The Food Partners, LLC

Brown & Cole’s Craig Cole says investment banking firm’s knowledge and relationships within the food and banking industry were key in company’s successful recapitalization.

January 18, 2002, Seattle, WA – Brown & Cole Stores (B&C), the regional supermarket chain based in Bellingham, WA, and Associated Grocers, Inc. (AG) of Seattle, WA, its principal supplier, have formed a strategic partnership to foster the continued growth of both companies, according to Craig Cole, B&C president and chief executive officer.

“This partnership will enable both companies to grow their businesses, mainly through improvements in the facilities and customer offerings of B&C’s existing retail outlets. It also will assist B&C to continue to grow through the acquisition of other supermarket operations in the future,” said Cole.

The Food Partners (TFP), a national investment banking firm focusing on the food industry, advised B&C in connection with the company’s recently completed recapitalization.

According to TFP’s David W. Schoeder, “the B&C recapitalization makes possible B&C’s new business initiatives, which include a renewed retail strategy, a streamlined corporate organizational structure and a reengineered supply relationship with AG.”

“The Food Partners knows the food industry better than any other investment banking company in the country today, and that knowledge and their relationships within the food and banking industry were instrumental in B&C’s successful recapitalization effort,” said Cole.

TFP assisted AG in its restructuring and recapitalization, completed late last year. B&C is AG’s largest member company.

“Both AG and B&C are much better positioned for future growth than they were even two years ago,” Schoeder said. “We’re pleased to have contributed to both efforts.”

B&C Stores operates 35 supermarkets in the Northwest and is one of the state’s largest privately held companies. Founded in 1909, the firm does business under trade names such as Food Pavilion and Cost Cutter, and employs 2,200 people.

AG was founded in the 1930s to pool the purchasing power of independent grocers. Today, AG supplies over 350 supermarkets in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii and Guam.

The Food Partners, with offices in Washington, DC, and Seattle, WA, is a national investment banking firm focusing exclusively on the food chain. TFP provides merger, acquisition, divestiture, capital raising and strategic advisory services to the food industry. Clients served by TFP span the entire food chain and include privately and publicly held companies and cooperatives. TFP’s web site can be found at www.https://thefoodpartners.com.

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