By Amira McKee

Food distributor Sysco is looking to mom-and-pop shops to ease the pain from a slowdown in visits to national restaurant chains.

Sysco Chief Executive Kevin Hourican said the local business is growing faster than the business overall, and delivering a boost to its operating margins. Getting more exposure to local businesses is also part of the company's roughly $29 billion deal to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot.

With the deal, "Sysco will gain access to a large, resilient and growing new channel of customers that is entirely local," Hourican said.

Shares of Sysco are down about 4% after the company logged a lower third-quarter profit and delivered sales that missed Wall Street's expectations.

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April 28, 2026 13:41 ET (17:41 GMT)

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