Ben E. Keith history

1907 The first branch was established in Wichita Falls, Texas and operated originally under the name of Wichita Produce Company.

1909: Ben E. Keith is named as the company's first salesman.

Ben Keith quickly made himself an important part of the business, and his contribution was recognized in 1911 when the company changed its name to Harkrider-Keith-Cooke Company.

The success of the little produce firm made it possible to open a second house in Fort Worth in 1912.

West Texas would be s erved by the 1914 opening of a branch in Abilene, Texas, the Abilene Fruit and Vegetable Company.

1917 Another of the partners, W. Steve Cooke, withdrew from the company to become a co-founder in a Dodge dealership in Fort Worth and one year later C. E. Harkrider withdrew from the company.

1918 At the age of 36, Ben E. Keith purchased controlling interest of the Harkrider-Keith-Cooke Company and became President and General Manager.

1922 A.A. Jackson Produce was purchased and the building stables were renovated to make room for delivery trucks.

1924 A young man named Gaston Hallam joined the company after two years at Austin College.

1925 Progress enabled the thriving produce company to open an office in Lubbock, Texas to further serve the vast West Texas and New Mexico area.

1926 The Mexia Fruit and Vegetable Company was purchased and Gaston Hallam was again transferred to manager the office.

1928 Although the produce business was extremely profitable during the winter months; however, sales were slow in the summer.

1929 Robert D. Erwin joined the company as branch manager of the Lubbock office, steered it through the Depression, and managed to maintain a steady and profitable business.

1931 Hardriker-Keith-Cooke Company formally changed its name to Ben E. Keith Company.

1933: A beer distribution business is launched.

After Prohibition ende d he became involved in the beer side of the business and in 1939 too k over as manager of the Dallas operation.

1940 The third addition in the company’s expanding product line came in the 1940s with the advent of frozen foods, which had been available on an institutional basis long before they came to the consumer market after World War II.

1941 The company needed a way to connect with households about our fresh produce in grocery stores, so the FRESH FROM KEITH’S slogan was created by Mr.

In 1943 his became one of the first companies in America to offer a pension and profit-sharing plan to employees.

1959 Upon the death of Ben E. Keith, on August 17, 1959, R.D. “Buddy” Erwin succeeded him as president and later chairman of the board and Gaston Hallam, a major stockholder and the longest tenured employee, continued to oversee the beverage operations.

1962 Technology was advancing and during this time the first electric fork-lift was purchased along with gravity controlled conveyor belts, to help simplify our operations.

1965 Buddy retired in April 1965 and announced the promotion of Gaston Hallam to CEO.

1968 Purchased Panhandle Fruit Company in Amarillo, Texas.

The company operated out of this Pearl Street location until a new Dallas warehouse was built 50 years later in 1972.

A new generation of management took over in 1979 when Hallam's sons, Robert and Howard, assumed the top positions.

1980 During the 1980s, Ben E. Keith Company began to reinvent itself, transitioning from a retail produce distributor to a “broad line” foodservice distributor.

1981 Ben E. Keith Foods reached over $100 million in sales.

While in Fort Worth he ascended to the office of General Manager of the Produce Operations where he remained until he became President of Ben E. Keith Foods until his retirement in 1982.

1983 The Johnston Fruit Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was purchased and became the Oklahoma Distribution Center.

1987 Ben E. Keith Company purchased Mid-South Seafood in Little Rock, Arkansas.

This led the company in 1929 to produce a crude gift catalog. It grew by word of mouth and formed the basis of the Ben E. Keith Gift Division, which by 1990 had a mailing list of 100,000 names, speciali zed in gourmet specialty foods, and generated $2 million in annua l sales.

1991 Ben E. Keith purchased the ABC Distributing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which became the Albuquerque Distribution Center.

In July 1993 it began expanding its Denton w arehouse.

In 2000, Ben E. Keith Food sales reached over $600 million.

To keep apace wi th demand, the company in 2003 began to build a $20 million wareh ouse in Amarillo, expanding the current operation from 61,000 square feet to about 250,000 square feet.

They combined to generate sales of $1.5 b illion in 2004, a 12.4 percent increase over the previous year.

2006 Growth and Expansion were the buzz words in 2006.