Paul Spalitta
President and CEO | S&W Wholesale Foods
When it comes to locally owned businesses, success is all about making the right connections, including with other local enterprises. Few companies exemplify this more than S&W Wholesale Foods. Situated in Hammond, S&W is the largest independently owned food distributor in Louisiana — a status it has achieved by serving, and being served by, other local businesses.
The company was founded 47 years ago by the parents of current president and CEO Paul Spalitta, and until last year, was operating out of its original facility.
“The old building had been added onto 14 times,” recounted Spalitta. “It became very inefficient, like a maze.”
Spalitta solved the problem in 2024 by investing $21 million into a new facility that quadruples the company’s space.
“It’s laid out much more streamlined, for what we do today,” he noted. “We can provide better service to our current customers, bring on new customers and allow our company to continue to grow.”
That growth has increased rapidly; 2024 produced the largest sales volume in the company’s history — the fourth consecutive year of record sales. As a result, the company has doubled in size. Ironically, Spalitta attributes much of this success to how S&W navigated the COVID crisis.
“We were severely impacted when the pandemic first hit,” he recalled, “because so many of our customers are local independent restaurants.”
Seeing his customers struggle, Spalitta hit on the idea of buying his employees lunch if they ate at local establishments, which he did for six weeks. Not only did this boost his existing clientele, but many local restaurants took note and brought their business to S&W. Spalitta continues to offer this “Local Love” program for a week each year.
Local business relationships have paid dividends for Spalitta in other ways as well.
“Financing our new facility was quite challenging,” he explained. “I had a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to put it all together.”
When national financial institutions passed on the project, Spalitta was able to work with a local bank to construct a funding package, augmented by SBA support.
In 2024, the company also expanded its geographic footprint. Adding to Louisiana and Mississippi, S&W moved into the Florida Panhandle. Increasing market share in the firm’s service area remains a top priority for the year ahead.
Primarily, though, Spalitta remains focused on the local business landscape.
“We are the champion of the independent restaurant,” he proclaimed. “We love being here in South Louisiana and supporting the local businesses.”
