Sugar Land, Texas, May 20 - Imperial Sugar Company today announced it has entered into a sales agency agreement with Gulf Rice Arkansas LLC, a domestic rice processing and marketing firm.
Imperial will leverage its extensive customer relationships to initiate new sales opportunities for Gulf Rice Arkansas in the foodservice sector. Under terms of the agreement, Imperial will receive a portion of the net revenue Gulf Rice Arkansas receives stemming from the collaborative sales effort.
“The complementary nature of the rice and sugar sales channels makes this a natural fit for our foodservice customers, diversifies Imperial’s product portfolio and affords both companies strategic and financial benefits,” said John Sheptor, president and CEO of Imperial Sugar. “Coupled with our recent brokerage contract with Maximus Coffee Group, this newest agreement reinforces our commitment to fully leverage our core competency in the foodservice business and broaden Imperial’s portfolio of products.”
Headquartered in Houston with a rice processing facility in Arkansas, Gulf Rice Arkansas is principally known for its Ansera™ retail brand. In addition to developing private label rice programs, the company presently conducts business in the retail market space and is intent on growing market share in key foodservice channels.
“Imperial is a well recognized brand, with a loyal customer base and solid reputation,” said John Poole, president and CEO of Gulf Rice Arkansas. “We look forward to working with Imperial’s staff to expand our reach nationally.”