Ben E Keith Company announces the opening of its newest distribution center in North Little Rock AR. The 24-month project included a 348,000-square-foot warehouse with 78,850 square feet of office and maintenance facilities.
The new center is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver Certified and will include the installation of the Dematic Automated Storage and Retrieval System, or ASRS. Three automated cranes will provide Ben E Keith the flexibility to fulfill orders and perform warehousing functions with maximum efficiency.
This facility currently stocks more than 18,000 SKUs, with 350 full-time employees. The new distribution center replaces two existing facilities in central Arkansas, and will distribute in Arkansas, southern Missouri, northern Louisiana, Mississippi, and central-western Tennessee.
“Today is an exciting day for our customers and employees of the Mid-South Division,” said Mike Sweet, president of Ben E Keith Foods. “Our customers will now have access to a more diverse selection of items as well as facility they can use to help them in their business. For our employees this facility represents the hard work and enthusiasm they display each and every day. This facility will provide a great work environment for them and something that they will be proud to call home.”
“Ben E Keith is everything we want an Arkansas company to be,” said Arkansas Gov Asa Hutchinson. “I am very proud of the fact that we can be a partner with them, and that we can increase the economic growth of our state. It is about that partnership that is our future.”
Established in Fort Worth TX in 1906, Ben E Keith is the nation’s eighth largest broadline foodservice distributor and operates today with eight divisions shipping to 14 US states.
For more information, go to www.benekeith.com.
