Dive Brief:

• Lineage Logistics finalized an agreement to acquire Henningsen Cold Storage, the company announced last week in a press release.
• Lineage Logistics will gain 14 facilities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Oklahoma. Henningsen​'s list of services includes temperature-controlled warehousing and transportation, blast and room freezing, cold-chain fulfillment, and inventory and transportation management, according to the company's website.
• "We chose Lineage because we believe it will be the best way to strengthen our partnerships with customers by providing access to an unrivaled international facility network, extensive technology and automation resources as well as a robust suite of supply chain solutions," President of Henningsen Cold Storage​ Paul Henningsen said in a statement.

Dive Insight:

The deal with Henningsen was the second acquisition announced by Lineage during May. The first was the purchase of last-mile assets from the food-distribution company Maines. And throughout 2019 Lineage bought up multiple brands including Preferred Freezer Services and Emergent Cold.

With the acquisition of Henningsen, Lineage's footprint grows to 1.9 billion cubic feet of temperature-controlled capacity across 311 facilities in 11 countries, the company said in its press release.

Maines also will bring business from large national food chains. The company highlighted Burger King, Tim Hortons, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen and The Capital Grille in its press release.

The coronavirus pandemic placed pressure on companies responsible for keeping the food supply moving. Cold storage providers have been operating in high gear to keep grocery stores stocked as inventory has been bought up at a faster rate than normal, Americold Realty Trust​ CEO Fred Boehler said on the company's earnings call last month.

"Major market distribution centers surged to restock retail distribution centers, production advantage sites surged to restock major market distribution centers and food manufacturers had to adjust production for retail-centric products," Boehler​ said. "Every part of our infrastructure was passed with excess activity to replenish these various nodes in the supply chain."

But as grocery stores see greater demand, restaurants across the country closed and the industry struggled financially. Two days after Lineage announced its deal with Maines, multiple suppliers, including Peco Foods and Koch Foods, filed a complaint against Maines in federal court accusing the company of failing to pay for products supplied by these companies.

"Maines has not made any payment to Koch, despite repeated demands," reads the complaint, which says Maines owes Koch $2.57 million.