Major Michigan Food Distributor Closes After 50+ Years in Business

A Michigan-based food distributor that ships about 20 million pounds of meat and food each week is closing its doors after more than 50 years in business.

Harvest Sherwood distributes beef, poultry, pork, and other food products nationwide. The company - headquartered in Detroit - also operates in Florida and Oregon. Approximately 1,500 people will be left without jobs as the company shutters all its locations.

Company's Growth Leads to Eventual Closure

Sami Bahoura is the co-owner of Liberty Food Center in Detroit. In the video below, he tells WJBK-TV that his market has been serviced by the company for decades, but says things changed once it merged with a larger company.

Bahoura says the company was originally known as Sherwood Food Distributors. It was an independent, privately owned company until a few years ago when it merged with Harvest Foods, a California-based company.

"You deal with them. They don’t know what Detroit is. They don’t know the market," he said. "They don’t know a lot of things, what happened. We tried to tell them what’s going on, nobody listened."

Workers Laid Off at Detroit Plant

Harvest Sherwood Food Distributors has issued WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices in Michigan, Oregon, and Florida, according to the Detroit Free Press. 

A total of 255 people will be laid off from the company's Detroit plant. All employees are expected to receive pay and benefits through April 21.

The company, founded in 1969, serves about 6,000 retail, wholesale, institutional, and other clients across the United States.