About Gordon Food Service
Our Company
Unusual circumstances led to the birth of GFS Atlantic (formerly M&S Food Service). A planned merger in 1999 of the two primary foodservice distributors in the Maritimes attracted the attention of the Federal Government Competition Bureau. Plenty of encouragement by the Maritime foodservice industry and a solid business plan led to approval being given to proceed at the end of February 2000. GFS Atlantic acquired a 40,000 sq. ft. warehouse from the soon to be merged competitor.
The opportunity presented additional challenges as the warehouse to be acquired was a satellite facility with only warehouse and transportation operations. All customer service, IT services, payables, receivables, and management were provided by another warehouse in Nova Scotia. New staff had to be hired and trained in less than three weeks in order to open by March 20 and meet customer commitments. Despite these and many other challenges, GFS Atlantic took possession of the building on March 19 and delivered orders in New Brunswick and PEI on the 20th.
GFS Atlantic quickly expanded into all parts of Nova Scotia and by the end of 2000 GFS Atlantic had over 60 staff. The company had grown to nearly 100 people and serviced over 800 restaurants, hotels, universities, and government facilities throughout the region with nearly 4,000 SKUs when GFS expressed interest in acquiring M&S Foodservice Inc.
The drive to provide Canada-wide coverage by GFS led to the groundbreaking of a new state-of-the-art facility in Amherst, Nova Scotia. So the existing base of business, great culture, and solid management of M&S seemed like a great fit for GFS Canada. On June 20, 2003, GFS formally acquired many of the assets of M&S Foodservice Inc. and the Moncton warehouse was closed upon the opening of the Amherst facility.
The beautiful and efficient new GFS Atlantic, Amherst facility boasts a large and dedicated team of people and features 77,000 sq. ft. of warehouse plus 12,000 sq. ft. of office and mezzanine space. The distribution center has 15 shipping doors, six temperature zones, 34 ft. of inside warehouse height, an RF GFS Warehouse Management System and four rows of PIR.
GFS Atlantic is now the fastest growing Distributor in the Maritimes. We bring new and innovative products and solutions to our customers. It is our people, core values and commitment to provide the best service and value available and our goal to bring solutions to our esteemed customers that continue to propel our solid growth.