(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
When you move 10 billion pounds of merchandise to customers every year, you are constantly looking to do it better. The key is logistics.
Berkshire Hathaway’s McLane Foodservices, a division of McLane Company, is planning a 175,000-square-foot distribution center in Schodack, New York. The main building will be 50 feet from routes 9 and 20, and is next to I-90’s Exit 11.
The facility will be on 32.5 acres of the 55.6-acre gravel mine owned by the R.J. Valente Co., and will run 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Drawing Protests
Officials from the town of Schodack had entered into a legally binding agreement with McClane to keep its identity quiet during the first stages of the planning process, and the public announcement drew protests from neighbors bordering the property. Some of the abutters live as close as 600-feet from the proposed building, and are concerned about truck traffic, unwanted lighting, and the potential for pollution of wells.
About McLane
One of the largest companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway, McLane Company is a $46 billion supply chain services company that provides grocery and foodservice supply chain solutions for convenience stores, mass merchants, drug stores and chain restaurants throughout the United States. McLane was acquired by Berkshire in 2003.
Founded in 1894 as a small retail grocery store in downtown Cameron, Texas, McLane, through McLane Grocery, McLane Foodservice and its recent foodservice acquisition, Meadowbrook Meat Company, Inc., operates 80 distribution centers and one of the nation’s largest private truck fleets.
The company buys, sells and delivers more than 50,000 different consumer products to nearly 90,000 locations across the U.S. In addition, McLane provides alcoholic beverage distribution via McLane Beverage Distribution, Inc., and its acquisitions of Empire Distributors, Inc., Horizon Wine & Spirits and Delta.
McLane employs 20,000 people, and had 2014 revenues of $46.6 billion, an increase of $710 million (1.5%) as compared to 2013.
© 2015 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.