Apr 1, 2005 12:00 PM

Sysco Corp, the Houston TX-based foodservice marketer and distributor, plans to extend its distribution coverage in southern Alabama by opening a new broadline distribution company. The firm has tentatively selected and completed due diligence for an existing facility on a 49-acre site on Alabama Route 52-Geneva, Alabama in Geneva County, Alabama. Initially, the company will create 227 new jobs and could employ up to 800 people as sales continue to grow.

The new company, to be named Sysco Food Services-Gulf Coast Inc, is expected to be operational in fourth quarter 2005 after modifications. It will serve restaurants, hospitals, schools, colleges, retirement homes, hotels, and other foodservice operations in southern Alabama and the northern Gulf Coast. The complex will include about 327,000 square feet of refrigerated, frozen, and dry warehouse space, as well as administrative offices. Foodservice customers in the area currently are being served by four other Sysco broadline operating companies in the Southeast region.