Georges Enterprises is further expanding its food service operations with the acquisition of Clifford D. Fite Company of Cedartown, Ga., a $50 million food service distributor supplying 1,000 convenience stores, supermarkets and drugstores in Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida. C.D. Fite will operate as a division of Louisiana-based Imperial Trading Company, which ranks eighth in the nation among convenience store suppliers. Imperial plans to maintain Fite’s Cedartown distribution center and aims to increase sales and expand jobs. “This is the next step to increase our presence in Southeast United States,” CEO John Georges says. “We are looking to make more acquisitions in the food distribution sector.”
Georges Enterprises’ aggregate of convenience store sales exceeds $1 billion in sales and services, with over 4,000 retailers in a nine-state region. In January 2010, Georges Enterprises sold its fleet of offshore tugs under Dolphin Marine International Company to concentrate on its food distribution business. Georges Enterprises also owns a full-service food vending companies, and in 2009 acquired ownership in Galatoire’s restaurant in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Georges ran for governor in Louisiana in 2007, decided not to run against Gov. Bobby Jindal this year, but says he is considering a run in 2015.
