Why This Matters to Distributors: C&S Wholesale Grocers is using acquisitions to combine wholesale distribution scale with direct ownership of retail operations. Its planned majority stake in Winn-Dixie shows how distributors can use vertical integration to control more demand, reduce supply chain costs, and spread infrastructure investments across wholesale customers and company-owned stores.
C&S Wholesale Grocers LLC plans to become the majority owner of The Winn-Dixie Co., extending an acquisition strategy that is pushing one of the nation’s largest grocery wholesalers deeper into retail ownership.
The proposed transaction, announced Aug. 13, is expected to close in early 2027. C&S already owns a stake in Winn-Dixie after joining a group of private investors that acquired the Jacksonville, Florida-based supermarket company from Aldi U.S. in 2025.
The deal represents another step in C&S’s evolution beyond its traditional role as a wholesale supplier to independent grocers. The company is increasingly combining its distribution network with direct ownership of the stores that generate demand for that network.
C&S CEO Eric Winn tied the strategy directly to acquisitions, scale and lessons learned from the company’s integration of SpartanNash.
“The collective insights gathered during our C&S-SpartanNash integration have enabled us to further enhance our support of customers — in all formats — across the United States,” Winn said.
Winn said acquisitions have strengthened C&S’s capabilities and identified the Southeast as an area where the company sees additional opportunities.
“To continue to grow in the industry — not only today, but well into the future — there is even more opportunity within our retail footprint, especially in the Southeast,” he said.
C&S said becoming Winn-Dixie’s majority owner would provide the retailer with long-term solutions to structural costs and supply chain capabilities, a rationale that underscores the distribution strategy behind the transaction.
Combining distribution infrastructure with retail ownership can allow C&S to spread investments in transportation, warehousing, purchasing, inventory, and technology across a larger base of wholesale customers and company-operated stores. Retail ownership also provides a source of volume for its distribution network.
Winn said the combination would allow the companies to “leverage efficiencies and economies of scale to drive growth.”
C&S was founded in 1918 as a supplier to independent grocery stores. Today, its companies distribute products to chain, independent and military customers from 60 distribution centers nationwide. C&S also operates more than 200 company-run grocery stores, primarily under the D&W Fresh Market, Grand Union, Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets and Piggly Wiggly banners.
Its businesses also include Grocers Supply, Hansen Distribution Group, Davidson Specialty Foods and SpartanNash.
For other distributors, the strategy illustrates how scale can extend beyond adding distribution centers, product lines or wholesale customers. C&S is also acquiring businesses on the demand side of its supply chain, giving the company greater control over how products move from suppliers through distribution centers and to consumers.
The strategy also creates a different competitive dynamic for independent grocers supplied by C&S. As the wholesaler expands its company-owned retail portfolio, it increasingly operates as both a supplier to independent retailers and an owner of stores competing for consumer spending.
Similar channel pressures are emerging elsewhere in wholesale distribution as companies expand beyond traditional boundaries through private-label products, manufacturing, services, digital marketplaces and other forms of vertical integration.
The Winn-Dixie transaction follows C&S’s acquisition of SpartanNash in 2025, which expanded the company’s wholesale and retail operations.
Winn described acquisitions as a central part of C&S’s growth strategy, saying the company’s continued expansion has been “greatly enhanced with our transformative M&A.”
C&S is now applying lessons from the SpartanNash integration to its next phase of expansion. Winn said the combination strengthened the company’s ability to support customers across different formats.
The Winn-Dixie transaction would further connect C&S’s acquisition strategy, distribution infrastructure, and retail operations.
C&S said it has been a Winn-Dixie partner for more than 20 years. The company said that existing relationship should help with integration.
C&S also said its investment would support Winn-Dixie’s plans to refresh its brand and customer experience, open new stores, renovate existing locations and expand its private-label offerings.
Winn-Dixie CEO Anthony Hucker will move into a special adviser role over the coming months. Raymond Rhee will serve as CEO until the transaction closes.
Hucker described the proposed transaction as a “natural evolution” of Winn-Dixie’s relationship with C&S.
Winn-Dixie said it remains committed to Jacksonville and will maintain an office presence there.
The proposed transaction is not expected to close until early 2027, but the direction of C&S’s strategy is increasingly clear.
The company that began more than a century ago supplying independent grocers is building a business that combines a 60-distribution-center network with more than 200 company-operated stores and, if the transaction closes, majority ownership of Winn-Dixie.
For distributors, the broader significance is how C&S is using acquisitions and vertical integration to create scale on both sides of its distribution network. Rather than relying solely on adding wholesale customers, C&S is acquiring retail operations that generate demand for the infrastructure it already owns.
That gives the company greater control over both the movement of products through its supply chain and the retail operations that sell them.
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