Braunger Foods, one of Sioux City's oldest businesses, was acquired by US Foods of Rosemont, Illinois. The transaction is expected to finalize at the end of this month and terms were not disclosed.
Tim Hynds, Sioux City Journal
Braunger Foods is shown at its new Sioux City location at 2101 Murray St. on Feb. 23, 2017. The grocery distributor is closing Sept. 7, and roughly 30 employees are expected to be impacted.
SIOUX CITY — Renae Billings poured almost a year of work into helping Sioux City retain one of its oldest business.
Billings, a Sioux City economic development specialist, worked closely with officials from the Thompson Company, parent company of the 130-year-old Braunger Foods of Sioux City, to help the food service distributor find a newer and expanded home in the metro.
Braunger, a wholesale distributer of meat and other food products to restaurants, schools and health care facilities within a roughly a 180-mile radius of Sioux City, had outgrown its former site at 900 Clark St.
“They were looking at several locations in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota; we showed them a variety of options in Sioux City, including an existing building, the former Sabre building,” Billings said. “They were very intrigued with that and I was there dozens of times with them as they considered it.”
Sabre Industries Inc. moved out of its location in the Bridgeport Industrial Park to a 150-acre site in the nearby Southbridge Business Park, leaving a sizeable city-owned building at 2101 Murray St. empty.
Once Braunger committed to the new location, the food processor poured $4.3 million into the project, which included a remodel, expanding the size of the facility to about 75,000 square feet, and the purchase of the former Sabre building and an additional 16 acres of land.
It also received local and state tax incentives for the move, and vowed to retain its 47 employees at the time the deal was made.
“We were happy they decided to stay in Sioux City and took a building in,” said Marty Dougherty, the city's economic development director.
The new Braunger facility became operational last year, and Billings is proud to have played a part in the keeping the company in Sioux City, where it was founded in 1887 by Anthony J. Braunger.
“They’re great people down there,” Billing said. “They have a great company and we are really excited that they decided to stay here and found a location that would work for them.”
SIOUX CITY -- A longtime Sioux City food distributor will be closing up shop in September.
Braunger Foods, one of Sioux City's oldest businesses, was acquired by US Foods of Rosemont, Illinois. The transaction is expected to finalize at the end of this month and terms were not disclosed.
Braunger Foods is shown at its new Sioux City location at 2101 Murray St. on Feb. 23, 2017. The grocery distributor is closing Sept. 7, and roughly 30 employees are expected to be impacted.
