Topco Associates LLC is the largest American retail food GPO (Group Purchasing Organization) and the sixth largest private company in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

History

On September 28, 1944, to deal with wartime shortages, a small cooperative named Food Cooperatives, Inc., was formed by a group of Wisconsin food retailers to supply its members with

private label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

dairy products and paper goods. The products procured by this organization were sold under the Food Club and Elna labels. Some of the members of Food Cooperatives were also members of another cooperative called Top Frost Foods. In December 1950, the two cooperatives merged. This was the beginning of Topco Associates, Inc. Topco established its first fresh produce division in 1958, its first health and beauty and not-for-resale programs in 1960, and began exploring fresh beef opportunities in 1967. In 1979, Topco introduced its bakery procurement program, and introduced its first pharmacy program in 1999. In 2001, Topco merged with Shurfine International to form Topco Associates LLC. Topco purchased competitor

Western Family Foods Western Family Foods was founded as the Pacific Mercantile Cooperative on March 3, 1934, by a group of retailer-owned grocery wholesalers. Western Family Foods was established December 19, 1963. The company supplied independent grocery stores ...

in June 2016.Portland Tribun
"Western Family Foods to close Tigard headquarters". Retrieved 06-23-2016
/ref> On February 1, 2006, Topco announced the acquisition of BrainTree Sourcing from

Ahold USA Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam, Netherlands. Founded in 1887 by Albert Heijn Sr., the company initially began as a single grocery store in Oostzaan and became the largest grocery chain in the ...

, forming a new company called TopSource LLC (as a wholly owned subsidiary of Topco Associates LLC), which is now known as Topco's Indirect Spend program. The Indirect Spend program currently operates out of

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

References

External links

Topco web site
{{Authority control Supermarkets of the United States American companies established in 1944 Food and drink companies established in 1944 Retail companies established in 1944 Companies based in Cook County, Illinois Retailers' cooperatives in the United States Elk Grove Village, Illinois Cooperatives based in Illinois