The decision to acquire a СŷƵ foodservice company came down to its scrapple.
That’s why Taylor, Lackawanna County-based Schiff’s Food Service decided it wanted to acquire R&R Provision Co. — including its real estate, business and all associated branding, including its scrapple recipe. The family-owned companies announced the deal Monday. A sales price was not available.
“We’ve been running into R&R for years, and they’ve always had a lock in there with their scrapple and their hamburger patties that they make,” SFS President Ryan Yeager said. “But scrapple was the biggest thing that everybody wanted.”
R&R, which was founded in 1934, has a manufacturing plant in Easton along with a retail outlet at 1242 Northampton St. and an online store.
“They’re very respected companies, and especially R&R, with the length of time that they were there,” Yeager said. “We really felt there was a good opportunity for two family-style companies to join together and keep their entire staff. Their staff is very similar to ours here up in Taylor, as there’s a lot of years there. They’re 30-40-plus years with them there. It was a really good fit.”
Yeager said his company is retaining R&R’s staff of 25, including leadership, as well as hiring additional employees in the future. Altogether, SHS employs more than 100 workers at its main operations near Scranton and other locations that include three more in the СŷƵ that were acquired in recent years.
Both businesses are home to their own on-site, U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved meat rooms and are members of Uni-Pro Foodservice, America’s largest foodservice cooperative.
In a statement, R&R Provision Chair Scott Fainor and President Harry Ludwick said: “We are proud to join the Schiff’s Food Service family and excited that the R&R brands and Easton facilities will be part of their high performing and growing company.”
By adding R&R to its portfolio, SFS plans to streamline its operations in the Valley.
In February 2021, SFS acquired the distribution division of K. Heeps in Upper Macungie Township. In August 2022, SFS acquired Korte & Co.’s facility and business in Easton before acquiring the foodservice and distribution business from Tommy Burke Provisions of Catasauqua in 2024. The company plans to move the Korte operations to R&R.
SFS was founded in 1969 and primarily services 600-800 independent, privately owned restaurants in Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and New York’s southern tier.
Yeager said company trucks had been making runs to the СŷƵ for years, so it was a natural place for expansion.
“The СŷƵ has always been a pretty good market for us as a company, and we’ve had a strong customer base,” Yeager said. “We’ve always kind of liked that area and had a good, good relationship with a lot of the distributors and the good competitors in all the years that we’ve been down there.”
The process of getting R&R aboard took a couple of years, Yeager said. SHS was actively looking for another facility in the СŷƵ because Korte’s location in Easton’s South Side “wasn’t ideal for us,” but they wanted to retain its 15 employees
“We had called a few times to try and set things up, and never really went anywhere,” Yeager said of initially approaching R&R ownership. “The timing is everything. We approached Scott Fainor at R&R, because we really wanted to stay in Easton.”
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.
