SAN FRANCISCO — Food technology company GrubMarket has completed the purchase of Oakport Transportation, a trucking and logistics service that stores and ships produce throughout California, the Pacific Northwest, British Columbia and Nevada.
Both companies are based in California.
In a news release, GrubMarket said it “will leverage Oakport’s facilities and logistics networks to address the supply chain challenges introduced by recent trucking shortages, route congestion and skyrocketing consumer demand for fresh food.”
The news release further stated that “The coronavirus pandemic has exposed massive vulnerabilities in the supply chain ecosystem, impacting and dislocating shipping routes, ports, warehouses and trucking lines. The shortages in key transportation and logistics resources have spiked transportation costs and ultimately consumer prices. Oakport Transportation provides critical services such as load and LTL (Less than truckload) volume delivery, refrigerated storage for perishable goods, cross docking and load consolidation.”
After the acquisition, the business will continue to be managed by its current leadership team, according to the news release.
“We are excited to join the GrubMarket team and welcome the opportunities brought forth by GrubMarket’s robust technology platform and network,” said Sal Rizzo, CEO of Oakport Transportation.
“We are constantly striving to be the most dependable trucking and logistics partner for our customers. We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares this same goal. We sincerely look forward to joining the GrubMarket team and bringing more efficient, reliable and cost-effective logistics services to GrubMarket’s suppliers and end customers.”
Mike Xu, CEO of GrubMarket, described the current global logistics situation as complex and difficult due to COVID-19. He said that, together, the two companies can better tackle the issue.
“This acquisition enables GrubMarket to further strengthen our producer relationships on the West Coast, expand our internal fleets and warehouse capacity and become a leader in transportation and logistics services for the underserved food producer and supplier market,” Xu said. “Together, we will overcome the disruption plaguing the current supply chain and make a greater impact on the evolution and transformation of the American food supply chain industry.”
Founded in 2014, GrubMarket is a San Francisco-based company operating in the space of food supply chain eCommerce for both business customers and end consumers, as well as providing related software-as-a-service solutions to digitally transform the American food supply chain. Currently, GrubMarket operates in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and British Columbia (Canada), with plans to expand to other parts of the U.S., Canada and other parts of the world.
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