URM Stores Inc. and Inland Meats Inc., both of Spokane, have bought through separate transactions the assets of Food Service Distributors Inc., a Spokane food distributor and meat processor.


URM acquired Food Service Distributors customer accounts, which include about 400 Spokane-area restaurants, says Dean Sonnenberg, URMs CEO.


The big grocery cooperative, which already operated its own food-service division, didnt have relationships with any of those restaurants previously, Sonnenberg says.


This adds about 20 percent to the total (URM Food Service) customer account base, he says. Its significant for us.


URM is hiring four former Food Service Distributors employees. One of them is the former companys co-founder, Dave Leong, who will work as a district manager for URM, Sonnenberg says.


With the additional staff, URM now has 30 people who work exclusively in the food-service sales division. It has about 2,600 employees companywide.


Sonnenberg says that Grant Myers, who started Food Service Distributors with Leong in 1985, died recently, and his death is a primary reason the company decided to sell its assets.


Meantime, Inland Meats has acquired Food Service Distributors meat-processing plant equipment, Inland Meats President Dan Mullenix says.


Inland Meats plans to move this week to the 16,000-square-foot former Food Service Distributors plant, at 1222 N. Regal in East Spokane, from smaller quarters at 7617 E. Trent, in Spokane Valley, Mullenix says. The company is leasing that larger structure with an option to buy it.


Inland Meats is hiring 10 former Food Service Distributors production workers, which will give the company a total of 37 employees.


Also, Inland Meats now will provide URM with processed meats and seafood.


This should be a good marriage for all of us, Mullenix says.


Sonnenberg and Mullenix separately decline to disclose the terms of their companies respective transactions. Also, Mullenix says, its unclear how many people worked at Food Service Distributors previously.


URM, which is owned by a group of independent grocers, was founded in 1921 as United Retail Merchants. The company started URM Food Service in 1976. URM serves roughly 150 supermarkets, 250 convenience stores, six URM Cash & Carry stores, and 1,300 food-service accounts.


Inland Meats has been in business since 1932 and at one time was located in downtown Spokane, where the AmericanWest Bank Building now stands.