A brief history of everything.
Somebody once told me, "Running a business is like raising
children: If you want it done right, you'd better do it yourself."
BUDDY CHOAT
Wood Fruitticher
What began as a wholesale food distribution business in 1913 has grown into one of Alabama's largest and most successful institutional food suppliers-distributing fresh and frozen vegetables, meats, condiments and other foodstuffs to the healthcare industry, restaurants, schools and convenience stores in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and southern South Carolina.
Here's an overview of our company history:
- 1913- Dave Wood and Oscar Fruitticher open the company on Morris Avenue in Birmingham, Alabama. (The company later moved to First Avenue North, and then to Third Avenue South near Avondale Mills, before building its current location.)
- 1935- Wood buys out Fruitticher. Financially very conservative, Dave Wood re-invests earnings back into the business at an uncommonly high rate.
- 1942- Dave's son Bill Wood leaves the University of Alabama to join the U.S. Air Force. He serves in North Africa during WWII and returns to the States as a captain and instructor for the balance of his tour.
- 1948- Dave Wood dies in a tragic one-car accident on a rainy Sunday while returning from the dairy farm he operated in Alabama's Black Belt. Young Bill Wood assumes the responsibility of running the business and shifts the company's focus to fewer retailers and more restaurants, schools and hospitals.
- 1980- John and Dave Wood II assume direction of the family business in the wake of their father Bill's death.
- 1980- Wood Fruitticher's sales reach $10 million annually.
- 1984- The company moves into a 100,000-square-foot warehouse at its current location on Alton Road.
- 1994- Wood Fruitticher's sales reach $50 million annually
- 1995- A 21,000 square foot expansion includes new office space, a truck wash bay, a security guard kiosk, a cooler dock, a motor room addition and a warehouse equipment room.
- 1998- Wood Fruitticher's sales reach $80 million annually.
- 1998- Expansion of 28,150 sq.ft. in the freezer, 5,300 sq. ft. in the cooler dock, and 10,100 sq. ft. in equipment storage.
- 1999- Wood Fruitticher deploys the Roadnet route management software program developed by United Parcel Service - increasing the efficiency of their delivery system by 10%.
- 1999- Wood Fruitticher's sales reach $100 million annually.
- 2002- Wood Fruitticher is listed as the 29th-largest food distributor in the United States by Institutional Distribution magazine.
- 2002- Wood Fruitticher's sales reach $120 million annually.
- 2003- Expansion of 62,000 sq. ft. to the dry storage, 7,800 sq. ft. to equipment storage, and 36,075 sq. ft. to the freezer and cooler dock-bringing the building's total square footage to 358,000.
- 2004- Wood Fruitticher's sales reach 182 million annually.
- 2005- Wood Fruitticher's breaks through 200 million in annual sales.
- 2007- Wood Fruitticher is now the 25th largest distributor in the United States.
