European Imports, Inc. (EI) was a family-owned importer and distributor founded in 1978 by Beverly and Seymour Binstein. The company began as a cheese importer supplying the Chicago market. In 1984, EI started its foodservice division, supplying product to major hotel, white tablecloth restaurants, caterers and foodservice jobbers in the Chicago area. Nationally, the foodservice business was handled by each EI warehouse (Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix & San Francisco) and through other distributors. EI emerged as a full-line specialty food distributor servicing retailers and foodservice accounts in the Midwest, Southeast, South, Southwest and Northern California regions. On March 1, 2012, EIL was acquired by Sysco, a nationwide distributor.