Upper Lakes Foods

Upper Lakes Foods is a private Midwestern food and beverage distributor founded in 1967, headquartered in Cloquet, Minnesota, serving foodservice operators and grocery retailers with a workforce of 251–500 employees.

Company typePrivate
Founded1967
HeadquartersCloquet, United States
Headcount251–500
GTM typeB2B
OfferingServices

What Upper Lakes Foods does

Upper Lakes Foods is a private, for-profit food and beverage distribution company headquartered in Cloquet, Minnesota, United States, in operation since 1967. Per the available firmographic record, it operates in two adjacent distribution channels — foodservice and grocery — supplying product to operators and retailers rather than direct-to-consumer. The company is sized at 251–500 employees, consistent with a mid-size independent regional distributor rather than a national broadline player. Beyond these firmographic anchors, the input source contained no substantive disclosures regarding product mix, customer segments, pricing, geographic footprint, ownership, leadership, M&A activity, or financial performance.

No technology stack, proprietary platform, digital product, or AI/ML capability is described in the source data; the company website referenced in the input rendered only a verification/loader page and provided no extractable product or platform detail. There is similarly no disclosed business model detail beyond the categorical statement that it offers foodservice and grocery products, which implies a wholesale/distribution revenue model — purchasing from manufacturers and selling to downstream operators and retailers at a margin, with revenue mechanics tied to volume throughput, route density, and product mix across fresh, frozen, dry, and grocery categories. With no pricing model, contract structure, customer logos, or segment mix disclosed, the revenue model, customer base, and competitive positioning cannot be characterized further than the categorical description.

Upper Lakes Foods firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Upper Lakes Foods
Website: https://upperlakesfoods.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 1967
Headcount range: 251–500 employees
Short description: Upper Lakes Foods is a private Midwestern food and beverage distributor founded in 1967, headquartered in Cloquet, Minnesota, serving foodservice operators and grocery retailers with a workforce of 251–500 employees.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Upper Lakes Foods industry classification

Industry

Product category: Food Distribution
SIC: Wholesale-Groceries, General Line (5141)
akta.pro primary industry: Regional/Local Broadline Foodservice Distributors (AFAIAAAB)

Keywords

Food distribution
Foodservice supply
Grocery wholesale
Food products
Foodservice distribution

Where Upper Lakes Foods is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Cloquet
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Markets served

Upper Lakes Foods business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure

Upper Lakes Foods product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Upper Lakes Foods distributes foodservice and grocery products to business customers. The company operates as a food and beverages distributor supplying operators and retail buyers across its regional market, founded in 1967 and headquartered in Cloquet, Minnesota.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

Foodservice Products
Grocery Products

Companies that use Upper Lakes Foods

Customer profile

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Upper Lakes Foods technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Upper Lakes Foods partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Recent moves1 record

Upper Lakes Foods competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

Shamrock Foods Company: Shamrock Foods is a privately held broadline foodservice distributor with both restaurant distribution and grocery operations, directly analogous to Upper Lakes Foods' dual-channel model.
Gordon Food Service: Gordon Food Service is one of the largest privately held broadline foodservice distributors in North America, headquartered in the Midwest (Grand Rapids, MI), making it the closest private peer to Upper Lakes Foods in scale, ownership profile, and operating region.
Reinhart Foodservice: Reinhart Foodservice is a broadline foodservice distributor serving the Upper Midwest and beyond from a Wisconsin base, making it a highly direct geographic and operational peer to Upper Lakes Foods.
Ben E. Keith Foods: Ben E. Keith is a regional broadline foodservice distributor serving the central U.S., matching Upper Lakes Foods' regional private-distributor profile and broadline product range.

Regional players

Pine State Trading: Pine State Trading is a regional broadline foodservice and convenience store distributor based in Maine — comparable in regional, mid-scale broadline distribution, though serving the Northeast rather than Upper Lakes Foods' Midwest territory.
MBM (McLane Foodservice, formerly Gordon Biersch): McLane Foodservice is a regional foodservice distributor serving restaurants and convenience operators, comparable in operating model to Upper Lakes Foods though concentrated in different geographies.

Broad incumbents

Performance Food Group: Performance Food Group operates broadline foodservice distribution at national scale alongside Vistar and Core-Mark, competing with regional distributors like Upper Lakes Foods on chain accounts and procurement scale.
US Foods Holding Corp. US Foods is the second-largest U.S. broadline foodservice distributor and competes head-to-head for the same restaurant, healthcare, and institutional customers that Upper Lakes Foods serves in the Upper Midwest.
Sysco Corporation: Sysco is the largest broadline foodservice distributor in North America and the most direct national analog to Upper Lakes Foods' foodservice distribution business, operating at vastly greater scale across overlapping product categories and customer types.

Others

Sysco Imperial: Sysco Imperial Fresh is Sysco's fresh-focused specialty produce and protein distribution unit, relevant as a partial-overlap channel competitor and adjacent sourcing infrastructure against which Upper Lakes Foods competes for fresh product customers.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Upper Lakes Foods financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Upper Lakes Foods leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Upper Lakes Foods funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Upper Lakes Foods M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Upper Lakes Foods

What does Upper Lakes Foods do?

When was Upper Lakes Foods founded?

Upper Lakes Foods was founded in 1967. It employs 251 to 500 people.

Where is Upper Lakes Foods based?

Upper Lakes Foods is headquartered in Cloquet, United States, in the North America region.

Who are Upper Lakes Foods's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are Shamrock Foods Company, Gordon Food Service, Reinhart Foodservice and Ben E. Keith Foods. Regional players are Pine State Trading and MBM (McLane Foodservice, formerly Gordon Biersch). Broad incumbents are Performance Food Group, US Foods Holding Corp. and Sysco Corporation. Sysco Imperial is listed as an others.

Does Upper Lakes Foods have an API?

No public API is recorded for Upper Lakes Foods.

What industry is Upper Lakes Foods in?

Upper Lakes Foods's product category is Food Distribution. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFAIAAAB, Regional/Local Broadline Foodservice Distributors. Its SIC code is 5141.