Dive Brief:

• KeHE Distributors will acquire rival Nature's Best. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• The deal comes some four years after KeHE spent $190 million to buy rival Tree of Life, cementing its place as the second-largest distributor of natural and organic foods in North America, trailing only United Natural Foods Inc. 
• The purchase, which gives KeHE control of Nature's Best's warehouse in Flower Mound, TX, should come in handy now that KeHE has signed a deal to supply natural foods to the 97 Texas stores owned by Safeway.

Dive Insight:

The sale of Nature's Best marks the end of an era in natural foods. The California company was one of the last major players from the old school network of family-owned companies that arose in natural foods in the 1960s. Over the years, it grew to be the largest independent wholesaler and distributor of health and natural foods in the country.