HENDRIX, LONGO MERGE IN CANADA

Canadian dealers Hendrix Hotel & Restaurant Equipment & Supplies Ltd. and Longo Food Service Equipment have signed an agreement to merge. The agreement was effective March 31. The news was reported by local media, including restaurantcentral.ca.

The merger between the two Ontario-based companies creates one of Canada’s largest equipment dealerships. Adding Longo’s London, Ontario, location will increase Hendrix operations to a total of nine branches—six in Ontario, two in Alberta and one in British Columbia. The combined company will employ close to 200 employees and sales agents.

During the first six months of the agreement, Longo will operate under the Longo trade name as a division of Hendrix. Hendrix will maintain its headquarters in Brockville—where it was founded in 1981—and continue to use its distribution warehouses there, in Edmonton and now London.

Larry Vander Baaren is president of Hendrix; Frank Longo heads up his eponymous company.