIT (FOX 2) – A major food distributor in Detroit is shutting down after more than 50 years in business. The closure is already impacting local markets and grocery stores.
But could this affect your budget?
What they’re saying:
Harvest Sherwood, a national meat and food distributor based in Detroit that ships 20 million pounds of food weekly, is closing its doors after more than 50 years.
Sami Bahoura, co-owner of Liberty Food Center Clip, says they’re letting go of hundreds of employees nationwide too.
“Well, actually, it became a surprise to all of us. We seen it down the road, but we didn’t expect this to come fast,” said Bahoura. “Well, the layoffs started about 2–3 months ago. We heard something about 45 to 50 people is gone. And we thought maybe they were trying to clean up the house, but maybe it probably was the start.”
The backstory:
Bahoura says they’ve been getting their beef, poultry, and pork from the distributor at least since the late 80s. They were called ‘Sherwood Food Distributor’ back then and were independent and privately-owned. He says they had a good relationship with the owner.
But when Sherwood Food Distributors merged with Harvest Foods, based in California, a few years ago, that’s when things changed.
“You deal with them. They don’t know what Detroit is. They don’t know the market,” he said. “They don’t know a lot of things, what happened. We tried to tell them what’s going on, nobody listened.”
Dig deeper:
Bahoura says he doesn’t know specifically why Harvest Sherwood is closing, but he believes the rising cost of meat may be a factor.
“Especially beef is expensive more than pork or chicken. Everything went up. But beef went up too much,” he said.
So consumers are bypassing steaks and roasts for foods that fit their budgets.
“Most of it is chicken and, especially here, we see the seafood is moving more than beef.”
What’s next:
Bahoura says with Harvest Sherwood closing, Liberty Food Center will be okay.
They’ll adjust and try to keep food feasible for their customers.
“We’re not increasing our price. The price is going up from manufacturers or from wholesalers, so don’t blame us please,” he said.
He says they’ll be fine for now.
They also get their foods from other local and state distributors.
FOX 2 reached out to Harvest Sherwood and is waiting to hear back.
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