NY's Super-Nutrition Files Bankruptcy

EAST MEADOW, N.Y.--Select Nutrition Distributors, based here, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Feb. 8. Chief executive officer Steve Falk said the company is still doing business on a cash in advance basis and intends to come out of the protection before the end of the year. Select Nutrition was formerly known as Super-Nutrition Distributors, but changed its name in late January after a two-year discussion with the vitamin manufacturer Super Nutrition; the name change was the only part of the settlement, no financial payment was required.

According to Falk, his company got caught in expansion mode when the industry started downsizing. "We just got caught and couldn't control our expenses quickly enough to turn around our financial situation," Falk said. The company opened a new 100,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art distribution facility in Philadelphia in July 2000; the move was a "fiasco," Falk said. He said the company posted a huge loss each month starting in July and eventually ran out of operating capital in late January 2001. The company had opened a 68,000-square-foot West Coast Distribution Center in early 1999 to service independent health food stores in 19 Western states.

Falk said he has received a very good response to this news from major suppliers, including Twin Laboratories and Natrol, as well as retail customers such as Nutrition Headquarters and Food For Thought. "We need the support of our vendors and customers to come out of this as we intend," Falk said. "And overall, everyone has shown total understanding of our situation and wants to work with us."

For more information, please contact Select Nutrition at its N.Y. corporate offices, (516) 357-0041.