From the University of Texas
at Austin, KUT Radio,
this is In Black America.
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
that is 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, very few
companies produce those products.
And 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 female
who doesn't have time to
reduce. The traditional dishes
that she had grown up with.
The late William F.
Bill Williams co-founder of Glory
Foods, Incorporated.
In 1989, with three of his
colleagues, he developed the concept
of Glory Food.
Research revealed there was a void
in the marketplace for food products
targeting African-American
consumers.
In 1992, Glory Food began
distributing its 17 Southern-style
food products in supermarkets
throughout central Ohio.
Today, Glory Foods.
The strip is a full line of seasoned
canned vegetables, frozen entrees,
and side dishes to over
140 supermarket chains
throughout the country.
Before his death in 2001,
William worked tirelessly on his
personal mission to attract young
African Americans to the culinary
arts and the hospitality industry.
Glory Foods had to stab his
scholarships in disregarding his
namesake and continued to support
other programs for minority
students.
At Disney, Glory Foods donates
thousands of his products to food
banks in need each year.
In 2010, Glory donated
products to support relief efforts
following hurricane damage in
Haiti.
Williams died on December 27,
2001.
He was 57 years old.
I'm Johnny L.
Hanson Jr.
And welcome to another edition of
In Black America.
On this week's program, remembering
William F.
Bill Williams, co-founder of
Glory Foods, Incorporated.
In Black America.
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, buy the cornbread,
buy our hot sauce, buy her
greens.
Buy 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.
That was our thinking and
in a relatively short
period of time could offer her
family a traditional wholesome meal.
The increasing popularity of ethnic
foods have helped spur Glory Foods'
growth. Ethnic foods are a $75
billion a year market in this
country.
According to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Economic
Research Service, more
than a third of its sales are made
at supermarkets, which is where
Glory Foods sells its product.
William attended the Culinary
Institute of America, where he
graduated with honors.
He went on to attain his bachelor's
degree in hotel and restaurant
management.
From the University of
Massachusetts.
He then spent more than 20 years as
a food and beverage manager for
hotel and restaurant chains.
William was one of Columbus, Ohio's
most respected businessmen and
restaurateurs.
In addition to ownership of Glory
Foods, he also owned and
managed a specialty food
distribution company and the Marble
Gang Restaurant.
A strong advocate of minority
representation in the food and
beverages industry, William served
on numerous boards supporting
this effort.
He was co-chairman of Ohio State
University's College of Food,
Agriculture, and Environmental
Sciences, where he helped raise
$7 million in endowments
for African-American students
pursuing degrees in agribusiness.
In 1996, Glory Food
was named Black Enterprise
Magazine's Emerging Company
of the Year.
In December 2009, Glory
food was sold to McCall Farms,
Incorporated.
According to the current president,
Jacqueline Neal, Glory Food has
become a subsidiary of
McCall and will remain a separate
minority controlled and managed
company.
In 1996, In Black America
spoke with the late William F.
Bill Williams.
I'm from Columbus, Ohio.
It's my home.
I attended school,
the 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 Commerce, 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-times
jobs then I just carried it on
as a vocation.
What are some of the joys in 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 in 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 it, you know,
you learn how to schedule
and produce things.
You have to become a marketer.
You have 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 in the areas that you
want to work in.
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 Marvel
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.
And so therefore, we didn't have to
carry a lot at debt.
I went about hiring people that
had already had some training in
food service, and that prevented
me from having to
spend a lot of extra money in
training, et cetera,
in getting the restaurant open in a
timely manner.
When one attends college and
majoring 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 restaurant hotel law,
which you must have
some understanding of.
There's microbiology,
there is bacteriology,
there are 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 matter of a 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 lines 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
and various other ethnic groups are
represented in the grocery chains,
but you will not see anything
that is African-American represented
by African-Americans,
whether it's a,
we don't sell any of the pork
products to the grocery stores, we
very few
companies produce those products.
And 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 will...
Would appeal to the professional
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,
were there any research mechanisms
in which you all had to
perform to somewhat convince
lending institutions that this was
a viable idea?
Yes, we did approach
a marketing company in
New York Lockhart& Pettis 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 is a viable mark.
That we were able to take that
information then and convince our
bankers and
our grocery.
Change that there was a
viable market 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,
buy the cornbread, buy
our hot sauce, buy out greens.
Buy 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.
That was our thinking and a
relatively short period of time
could offer her family a
traditional Wholesome meal.
Without giving away any of the
trade 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?
Or is just a guarded company secret?
It's an
approved process.
Okay.
And the approval organization,
FDA, or?
It's the food canners.
Okay.
Processors Association.
Who are some of the other
individuals that make up Glory
Foods?
Uh... Iris mccord
she and i work together at lazarus
she has a marketing degree
from uh...
Uh... Indiana university and uh...
She and I work together lazarus
developing new concepts in
restaurants there uh...
Lazarus is a large department store
here in comers ohio
uh... There is a fellow by
the name of dan charna who for
me at Lazarus in one
of my restaurants.
And there's another partner
by the name of Gar Kenley,
who he and I became
partners in real
estate here in Clemson, Ohio, as
a matter of fact.
This is In Black America.
We'll be back with more of our
conversation in a moment.
And now back to this episode
of In Black American.
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 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 development of
the 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 cost 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 and
microwavable products that
the professional
African American
woman can have
an alternative for her family.
Once you convinced the financial
institutions that this was a
great idea, was it difficult
in 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...
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 be
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, D.C.,
all the way around through the
southeast to Memphis.
And you'll find Giant
and Safeway in the Washington
Baltimore markets and
Northern Virginia.
You'll find Foodline in
Virginia, North Carolina,
and South Carolina.
And you'll find it in...
The Atlanta and
Georgia, you'll find it in the
Winn-Dixie chain, you will find it
in the Kroger chain,
the SuperValue and
in fact in all major chains there
in the Georgia
area.
And in Alabama we're in
Calhoun, it's
an African-American owned
company there that has been
doing just a tremendous job
there.
Montgomery, Salem,
and Tuskegee.
And we've been working very
closely with them and enjoying our
relationship.
Memphis, we're with Kroger Chain,
and
then we go then
back up through
Nashville, Louisville,
and Cincinnati, and Columbus.
Those are the marks that we're in
presently.
Why do you believe your particular
entrepreneurial business
is a great business for
African Americans to become involved
in?
Uh... I i think it's because it
hasn't been as
well as
uh... It could be
uh... I think the majority
companies uh...
Simply do not no or understand
that there are differences
in the
uh... Populations and
uh... They you know they tried to
create products that are homogeneous
to everyone and
uh... We think that uh...
Well, it has always been known to
African-Americans that like hair
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.
I think you're starting to see
stockings are being.
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
want it 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 others
things like that that will allow
you to have your niche market
and you can
develop it and not have
to compete.
With them on their
terms, but simply work in the 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 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 ideas 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?
Uh... Didn't know that you knew that
uh... We uh...
We have not only
uh... From the beginning of the
concept the very beginning irish
mccord and i agree
that whatever we would do we would
try to do it with
uh... As many african-americans
uh... Do business with his many
africa 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 onto Atlanta,
we tried to stay at the
Barclay, that is a hotel that is
owned by African Americans and
our marketing
people are African Americans.
Our public relations firm is
out of Atlanta, they are African
American. We
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 eyed peas 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
completes 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, you know, from our very
beginning, if our offices are
located within the community,
our investments are located within
our community.
We contribute
large
dollars to various
African American type
of projects and things
throughout the country now.
As a result of the growth and
development of Glory Foods.
It's been win-win for all of us
at this point.
Bill, could you give us a definition
of Southern cooking?
Uh, definition?
Or somewhat explain it, can you
explain it?
It is just a feeling that one has
when he or she is in the kitchen.
John, 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 one
of those items and so they took
a chicken that was
a tough old bird
and made it.
Very tasty.
They had to take the
collard greens that were tough and
make them tasty.
And so it's a,
you know, you had to 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 I
don't know this, but
I believe that that's why
it was called soul food.
You had to put yourself into
that food to make it
special. Otherwise,
sweet potatoes that you
don't really put a lot of
love into are just not quite
as good as
those that your mother put a
And the same, you know,
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 wholesome meal,
whether you're poor 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 almost holy if
you enjoy
these simple things in life.
Are you all health conscious at
Glory Foods, considering the
levels of fat, sodium, etc.
That are currently in cancer?
In fact that was a,
from the beginning it
was a concern from
the very beginning that we would
not be able to produce this product
in a
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 7.
Sodium.
So what we did was
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 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
prepared it yourself at home
Bill I wish you
I'm sorry.
I'm-I'm sorry, John.
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 in
knowing that 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 to best, and that's our
company logo.
The late William F.
Bill Williams, co-founder of Glory
Foods.
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I'm Johnny L.
Hanson, Jr.
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