Dot Foods buys ShopHero

Provo-based ShopHero, a software platform providing grocery e-commerce services to small grocery businesses, has been purchased by Dot Foods, a foodservice redistribution company based in Mt. Sterling, Illinois. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Matt Garner, ShopHero co-founder and CEO, and most of the ShopHero employees will continue as part of Dot Foods.

“We’re going to operate as a subsidiary,” said Garner. “We’ll continue doing our thing, just with copious amounts of rocket fuel that come from a source that I can trust, that’s going to be able to honor our promises to our retailers that I’ve made over the last six years.”

ShopHero was started in Provo in 2015 by Garner and a team of co-founders who have since moved on to other enterprises.

Dot Foods is a family-owned and operated company founded in 1960 by Robert Tracy. Dot has three generations of the Tracy family filling leadership roles. Many grocery stores ShopHero works with have a similar history, and Garner believes Dot Foods has a track record of treating small grocers with respect.

Each ShopHero client has a personalized app and a website. About 70 percent of ShopHero transactions nationwide are on the mobile app, making it an important feature for stores. ShopHero services about 450 retailers across the United States and Canada.

The company has about 50 employees, most of them in Utah.