Dive Brief:

• Ahold Delhaize USA has sold a pair of meat-processing plants to Cargill in a move the grocer said will enable it to devote additional resources to its omnichannel business, according to a Wednesday announcement. The companies did not disclose the terms of the transaction.
• The grocer will continue to source packaged meat products from the facilities, located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.
• The sale builds on other steps Ahold Delhaize has taken to concentrate more heavily on its digital operations

Dive Insight:

In announcing that it had purchased the meat facilities from Ahold Delhaize USA’s Infinity Meat Solutions unit, Cargill noted that it would provide case-ready meat products to other retailers in addition to continuing to supply food to Ahold Delhaize-operated stores.

Cargill employees already work at both plants included in the deal because of a long-term arrangement between the companies through which Ahold Delhaize has procured packaged ground beef and pork, muscle cuts and items such as seasoned, marinated and breaded meats from the food processing company.

“As our brands focus on being the leading omnichannel grocery retailers in our markets, we have made the decision to sell these facilities so that we can continue to be intentional about our investments in the U.S. as we drive growth,” JJ Fleeman, Ahold Delhaize USA’s CEO, said in a statement. “By aligning these facilities with a company that specializes in meat production, we can continue to provide quality products to our brands’ customers and increase our focus on being leading omnichannel retailers.”

Ahold Delhaize also said Wednesday that it has struck a deal with DoorDash under which the e-commerce company will provide grocery delivery services from all five of the Dutch grocer’s U.S. banners. DoorDash has already started offering the service for Giant Food, Hannaford, The Giant Company and Stop & Shop and plans to add Food Lion in March.

Ahold Delhaize’s announcement that it has unloaded the meat-processing plants to Cargill follows its decision late last year to sell New York City e-grocer FreshDirect, which it had acquired in November 2020.

The company has also raised the profile of its U.S. retail media business through the creation last August of a new senior executive role to oversee that aspect of its operations. Ahold Delhaize said in late 2022 that it would bring its retail media operations fully in-house.