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Acosta, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryMarketing
Founded1927; 97 years ago (1927)
HeadquartersJacksonville, Florida, US
Number of locations
110
Key people
Brian Wynne (president and CEO)
Products
  • Retail services
  • Marketing services
Revenue$1.85 billion[1]
Number of employees
37,000 ( approx )
Websitewww.acosta.com

Acosta, Inc. is a sales and marketing agency currently headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Their clients include Clorox and Coca-Cola, among others.[2]

History

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Acosta was founded in 1927 by Lou Acosta. Founder Louis “L.T.” Acosta opened L.T. Acosta Company, Inc. This family-run, single-market food broker served the greater Jacksonville, Florida area for 50 years before it expanded across the Southeast.

An office in Tampa was opened and the service area expanded to central Florida. Expanding beyond Jacksonville in 1977, Acosta opened offices in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, which set the stage for continued growth. In 1981, Acosta opened a local office in Miami, Florida. In the 1980s, Acosta's operations spread throughout the southern United States. This included local franchises in Georgia through a 1983 acquisition of Raley Brothers, North Carolina and South Carolina in 1989, and later franchises in Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.

Acosta participated in multiple consolidations with other food retailers, manufacturers and procurement centers. By the mid-1990s, the company was servicing 27 markets and employed over 2,000 people.[3][4] These merges included:

  • PMI-Eisenhart [5] in July 1998
  • Kelley-Clarke[6] in June 1999
  • the MAI companies in August 1999
  • Luke Soules in July 2003
  • C. Lloyd Johnson Company, a military sales agency, in 2008[7]

From 2010 to 2017 Acosta focused on diversifying its services and expanding its national footprint via the acquisition of FrontLine Marketing, multiple foodservice agencies, Anderson Daymon Worldwide, Mosaic Sales Solutions, George Food Marketing, Etherton, Lenhart & Associates, The Pet Firm and ActionLink.

  • acquisition of FrontLine Marketing in 2010[8]
  • acquisition of Mosiac Sales Solutions, an interactive experiential marketing firm, in 2012[9]
  • acquisition of Anderson Daymon Worldwide in 2014[10]
  • acquisition of ActionLink in July 2017

In December 2019, Acosta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in efforts to eliminate long-term debt. The company's international operations were not included in the filing.[11] The company emerged from bankruptcy in January 2020 after shedding $3 billion of debt.[12]

From 2021 through 2022, Acosta created CORE Foodservice and acquired Impact Group, Premium Retail Services and Amazon agency OeP, signaling a new dawn in the company’s history.

  • acquisition of The Core Group in 2021, creating CORE Foodservice
  • acquisition of Impact Group in 2021
  • acquisition of Premium Retail Services in 2021
  • acquisition of Amazon agency, OeP, in 2022

Outside advice and equity partner

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Acosta has had partnerships with investment companies such as Berkshire Partners, AEA Investments, Thomas H. Lee, and The Carlyle Group.[13]

Leadership

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In 1956, Common & Company Food Brokers merged with Acosta. Robert "Hy" Albritton, who owned Common, became president and CEO of Acosta when Lou Acosta retired in 1959.[citation needed]

In 1974 Hy Albritton retired and Delmer Dallas became company president.[3][14]

Former company president Delmer Dallas recruited Gary Chartrand from the Carnation Company in 1983. Chartrand was named president in 1993 and CEO, when Dallas retired in 1996. Two years later Chartrand was elected chairman of the board.[15]

On January 1, 2009, Gary Chartrand appointed Robert E. Hill Jr. as the company's president and CEO.[16]

In 2020, Brian Wynne became President and CEO.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Carlyle Group to Buy In-Store Marketer Acosta". Wall Street Journal. 28 July 2014.
  2. ^ Roumeliotis, Greg (July 28, 2014). "Carlyle nears $5 billion deal for Acosta: source". Reuters.
  3. ^ a b Skidmore, Sarah (June 15, 2004). "Delmer Dallas, longtime local businessman, dies of cancer". Florida Times-Union.
  4. ^ Veiders, Christina (July 9, 2010). "2010 Power 50: No. 40 Robert E. Hill Jr". Supermarket News.
  5. ^ "Stocks". Bloomberg News. August 2023.
  6. ^ "Stocks". Bloomberg News. August 2023.
  7. ^ "Acosta Sales acquires C. Lloyd Johnson Co. - Jacksonville Business Journal". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02.
  8. ^ "Alloy Sells Its FrontLine Marketing Business to Acosta" (Press release). Globe Newswire. June 8, 2010.
  9. ^ "Adnews".
  10. ^ "Acosta Sales and Marketing to acquire Anderson Daymon Worldwide".
  11. ^ Doherty, Katherine; Hill, Jeremy (December 1, 2019). "Carlyle's Acosta Files Bankruptcy as Marketing Budgets Wane". Bloomberg. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  12. ^ "Acosta Successfully Completes Reorganization and Recapitalization and Emerges from Chapter 11". PR Newswire. January 2, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  13. ^ Basch, Mark (January 5, 2011). "AEA sells controlling stake in Jacksonville-based Acosta". Florida Times-Union.
  14. ^ "Robert Albritton Obituary (2006) - St. Petersburg, Florida - Tampa Bay Times". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  15. ^ Veiders, Christina: "SN Power 50 for 2009-Gary Chartrand" Supermarket News, July 14, 2009
  16. ^ Zwiebach, Elliot (July 18, 2011). "2011 Power 50: No. 42 Robert E. Hill Jr". Supermarket News.
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