KITCHENER, Ont. — Flanagan Foodservice Inc. announced that Dan Lafrance, president & CEO, is retiring effective March 2024. Concurrently, Bill Stafford is joining the company on Jan. 15, 2024 and will succeed Lafrance as president and CEO of the company.
Lafrance joined Flanagan Foodservice in 2019 as the first non-family president and then took on the added role of CEO in 2021.
“Under Dan’s leadership over the past five years, the company has doubled its revenue, completed its largest-ever acquisition, successfully navigated through the pandemic and made significant improvements in our operations. I want to thank Dan for his immense contribution to our success and wish him the best in his retirement,” says Dan Flanagan, executive chairman.
Stafford joins the company with a wealth of food and distribution experience with prior roles including senior vice-president of Foodservice for Shamrock Foods Company in Arizona, division president for US Foods in New York and president of Omstead Foods in Canada.
“Bill brings a profound understanding of the complexities and opportunities of our business and industry. This combined with his collaborative leadership style and strong customer focus, will allow him to quickly build on Flanagan’s success of providing foodservice operators with our unique level of service. We are thrilled to have him lead Flanagan Foodservice Inc. and its subsidiary companies, including Roseland Produce in Ontario, Capital Foodservice in New Brunswick and F.J. Wadden & Sons in Newfoundland,” says Flanagan.
“I’m extremely excited to join Flanagan Foodservice. As the largest Canadian family-owned foodservice distributor, Flanagan’s success is built through an incredible family culture rooted in an unwavering commitment to servicing customers. I look forward to building upon the success that Dan Lafrance and the entire team have put in place,” says Stafford.
