Who We Are
What We Do
Harvest and Sherwood stocks retailers throughout the country including bakery, deli, meat and seafood departments. Offering commodities and branded products, the team has a history meeting the unique needs of niche markets, ethnic grocers, foodservice and independent retailers of all sizes, and also offers marketing resources that help maximize grocery sales.
Founded in 1989 as Harvest Meat Company with offices and distribution centers in Phoenix and San Diego, the vision of Frank Leavy along with sons Jay, Kevin and Dennis was born. The strategy was simple: provide independent food companies that did not have the scale to be self-distributors, the opportunity for access to national and regional brands/products that included the all-important protein categories of beef, pork, poultry and seafood. While independent food distribution was not new, Harvest Founders launched a strategy that was developed to provide a better way for customers to acquire product. Simply put, the strategy focus was to provide a wide selection of protein items that included solutions to fit any demographic with the brands and products that they demanded. Coupled with high fill rates and on time delivery, access to a wide selection of brands and products was right on target and immediately embraced by customers in Phoenix and San Diego.
The company was formed in 1969 as Regal Packing Company by Alex Karp and Earl Ishbia. In 1987 the name was changed to Sherwood Food Distributors. Since its inception, Sherwood has grown to become one of the largest independent distributors in the meat and food industry. The Company currently ships over 20 million pounds of food products weekly on a fleet of over 250 trucks through a network of distribution centers in Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Miami, and Orlando.
Sherwood is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and operates distribution centers totaling over one million square feet of refrigerated warehouse space with over a million cases in stock in over 50 categories.
Hamilton Meats was founded by Homer Hamilton in a modest building in central San Diego in 1932. Originally, all of our meat was brought in in carcass form and broken down in-house, but during the 1970’s, we began to take advantage of the efficiencies of “Box Beef” through the leadership of Don Hamilton. Our commitment to time-honored butchery techniques remained unchanged throughout the growth of the company. In the year 2000 Mick Hamilton spearheaded the acquisition of our prized “All Natural” products lines, including antibiotic-free and grass-fed choices. The Hamilton family business grew from a local supplier into a major distributor with a regional footprint. Utilizing our on-site USDA cutting facility, Hamilton is able to cut the highest quality Organic, Never-Ever, Grass-Fed, Choice, and Prime meats to our customers’ exact specifications. All the while, we have never compromised our reputation for quality, honesty, and integrity. For three generations, Hamilton has continued to be the industry innovator of quality, consistency, and sustainably-farmed products.