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                                                                   Exhibit 3.1


                AMENDED AND RESTATED CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION

                                       of

                       AMERISERVE FOOD DISTRIBUTION, INC.


                                    PREAMBLE


     AmeriServe Food Distribution, Inc., a corporation organized and existing
under and by virtue of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (the
"DGCL"), was originally incorporated under the DGCL on August 21, 1989 under the
name Cypress Food Company. This Amended and Restated Certificate of
Incorporation has been duly adopted in accordance with Sections 242 and 245 of
the DGCL.

                                    ARTICLE I

     The name of the Corporation is:

                       AMERISERVE FOOD DISTRIBUTION, INC.

                                   ARTICLE II

     The address of the Corporation's registered office in the State of Delaware
is The Corporation Trust Center, 1209 Orange Street in the City of Wilmington,
County of New Castle. The name of the Corporation's registered agent at such
address is The Corporation Trust Company.

                                   ARTICLE III

     The purpose of the Corporation shall be to engage in any lawful act or
activity for which corporations may be organized and incorporated under the
DGCL.

                                   ARTICLE IV

     Section 1. Authorized Stock. The Corporation shall be authorized to issue
(a) 10,000 shares of common stock, $0.01 par value per share ("Common Stock")
and (b) 10,000 shares of preferred stock ("Preferred Stock"), $0.01 par value
per share.

     Section 2. Preferred Stock. Shares of Preferred Stock may be issued from
time to time in one or more series. The Board (as defined below) is authorized
to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences and the
relative, participation, optional or other rights, if any, and the
qualifications, limitations or restrictions thereof, of any unissued series of
Preferred Stock; and to fix the number of shares constituting such series, and
to increase or decrease the number of shares of any such series (but not below
the number of shares thereof then outstanding).


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     Section 3. Voting Rights. Except as otherwise provided herein, by law or by
the resolution or resolutions adopted by the Board designating the rights,
powers and preferences of any series of Preferred Stock, the Common Stock shall
have the exclusive right to vote for the election of directors and for all other
purposes. Each share of Common Stock shall have one vote, and the Common Stock
shall vote together as a single class.

                                    ARTICLE V

     Unless and except to the extent that the Bylaws of the Corporation shall so
require, the election of directors of the Corporation need not be by written
ballot.

                                   ARTICLE VI

     In furtherance and not in limitation of the powers conferred by law, the
Board of Directors of the Corporation (the "Board") is expressly authorized and
empowered to make, alter and repeal the Bylaws of the Corporation by a majority
vote at any regular or special meeting of the Board or by written consent,
subject to the power of the stockholders of the Corporation to alter or repeal
any Bylaws made by the Board.

                                   ARTICLE VII

     The Corporation reserves the right at any time and from time to time to
amend, alter, change or repeal any provision contained in this Amended and
Restated Certificate of Incorporation, and any other provisions authorized by
the laws of the State of Delaware at the time in force may be added or inserted,
in the manner now or hereafter prescribed by law; and all rights, preferences
and privileges of whatsoever nature conferred upon stockholders, directors or
any other persons whomsoever by and pursuant to this Amended and Restated
Certificate of Incorporation in its present form or as hereafter amended are
granted subject to the right reserved in this Article.

                                  ARTICLE VIII

     Section 1. Elimination of Certain Liability of Directors. A director of the
Corporation shall not be personally liable to the Corporation or its
stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director,
except for liability (i) for any breach of the director's duty of loyalty to the
Corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or
which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) under
Section 174 of the DGCL, or (iv) for any transaction from which the director
derived an improper personal benefit.


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     Section 2. Indemnification and Insurance.

     (a) Right to Indemnification. Each person who was or is made a party or is
threatened to be made a party to or is involved in any action, suit or
proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative
(hereinafter a "proceeding"), by reason of the fact that he or she, or a person
of whom he or she is the legal representative, is or was a director or officer
of the Corporation or is or was serving at the request of the Corporation as a
director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation or of a limited
liability company, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise,
including service with respect to employee benefit plans, whether the basis of
such proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a director,
officer, employee or agent or in any other capacity while serving as a director,
officer, employee or agent, shall be indemnified and held harmless by the
Corporation to the fullest extent authorized by the DGCL, as the same exists or
may hereafter be amended (but, in the case of any such amendment, only to the
extent that such amendment permits the Corporation to provide broader
indemnification rights than said law permitted the Corporation to provide prior
to such amendment), against all expense, liability and loss (including
attorneys' fees, judgments, fines, amounts paid or to be paid in settlement, and
excise taxes or penalties arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act of 1974) reasonably incurred or suffered by such person in connection
therewith and such indemnification shall continue as to a person who has ceased
to be a director, officer, employee or agent and shall inure to the benefit of
his or her heirs, executors and administrators; provided, however, that, except
as provided in paragraph (2) hereof, the Corporation shall indemnify any such
person seeking indemnification in connection with a proceeding (or part thereof)
initiated by such person only if such proceeding (or part thereof) was
authorized by the Board. The right to indemnification conferred in this Section
shall be a contract right and shall include the right to be paid by the
Corporation the expenses incurred in defending any such proceeding in advance of
its final disposition; provided, however, that, if the DGCL requires, the
payment of such expenses incurred by a director or officer in his or her
capacity as a director or officer (and not in any other capacity in which
service was or is rendered by such person while a director or officer,
including, without limitation, service to an employee benefit plan) in advance
of the final disposition of a proceeding, shall be made only upon delivery to
the Corporation of an undertaking, by or on behalf of such director or officer,
to repay all amounts so advanced if it shall ultimately be determined that such
director or officer is not entitled to be indemnified under this Section or
otherwise. The Corporation may, by action of the Board, provide indemnification
to employees and agents of the Corporation with the same scope and effect as the
foregoing indemnification of directors and officers.

     (b) Right of Claimant to Bring Suit. If a claim under paragraph (1) of this
Section is not paid in full by the Corporation within thirty days after a
written claim has been received by the Corporation, the claimant may at any time
thereafter bring suit against the Corporation to recover the unpaid amount of
the claim and, if successful in whole or in part, the claimant shall be entitled
to be paid also the expense of prosecuting such claim. It shall be a defense to
any such action (other than an action brought to enforce a claim for expenses
incurred in defending any proceeding in advance of its final disposition where
the required undertaking, if any is required, has been tendered to the
Corporation) that the claimant has not met the standards of conduct which make
it permissible under the DGCL for the Corporation to indemnify the


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claimant for the amount claimed, but the burden of proving such defense shall be
on the Corporation. Neither the failure of the Corporation (including its Board,
independent legal counsel, or its stockholders) to have made a determination
prior to the commencement of such action that indemnification of the claimant is
proper in the circumstances because he or she has met the applicable standard of
conduct set forth in the DGCL, nor an actual determination by the Corporation
(including its Board, independent legal counsel, or its stockholders) that the
claimant has not met such applicable standard of conduct, shall be a defense to
the action or create a presumption that the claimant has not met the applicable
standard of conduct.

     (c) Non-Exclusivity of Rights. The right to indemnification and the payment
of expenses incurred in defending a proceeding in advance of its final
disposition conferred in this Section shall not be exclusive of any other right
which any person may have or hereafter acquire under any statute, provision of
the Certificate of Incorporation, By-law, agreement, vote of stockholders or
disinterested directors or otherwise.

     (d) Insurance. The Corporation may maintain insurance, at its expense, to
protect itself and any director, officer, employee or agent of the Corporation
or another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise
against any such expense, liability or loss, whether or not the Corporation
would have the power to indemnify such person against such expense, liability or
loss under the DGCL.


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     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation
has been executed by a duly authorized officer this 23d day of December, 1997.



                       AMERISERVE FOOD DISTRIBUTION, INC.


                                   By: /s/  Raymond E. Marshall
                                       -------------------------------------
                                        Name: Raymond E. Marshall
                                        Title: President




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