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Tennessee: At 50, food supplier sees industry changes

By: Brian Lazenby
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Staff Photo by Gillian Bolsover
Forklift driver Sam Dean works in the freezer room of Tennessee Hotel Supply food distributors Thursday. The company is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

Since Tennessee Hotel Supply was launched in 1958, the food service distributor has undergone multiple transformations to keep up with the changing times and trends in the food delivery business.

“It began with produce and fresh meats, but frozen foods came around and he got interested in that,” said Henry Poss Jr., who took over the business from his late father. “The food industry changes a lot, and that is what makes this so fun.”

Today, the Chattanooga-based company delivers frozen and refrigerated goods, dry goods, canned goods and even some cleaning supplies to restaurants, hotels, churches, day cares, delis and other food service businesses within a 100-mile radius of its 801 E. 12th Street warehouse.

The company recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Betty Knapp, 78, worked at the supply company for almost 30 years before retiring in 1995, yet she continues to be a presence in the facility, acting as a consultant.

“I haven’t missed a beat,” she said. “I’ve been here almost all the time.”

Ms. Knapp said she has seen many changes in the food distribution industry. One of the most significant is the emergence of already prepared products.

“There are so many prepared items now, and the quality of those items has really gotten better,” she said.

When Ms. Knapp began working for THS, the business operated with just a handful of employees on West 11th Street, near where the Chattanooga Convention Center sits today.

Initially the company had only a few employees and delivered to mostly local businesses, but it moved to its current 35,000-square-foot warehouse in 1971.

The company now has 32 employees, seven trucks and does almost $9 million in business a year delivering to Rome, Calhoun, Chattsworth and Ringgold, Ga., as well as Stevenson, Ala., and Jasper, Dunlap and Whitwell, Tenn. — just to name a few.

And Mr. Poss still expects his business to grow.

“We want to grow, and I think there are a lot of opportunities out there,” he said. “We built (the current warehouse) a lot bigger than we needed it so there would be room to grow.”

The biggest challenge facing Mr. Poss today, is competition from food distribution giants, but both Mr. Poss and Ms. Knapp are quick to point out that larger companies cannot provide customers the personalized service that a small company can.

“Customer service is important,” Mr. Poss said. “We can be reached on the weekends, and if someone runs out of something, we can get it on a truck and get it to them.”

“You can’t do that with the biggies,” Ms. Knapp said.

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