citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2007 learn how and when to remove this template message gordon food service stores ypsilanti michigan gordon food service type private industry food distribution founded 1897 headquarters wyoming michigan products bulk food delivery number of employees 17 000 1 website gfs.com gordon food service commonly abbreviated gfs is the largest privately held foodservice distributor in north america with sales of 5.5 billion in 2007 and expected to finish 2012 with over 10 billion . headquartered in wyoming michigan 1 gfs has stores in the states of florida illinois indiana kentucky michigan ohio pennsylvania and tennessee . gordon food service also distributes to portions of wisconsin arkansas alabama georgia mississippi missouri north carolina virginia and west virginia . gfs was founded in 1897 by isaac van westenbrugge a 23 year old dutch immigrant by his son in law ben gordon . it was started by van westenbrugge with only 300 dollars borrowed from his brother to start an egg and butter delivery service . in 2009 gfs opened a new distribution center in pottsville pennsylvania and opened a warehouse in kenosha wisconsin the next year . the company continued expanding by building a distribution center in kannapolis in 2016 2 and now has warehouses in twelve states . according to forbes magazine gfs is the 26th largest privately held company in the united states a list that excludes publicly traded corporations . 3 contents 1 stores 2 canada 3 technology 4 references 5 external links stores edit started at the gordon food service warehouse in grand rapids michigan the first cash and carry was a way for local restaurants to replenish their stock between deliveries . as these stores expanded they all were first located in industrial areas with very little emphasis on the retail look . as the stores became more popular gordon food service stores started to emerge on busy streets and strip malls ; not only to put them in the public eye but also to be more convenient for customers . in 2003 gordon food service purchased 7 retail locations and a distribution network from a similar retailer called smart & final . gordon food service opened their 160th store in daytona beach fl in the summer of 2013 . they now have over 170 locations along the eastern half of the us . each store is between 15 000 25 000 sq ft. effective june 2015 market day was sold to world s finest chocolate . gordon food service stores phased out the sales of market day items as well as most of the world s finest fund raising items . canada edit gordon food service also distributes under the name gfs canada and has distribution centers in much of canada gfs ontario portions of ontario gfs atlantic atlantic canada gfs prairies alberta manitoba saskatchewan and the remainder of ontario gfs quebec quebec gfs british columbia british columbia technology edit gfs delivery truck ann arbor michigan gfs has automated distribution centers located in shepherdsville ky. and wyoming and brighton mi . with gfs marketplace stores developing in other states the company continues to grow year by year . the company has over 11 000 employees . the company also sponsored the nascar nextel cup gfs marketplace 400 race from 2003 to 2006 . references edit http www.grbj.com articles 78548 gordon food service not surprised by sysco merger gordon food service opens kannapolis distribution center salisbury post january 12 2016 retrieved 12 february 2016 26 gordon food service . forbes.com llc . retrieved 12 february 2016 . external links edit gordon food service website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title gordon food service & oldid 742517189 categories companies based in grand rapids michigancompanies based in kent county michiganprivately held companies in the united statescatering and food service companies of the united stateshidden categories articles needing additional references from june 2007all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 4 october 2016 at 05 16 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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