Brothers Stan and Steve Ledbetter, owners of RE Services Inc., based in LaFayette, Ga., have sold their vending, OCS, foodservice operation to Canteen franchise companies in Georgia and Virginia and to HIG Capital. RE Services, founded in 1963 by the husband and wife team Earl and Sarah Ledbetter, was one of the largest vending and foodservice firms in the Southeast. Stan and Steve Ledbetter bought the firm from their parents in 1992.
RE Services consisted of 75 routes, 35 cafeterias, 1,000 OCS customers and 70 prison foodservice customers served from facilities in LaFayette, Ga., Ringgold, Ga., Athens, Ga., Macon Ga. and Chesapeake Va., noted Stan Ledbetter. He estimated annual revenues were between $60 million and $65 million.
All 600 RE Services employees have been provided jobs by the acquiring companies, Ledbetter noted.
He said he and his brother, aged 65 and 62, respectively, decided it was time to retire.
Five Star Food Services Inc., based in Chattanooga, Tenn., acquired RE Services’ Ringgold, Ga. branch, the LaFayette, Ga. commissary and the Macon, Ga. branch.
Southern Refreshment Services Inc., based in Tucker, Ga., acquired the Athens, Ga. branch.
The Chesapeake, Va. division was sold to Canteen Vending Services Inc. and to Cardinal Services Inc., a Hampton Roads, Va.-based Canteen franchisee.
HIG Capital, which acquired Canteen’s correctional business this year, acquired RE Services’ equity interest in the county jail commissary business based in Stockbridge, Ga.
The Ledbetter brothers kept the company headquarters in LaFayette, Ga. and are managing some real estate. Terms of the sales were not disclosed.
