Washington, D.C. — In response to Sysco’s proposed $29.1 billion acquisition of Jetro Restaurant Depot, the American Economic Liberties Project today called on the Federal Trade Commission to block the deal, warning that it would eliminate a critical competitive check on food and supply costs for independent restaurants nationwide.

“At a moment when food costs are already pushing independent restaurants to the breaking point, the last thing the FTC should allow is a merger that hands Sysco unchecked power over the supply chain,” said Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy for the American Economic Liberties Project. “Sysco’s takeover of Restaurant Depot is not about efficiency, it’s about control. For decades, independent restaurants, food trucks, and bars have relied on competition among different types of food distributors to make ends meet. This deal would eliminate that dynamism, handing Sysco unprecedented power to force small businesses to pay higher prices and restricting their ability to source goods from independent suppliers.”

The acquisition would combine Sysco’s dominant national delivery network, which serves more than 700,000 foodservice operators, with Restaurant Depot’s over 160 warehouse locations serving roughly 725,000 independent restaurants annually. These are two competing channels staples operators overwhelmingly rely on: broadline delivery distributors like Sysco and cash-and-carry wholesalers like Restaurant Depot. That competition allows restaurants to compare prices, negotiate contracts, and keep costs down. Eliminating one side of that market removes the primary constraint on Sysco’s pricing power.

Restaurant Depot has long served an equalizing role, enabling small operators to access fair, transparent pricing without contracts or bargaining leverage. Absorbing that model into Sysco’s ecosystem would fundamentally tilt the playing field against independent businesses. While Sysco claims the deal will lower prices through “purchasing efficiencies,” those savings are more likely to reflect increased leverage over suppliers, not benefits passed on to restaurants or consumers. With fewer alternatives available, independent operators will have less ability to resist price increases or unfavorable terms.

The hit to independent restaurants will also be felt hard among their suppliers. Independent restaurants are one of the primary commercial buyers for small farms, which cannot sell directly to big distributors, putting more of America’s agriculture and meatpacking in the hands of massive conglomerates.

This is not the first time regulators have confronted Sysco’s market power. In 2015, the FTC successfully pressured Sysco’s to drop its proposed merger with US Foods, finding that the deal would reduce competition and raise prices. The current transaction poses similar, and in some ways broader, risks, while independent restaurants face low margins amid rising costs and economic uncertainty. Allowing Sysco to control both the dominant delivery network and the largest cash-and-carry wholesale channel would compound those challenges, with ripple effects felt in communities across the country.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.