HATTIESBURG – It’s rare these days for an employee to work with one company for 50 years. Donald B. Suber reached that milestone with the Merchants Foodservice Company before his recent retirement. In his remarkable half-a-century career with the Hattiesburg-based food wholesaler, he advanced from counter salesman to chief executive officer and took the company to new heights.
            A native of Long Beach, Suber graduated from high school in 1953 and left his job as a laundry route salesman in 1956 to take a position as a counter salesman with the Merchants Company at their Gulfport location. By 1962, his career rise had begun when the 26-year-old became Gulfport warehouse manager. In 1968 he transferred to Hattiesburg after being named general manager of the grocery division. Fifteen years after starting as a counter salesman, he became vice president of the grocery division in 1979.
            “I learned the industry by the sweat of the brow,” Suber says. “I came along in a period of history when a college education was not afforded to everyone. I’m not sure that can be done today.”
            Immediately following high school graduation, Suber and a friend went to Detroit to seek their fortune in the automobile industry. When that didn’t work out, Suber went to stay with his sister in New Jersey where he worked in a fountain pen company.
            “It was alright. I was young and had not traveled much,” he recalls. “It was near New York City and I got to see a lot but it gets old fast.”
            Suber returned to Mississippi and wasn’t tempted to leave again. After taking the job with the Merchants Company, he did consider leaving for another company early on. “I was young and thought I could get out and find another job if I had to,” he said. “I interviewed with Nabisco but they wouldn’t hire me because I wasn’t 21. Thank goodness it didn’t work out.”
            Suber became company president in 1987. When he began with the Merchants Company, they were selling food from Kosciusko to the Gulf Coast along with small operations in Bogalusa and Monroe, La. Now the company sells in eight states. The employee base has grown from 100 to over 450. During his tenure as president the average wage increased from $15,000 per employee to over $40,000 per employee.
            Things were changing in the wholesale food business and Don Suber was on the forefront. While he was vice president of the grocery division, three locations changed their focus to food service only. Then in 1987, the company’s direction changed totally from retail grocery distribution to a foodservice distribution.
Andy Mercier, current president and CEO, said, “It was a turning point in the company that assured the 150 employees working at that time there would be a Merchants Company going forward. The company ended that first year of foodservice with $10,000,000 in sales. This year we will exceed $250,000,000. Our economic effect on the area is substantial.”
Suber says he made the pivotal change because he saw the increase coming in dining out. “The mom and pop stores went away to the big grocery chains,” he said. “I felt like the direction would change. In the 1980s, about 75% of food money was spent in grocery stores. Less than 50% is spent today in grocery stores. I decided this was the way we should go.”
He said it got scary at times and he was afraid the company would lose business. Asked how the change of direction decision fared with the company’s board of directors, Suber answered, “No one balked. I guess I was good at selling the idea to them.”
Mercier said the company’s future is brighter than ever because of Suber and his management team. After Suber took the reins as president, his leadership generated over $2 billion in sales, creating opportunities for thousands of people in several states. The estimated payroll for this time frame is $150 million.
“The impact on Hattiesburg alone has been substantial and permanent. The company will continue to grow and prosper. It is safe to say the company might not be in existence today without his leadership and dedication,” he said. “In this day and time, I cannot imagine anyone working for the same company for 50 years. He was working here five years before I was born.”
Suber led Merchants Foodservice into joining the country’s oldest food cooperative, an organization based in Atlanta. He served as chairman of the cooperative’s board of directors for 13 years and ran the operation as president for six months, flying back and forth from Hattiesburg.
Asked about his leadership style, he says he tried to develop people in their own areas of expertise. “Everyone is a member of the Big M family. I could call each employee by name until recently and I was involved with their lives,” he said. “My approach has been different because I came through all facets of the company. I worked in the warehouse and on up when everything was done manually.”
He says his philosophy is to encourage everyone. “Anything I want them to do, I’ll do myself and the employees relate to that,” he said. My name’s Don and I’m another employee. I’ve always been an encourager instead of someone who screams and hollers.”
He adds that his door and phone have always been open to everyone from the top to the bottom of the organization. “The person who unloads in the warehouse is as important as the person who sells the products,” he said.
He feels very satisfied looking at his 50 years with the company and acknowledges the fine people working there. “It took courage to move the company in a different direction but I’m like a bulldog and won’t let go,” he said. “The word no was not in my vocabulary.”
After working 50 years and seven months with a busy, growing company and being actively involved in a trade association, Suber knows he missed a lot of things in family and community life. He and his wife of 33 years, Patricia, plan to travel and do a lot of things together. She retired four years ago after 32 years with the federal courts.
“We thought I’d retire sooner but I had projects I wanted to complete,” he said. “I will be somewhat involved on the company’s board of directors and with special projects to the extent my successor wants, but I don’t think it will be much. A fine young man took my place.”
Suber, who turns 72 in January, loves to play golf and cook. He says he doesn’t have a specialty and can cook pretty much anything. “We joke about it but my wife taught me how to cook,” he said. “I will do more of that now and we will entertain with friends.”
He is also a Rotary Club member and will remain a member of The Merchants Company board of directors.  The couple is actively involved in Temple Baptist Church and have five grown children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

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