Solving problems and stretching budgets
In 1988 Los Angeles food traders Mark Davis and Max Gold were specializing in truckload volumes of canned and drum tomato products when weather events devastated the Northern California tomato crop.
To satisfy the overwhelming need of the largest food manufacturers and distributors in the United States, Mark and Max diligently scoured the planet to search out and import tomato products from around the world.
The following year disaster struck again on October 17, 1989, when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit Central California, just after the completion of the tomato pack. Inside warehouses, pallets with well over 1,000,000 cases of canned tomatoes came crashing down, destined for the landfill. With an attitude that even though the outside of a can may be dented the food inside remains wholesome, Mark and Max worked closely with the Northern California packers, liquidating a majority of the inventory by finding customers who would be interested in this drastically discounted product.
With everything learned from the 1988 tomato shortage and the liquidation of the 1989 earthquake canned tomatoes Mark & Max joined forces on February 1, 1991, to form LA Foods, believing that the best way to make friends and build relationships was by helping both customers and vendors solve problems.
LA Foods found its niche with a mission to become the go-to company for manufacturers who need to move enormous quantities of product and for customers looking for either an unbeatable deal or access to short products they just could not find anywhere else.
The formula proved immediately successful and, as LA Foods grew, we continued to develop strong relationships with manufacturers, food banks, correctional facilities, grocers, discount stores, restaurants, c-stores, schools, as well as major hospitality companies, and institutional feeders throughout the United States.
Now in our fourth decade, LA Foods has grown into a major food wholesaler dealing in a wide range of food products from extra fancy specked-out ingredients for our industrial customers to being the low-cost leader in providing value to customers where price is the utmost of importance.
Primary Distribution Centers
Los Angeles, CA
Torrance, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
Dallas, TX
Monroe, WI
Chicago, IL
Jacksonville, FL
Baltimore, MD
Today, we have eight primary and twenty secondary distribution centers located throughout the United States, servicing thousands of accounts nationwide and has distributed well over a billion pounds of food products sourced from around the country and around the world. We have dedicated divisions for serving Government, Food Service, Retail Grocery, Non-Profit, Emergency Relief, Import, Closeouts, Industrial Ingredients, and Kosher & Halal customers.
Our value-plus formula of fair pricing on quality products, and our Source, Stock, and Supply Programs continue to fuel the growth of LA Foods as we devote every day to solving problems and stretching budgets from Coast to Coast.