ALBANY – State Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson (D, Newburgh) is asking State Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the Sysco Corporation’s proposed acquisition of Jetro Restaurant Depot as a potential monopoly. Restaurant Depot has one of its 160 distribution centers in the Town of Newburgh.
Jacobson has also asked James to join other state attorneys general in challenging the acquisition.
The lawmaker said Restaurant Depot is a food-service supplier that operates as a more local alternative for smaller, price-sensitive operators, exerting competitive pressure on Sysco by helping to keep prices stable and competitively low.
“By all reasonable measures, this proposed merger would significantly reduce competition for a critical market that keeps the local food-service industry running,” Jacobson said. “Many of my constituents rely on the Restaurant Depot warehouse in Newburgh to buy locally and keep costs down.”
Sysco says that Restaurant Depot will continue to operate independently with the acquisition, work some $29 billion. Jacobson, though, is concerned that this policy could change at any time and that concentrated market power will allow Sysco to set prices unchecked by competitive constraints.
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