Chef’s Store, the wholesale retailer of food service distribution company US Foods, is opening a new location in Augusta.
The restaurant supply store chain, which sells wholesale produce, groceries, bakery items and kitchen supplies, announced Friday that its new store is coming to 102 Mason McKnight Jr. Pkwy, in the Shoppes at Apex shopping center, neighboring stores such as Northern Tool, Boot Barn, Floor Décor and Camping RV World, though the company has not yet disclosed an opening date.
In 2023, McKnight-Engler, the firm which owns the Apex shopping center, successfully petitioned for a setback variance from the Augusta Board of Zoning Appeals to make way for the store’s development.
The store chain was once Smart Foodservice Warehouse, owned by California grocery warehouse chain Smart & Final. In 2020 US Foods purchased Smart Foodservice for $970 million, rebranding it as US Foods Chef’Store the following year. Currently the store has over 80 locations nationwide, most of them concentrated out west, though the closest store to Augusta currently is in Columbia, one of three locations in South Carolina.
Sandy Springs, in the Atlanta area, beat Augusta by about two months in becoming the Chef’sStore’s first location in Georgia.
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
