In Black America; Glory Foods, Inc. with William Williams

Be Be Be Be From the Longhorn Radio Network, the University of Texas at Austin, this is in Black America. We had been selling foods here in Ohio and we established a large line of credits with those major manufacturers in the country. We noticed that the African American was not represented in a grocery stores.

As you will see the Asians and the Spanish speaking people, Latinos and various other ethnic groups are represented in the grocery chains. But you will not see anything as African American represented by African Americans. We don't sell any of the pork products in the grocery stores. We don't produce those products. We thought that we would like to become a company that would know the African American community better than any other company and specialize in it and be able to do a job that would appeal to the professional African American community. The female who doesn't have time to produce the traditional dishes that she had grown up with.

William Bill Williams, president and founder of Glory Fools Incorporated and Ohio based company, marketing African American food products. Black owned companies are getting into the ethnic food market, cooking up a recipe for profit by tickling the taste buds of African Americans. The ethnic food market has grown in average 9.4% annually over the past decade. In 1992 sales were over $9 billion. In July of 1992, Glory Fools began selling a line of 17 sold food products, including fill peas, pinto beans, sweet potatoes, and five different types of greens, okra, home style, and golden cornbread mix. After extensive survey and taste testing before launching the products, Glory Fools found that African Americans were not being served by the grocery industry. In 1996, Glory Fools was named Black Enterprise Magazine's Emerging Company of the Year. I'm John L. Hanson Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America.

On this week's program, Glory Fools with president and founder William Bill Williams in Black America. I think it's because it hasn't been served as well as it could be. I think the majority companies simply do not know or understand that there are differences in the populations. And they try to create products that are homogenous to everyone. And we think that, well, it has always been known to African Americans that like care care products. And if we can think and have the ability to really look at things, we can see that there's other products that are completely different. In 1989, doing a discussion between friends about the traditional holiday meals prepared by various ethnic groups.

Bill Williams noted that while African Americans ate specific foods, such as black eyed peas and greens to commemorate certain holidays, none of these foods are really available without hours of preparation, developing the concept for three years. In 1992, the initial line of products were announced that included heat and eat canned vegetables, bread mixes, and condiments. Bill Williams has over 20 years of experience in the food business, including managing hotels and restaurant chains. He is a graduate from the culinary institute of America. And his Columbus Ohio restaurant, the marble gang, is in its 11th year of operation. Recently, I spoke with William Bill Williams regarding his career and glory foods. I'm from Columbus, Ohio, it's my home. I attended school culinary institute of America in New Haven, Connecticut, and got a culinary background and I began working in hotels and restaurants. About 11 years ago, I started my own restaurant here in Columbus, Ohio called the marble gang, which is a neighborhood restaurant that appeals to upscale African American consumers here in Columbus, Ohio.

Okay, how did you happen to spark an interest in food service? I actually did not spark an interest in food service. It was pretty much directed to me from high school and because of my part-time jobs and things. And from those part-time jobs, then I just carried it on as a vocation interest. What are some of the joys and being in the restaurant business? For me, it has been a good income producing business. I've met a lot of people throughout the country and have a lot of friends in the industry, which allows me to live a good lifestyle and traveling on vacations and or traveling with hotels. You spent 20 years in the food and beverage management for hotels and restaurant chains. What are some of the things that you've learned from working in other restaurants and hotels?

The big advantage in working in restaurant hotels is that you're completely involved in everything from the producing of the food itself, which makes you learn how to schedule and produce things. You have to become a marketer, you have to learn how to sell that product on a menu, how to go and observe other competitors, which allows you to be first or try to be first in the areas that you want to work in. It also teaches you markups and how to keep your price competitive with other very competitive restaurants and hotels. The Marble Gang has somewhat lasted through financial challenges over the years in Columbus. Can you put your finger on why you were somewhat successful and has been successful in the same location? It's been there 11 years. At the time we developed the Marble Gang, we did not put a lot of investment into it.

We were able to take an existing facility that had some advantages and we created a look that was timely for the restaurant. So therefore we didn't have to carry a lot of debt. I went about hiring people that already had some training in food service and that prevented me from having to spend a lot of extra money and training and getting the restaurant open in a timely manner. When one attends college and major in hotel and restaurant management, is it more than just preparing food that's a part of the curriculum? Oh yes, there's all sorts of things that are involved. There's a restaurant hotel law which you must have some understanding of. There's microbiology, there's bacteriology, there's courses in dairy science. You have your county major, your county that you have to complete.

You have your business courses that you have to complete. So it's a well-rounded education that can prepare you for business in general. One of the things that is done as a matter of fact because of my understanding of how food was produced, it allowed me to experiment and develop the concept of glory foods as a matter of fact. How did you happen to come up with the idea for glory foods? We had been selling foods here in Ohio and we established a large line of credit with those major manufacturers in the country. We noticed that the African American was not represented in the grocery stores. As you will see the Asians and the Spanish speaking people, Latinos and various other ethnic groups are represented in the grocery chains but you will not see anything as African American represented by African Americans.

Whether it's a, we don't sell any of the pork products to the grocery stores, we don't produce, we are very few companies produce those products. We thought that we would like to become a company that would know the African American community better than any other company and specialize in it and be able to do a job that would appeal to the professional. The African American female who doesn't have time to produce the traditional dishes that she had grown up with and we thought that that would create a very good food product for the home. Besides knowing that you had a good idea and an excellent product, whether any research mechanism in which you all had to perform to somewhat convinced lending institutions that this was a viable idea.

Yes, we did approach a marketing company in New York Lockhart, that did some research for us to determine that there was a viable market there. We were able to take that information then and convince the processors that there was a viable market. We were able to take that information then and convince our bankers and our grocery chains that there was a viable market so from that research as a matter of fact. Did you start out with the 17 items that you currently have or there was a limited number of items in which you began with? We originally started with the 17 items. It was our idea at that time to do everything that was necessary to complete a meal for the modern professional African American female. Thinking that if she wanted to have a traditional meal for her family, she could go to the store by the cornbread, by our hot sauce, by our greens, by our black eyed peas, go to the fish counter and get herself a piece of catfish, fry the catfish and simply heat up the products, the glory food products and have a complete meal.

We are thinking and relatively short period time could offer her family a traditional wholesome meal. Without giving away any of the tray secrets, was it difficult in making the small amounts that is required to go into a can that's going to actually have a significant shelf life? It was extremely difficult because it's a completely different process. The process that we use with glory foods is a new and different process. Is it a patented process?

It was just a guarded company secret. It's an approved process. Okay. And the approval organization FDA or... It's the food canners. Processors association. Okay. Who are some of the other individuals that make up glory food? There's Iris McCord. She and I worked together at Lazarus. She has a marketing degree from Indiana University. And she and I worked together at Lazarus developing new concepts and restaurants there. Lazarus is the large department store here in Kumis, Ohio. There's a fellow by the name of Dan Sharna who worked for me at Lazarus in one of my restaurants there. And there's another partner by the name of Garth Henley who...

He and I became partners in a real estate here in Kumis, Ohio, as a matter of fact. Was it a tremendous financial outlay to actually launch glory foods to the point it is today? Initially it was not. In the past year we've had to really start to invest quite a large sale. We've had to invest large dollars into the concept because of the growth phase that we're in now. Expanding faster than we are producing dollars as a matter of fact. But initially it was a really time and effort spent in the research and developing another concept which was... ...done in our spare time and our extra time.

So we put the real cost in the front end and kept those costs at a minimum. And we have begun now to put large dollars into it to advertise the product to let it be known to the consumer that there is an alternative to corn and to other vegetables. The point is that micro-wavable products that the professional African-American woman can have an alternative for a family. Once you convinced the financial institutions that this was a great idea was a difficult and convincing the supermarket chains around the country that this is a viable product in which they should stock in their stores. Actually we've had a lot of very good warm welcomes by the grocery chains. We started with here in Columbus a Terry Smith who we had been working with for about ten years.

Terry gave us the test for glory foods in very short order. And the test was extremely successful and things went extremely well during that period. So the other stores now looking at the large sales that we were creating and the customer base that we're creating for them. They've been very pleased and they've been welcoming us as we travel and expand our distribution. What are some of the names of the stores and other major states or cities in which one could find glory foods? Today we're from Washington DC all the way around to the southeast to Memphis and you'll find giant and safe way in the Washington Baltimore markets and northern Virginia. You'll find a food line in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

And you'll find it in the Atlanta man Georgia. You'll find it in the Windixie chain. You'll find it in the Crogor chain, the Super Value and in fact in all major chains there in the Georgia area. And in Alabama we're in Calhouns, it's an African American owned company there that has been doing I just a tremendous job there in Montgomery, Salem and Tuskegee. And we've been working very closely with them and enjoying our relationship. Memphis we're with Crogor chain and then we go then back up through Nashville, Louisville and Cincinnati and Calhouns. Those are the markets that we're in presently.

Why do you believe your particular entrepreneurial business is a great business for African Americans to become involved in? I think it's because it hasn't been served as well as it could be. I think the majority companies simply do not know or understand that there are differences in the populations and they try to create products that are homogeneous to everyone. And we think that well it has always been known to African Americans that like care care products and if we can think and have the ability to really look at things we could see that there's other products that are completely different. I think you're starting to see stockings are different today for African Americans than they were in the past and there was a time when we would simply wear whatever stockings that were being produced even though they didn't fit us properly or wanted on. So that creates an opportunity for someone to develop that line and become the expert in that area.

I think that there's other types of products. I can't think of those items today but there's other things like that that will allow you to have your little niche market. And you can develop it and not have to compete with them on their terms but simply work in your area that you can be good in. In fact my restaurant is a classic example of that. We're located in the heart of the African American community and we have a very good reputation of white and black customers of all income levels that are in the market. I don't have a lot of competition with and that's allowed me to be there and strong financially for the past 11 years now whereas a lot of people have come and gone with all sorts of great ideals here in the Columbus market. Why don't you feel it was important for glory food to form a partnership with South Carolina African American farmers?

I didn't know that you knew that. We have not only from the beginning of the concept, the very beginning. I was record and I agree that whatever we would do we would try to do it with as many African Americans do business with as many African Americans as possible. So if we go into a city in Charlotte we try to stay there at McDonald's that's a hotel and restaurant there in Charlotte. If we go into Atlanta we try to stay at the Barclay that's a hotel that's owned by African Americans and our marketing people are African Americans. Our public relation firm is out of Atlanta they're African American. We then thought that if we're going to be buying these black IPs we need to get African American farmers growing these black IPs for us and so we've encouraged them to grow black IPs which gives them a better margin than if they're growing soybeans or corn. So it's a starting place and we're trying to encourage them to produce the products that we are producing now and we just think that it's a complete our objectives of trying to grow and develop ourselves.

Does glory food have a commitment to the community? It has yes and it continues. I mean that goes all the way back from our very beginning if our offices are located within the community our investments are located within the community. We contribute large dollars to various African American tight projects and things throughout the country now as a result of the growth and development of glory foods. It's been when when for all of us at this point.

Bill could you give us a definition of Southern cooking definition or someone explain it can you explain it is just the feeling that one has when he or she is in the kitchen. My definition always has been that African Americans had to take food products that were marginal food items and they had to make them taste good. So if you will chicken and dumplings was a one of those items and so they they took a chicken that was tough or bird and made it very tasty. They had to take the collagen that were tough and make them tasty and so it's a you know you had to take those food items that you had and make them special. And I think that that is why there was always more love and more care given to the soul food and then I don't know this but I believe that that's why it was called soul food.

So you had to put yourself into that food to make it special otherwise you know sweet potatoes that you know you don't really put a lot of love into or just not quite as good. So you know your mother put a lot of love into it and the same you know if you can just throw cornbread together and it's not very special but if you put a little love into it it becomes very special and it makes for a complete dinner. You can take a pot of beans and you can have a whole some meal whether you pour or rich and when we eat now my family we have our pinto beans often now with our cornbread and we say you know that's a complete meal for us today. And we feel pretty good about that because you know it's it's almost holy if you enjoy these simple things in life.

Are you all health conscious at glory foods considering the levels of fat sodium et cetera that are currently in cancer? Yes in fact that was a from the beginning it was a concern from from the very beginning that we would not be able to produce this product in a modern, modern period of time because if you produce good tasting soul food invariably you're going to have to use large amounts of fat and large amounts of fat. So what we did was we we developed really spices and a recipe that we think is a lot less fat content and or sodium than what you would produce in your own home. So although we have not produced this product to say that it is a a health food and we're not selling as a health food but we're seeing that it is a better prepared food item you then if you prepare it yourself at home.

Bill I wish you go ahead I'm sorry I'm sorry John. Okay I want you to complete your statement. So although we're not selling health food we are selling food that will allow you to be very comfortable knowing that you're you're feeding your family which is our company motto just about the best it's not the same as what you can produce in your own home but it's just about the best and that's our company logo. William Bill Williams, President and Founder of Glory Foods. If you have a question or comment or suggestions asked the future in Black America programs write us views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or the University of Texas at Austin until we have the opportunity again for a production assistant Rickah Hammond and IBA's technical producer Cliff Hoggrove. I'm John L Hansen Jr. Please join us again next week.

The cassette copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America cassettes communication building B UT Austin Austin Texas 78712. That's in Black America cassettes communication building B UT Austin Austin Texas 78712. From the University of Texas at Austin this is the Longhorn Radio Network. I'm John L Hansen Jr. Join me this week on in Black America. I have not only from the beginning of this concept very beginning I was record and I agree that whatever we would do we would try to do it with many African Americans. Glory Foods with President and Founder William Bill Williams this week on in Black America.