Lady Baltimore Foods files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

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The fat lady is singing for Lady Baltimore Foods Inc. The Kansas City, Kan.-based food service distributor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Dec. 31.|ret||ret||tab|

Lady Baltimore Foods, established in 1946, effectively dropped out of the distribution market in September when it sold certain assets to competitor U.S. Foodservice. |ret||ret||tab|

According to Rob Gillison, vice president of Columbia, Md.-based U.S. Foodservice, the company acquired Lady Baltimore's net working capital, receivables, inventory and its entire customer list, including a handful of Springfield clients.|ret||ret||tab|

According to court papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Kansas, Lady Baltimore Foods owes creditors about $2 million. Debtor's attorney James Bird, with Polsinelli Shalton & Welt PC in Kansas City, said a meeting of creditors was held Jan. 31 in Topeka, Kan.|ret||ret||tab|

Court documents show 12 parties in the case, including Springfield Grocer. Springfield attorney James R. Cox, who represents Springfield Grocer as an unsecured creditor, said about $700 is owed to his client.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're simply waiting to see if their plan will pay out to unsecured creditors," Cox said.|ret||ret||tab|

Lady Baltimore Foods President Tony Tarantino declined to comment, but Gillison said the company closed its Springfield distribution facility at 4550 W. FR 130 before U.S. Foodservice's acquisition. |ret||ret||tab|

U.S. Foodservice's Springfield clients are serviced from facilities in Salem and Topeka, Kan., he said. Gillison said service to Springfield customers has not changed, but he would not disclose client names or how many clients the firm has locally.|ret||ret||tab|

"We've been serving all the customers since the beginning of October," Gillison said. "There is no action that Lady Baltimore would take that would interfere with our ability to service our customers."|ret||ret||tab|

Lady Baltimore Foods previously sold and distributed more than 14,000 food items and kitchen supplies to customers such as restaurants, schools and health care institutions in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois and Iowa.|ret||ret||tab|

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Food service growth|ret||ret||tab|

The food service industry of late has seen larger companies grow through consolidation of smaller companies, and U.S. Foodservice is in the middle of that growth. The company has been targeting food distributors in the Midwest, acquiring two competitors last year.|ret||ret||tab|

In December, U.S. Foodservice acquired 100-year-old Allen Foods Inc. of St. Louis. |ret||ret||tab|

The acquisition of Allen Foods, which distributed to the St. Louis, Kansas City and southern Illinois markets and reported annual sales of $245 million, gave the company 5,400 customers in Missouri and Illinois.|ret||ret||tab|

Earlier in 2002, U.S. Foodservice completed its buyout of Chicago-based competitor Alliant Foodservice for more than $2 billion.|ret||ret||tab|

"We have substantially increased our presence through Kansas City, St. Louis and the general Missouri market in the last six months or so," Gillison said. |ret||ret||tab|

U.S. Foodservice now has more than 300,000 institutional customers nationwide with 43,000 food products and related items. |ret||ret||tab|

The company has grown largely after it was acquired by international food service giant Royal Ahold. The Netherlands-based company acquired U.S. Foodservice in 2000 for $3.6 billion. |ret||ret||tab|

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