Richard B. Cohen

Richard B. "Rick" Cohen (born 1952) is an American billionaire and the sole owner of C&S Wholesale Grocers, the largest wholesale grocery supply company in the United States.

Biography[]

Cohen was born to a Jewish family.^[2] In 1918, Cohen's grandfather, Israel Cohen, co-founded the food distributor, C&S Wholesalers in Worcester, Massachusetts.^[3] Israel's son, Lester, a bomber navigator during World War II, expanded the business into supplying military bases.^[3] In 1970, Richard Cohen graduated from the Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts and then in 1974, he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree economics, concentrating in accounting, and joined the family company. After a painful union strike, he persuaded his father to move the company to Brattleboro, Vermont.^[3]

In 1989, Cohen took control of C&S after his father retired. In 2003, he moved the company headquarters to Keene, New Hampshire.^[3] As the food distribution business is very low margin and customer retention is critical,^[3] C&S has been able to attain excellent efficiencies - less than 2 percent of the orders processed have errors or omissions - by using generous performance incentives combined with self-managed teams of workers who are responsible for assembling customer orders thereby eliminating costly supervisors.^[3] If a customer is having trouble, rather than letting them go bankrupt (and losing them as a customer), Cohen will often purchase them outright, restructure their operations, and then sell them later for a profit.^[4] Since 2008, Cohen has been a director at the Food Marketing Institute and is a director of Food Distribution Institute.^{[citation needed]}

Cohen is also founder of , which produces an automated storage and retrieval system for dry goods. The system is used by C&S and other large retailers.^[5]

Philanthropy[]

The Holocaust studies center at Keene State College was renamed after the Cohens in thanks of their financial support.^{[citation needed]} In 2002, Cohen was a national finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year award. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Assumption College. He serves on the Board of Trustees at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[]

Cohen is married to Jan Cohen, executive producer of the Kaddish Project, a touring musical on genocide; the couple have three daughters.^[3]

References[]