Farewell to MBM Corporation

Well everyone looks like it's sundown for another one as, we bid our final farewell to the MBM Corporation of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, bye bye MBM bye bye.

MBM I think in a way served so many of us so well, although I personally can't say I ate at many of there customers all to often. However the few times I ate at Red Lobster I thought wow this is really good, I do indeed enjoy these "Cheddar Bay Biscuits".

However, I prefer Macaroni Grill over Olive Garden and have only been to Olive Garden a few times over the course of my life so I can't say I helped them with that either.

However they do, do Arby's in my area and that is one place I have been to many of times so there's where it all works out for me.

Anyhow I better get some history up before MBM disappears into oblivion and nobody ever hears of them again. There information is already getting hard to find on the internet and there website is no more. Corporately they have been already rolled into McLane Food Service and are just a fading memory.
You can see the MBM decale's have been ripped from the doors of the tractors and replaced with MFS Fleet. No more will we see MBM with there orange and black stripe rocketing across the roads of America to deliver only the finest of ingredients to today's hottest and noisiest casual chain restaurants. No more the MBM logo from years ago broadcasting to the world that they are from Rocky Mount, NC it's all going to be just a happy memory of the past.

However, it's not over yet so come with me as we take a look back at one of this industries favorite companies.

It all started with humble beginnings on Meadowbrook Road in Rocky Mount, North Carolina in 1947. Where a man named J. R. Wordsworth decided he was going to start a meat distribution business, Wordsworth passed away in April of 2014. The company over the years grew to a national icon and became one of the largest players in the customized food service distribution business.

However first they were in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, distributing meat to local stores and restaurants out of the back of pick up trucks. However there was another company also based out of Rocky Mount, North Carolina and MBM and this other company would eventually combine forces and they would forge one of the most famous business relationships in all of America spanning multiple decades. Through out the 1940s and 1950s and 1960s and even into the 1970s MBM company just took there time and delivered retail food goods out of the back of a pick up truck to retail grocery stores. They were a small time grocery store supplier.

However, in 1976 Wordsworth's children bought the business from there father and totally transformed it.
Retail grocery sales were out and chain restaurants were starting to pop up it was time to move. The children traded in those pick up trucks for a shiny fleet of state of the art semi trucks with 48' refrigerated trailers. They started supplying meat to chain restaurants along with other groceries and eventually grew in size along with there biggest customer Hardee's.

Hardee's was founded in the late 1950's in Rocky Mount, North Carolina as well. Hardee's had there own manufacturing and distribution business known as Fast Food Merchandisers. However sometime in the late 1980s early 1990's the date is not clear MBM company bought out Fast Food Merchandisers from Hardee's and MBM became Hardee's sole distributor and provider. Which is why you always saw MBM trucks at Hardee's and Carl's JR restaurants. In 1995 MBM also bought out a company known as Proficient Foods Company and operated them until the early 2000's when they merged FFM and PMC all into one company.

Fast Food Merchandisers and PFC were run as whole owned subsidiaries of MBM for a while before all being consolidated into one.

MBM grew to be a national company and operated many distribution centers across the United States serving some of the biggest chains in North America such as Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Long Horn Steak House, Chick Fil a and Del Taco. To name a few.

In 2012 MBM was bought out by rival competitor McLane Company. MBM despite it's size wasn't without it's issues and in 2017 McLane the parent company of MBM decided enough was enough and decided it was time for consolidation. I think everyone knew this was coming and that MBM's days were numbered in early to mid 2017, McLane Food Service restructured and became MFS Fleet and pulled the plug on MBM Corporation. While MBM's warehouses are still operating and MBM marked trailers are still on the road, all the tractors have had the MBM logo removed from the door and MBM's website is no longer functioning it now takes you to McLane Food Service. McLane was the stronger better run operation out of the two companies and this isn't really a shock to anyone as MBM has now become a fallen flag them selves just like the companies of yesteryear that they bought out.

 

MBM is/was a national company they had warehouses across the United States, they were based out of North Carolina, they had a number of warehouses in Florida and down south. They did have a warehouse in Columbus, Ohio and some kind of site in Napoleon, Ohio. Also a warehouse in Denver, Colorado and a couple warehouses in California.

 

They were a very well paying operation. I wanted to work there, but there warehouse was to far away and they weren't any better paying then where I work now, plus the company I work for is better run and more organized. However MBM had some big accounts and they paid very well. The equipment they ran was lease equipment and it was iffy equipment and what not, but like I said they had some big accounts paid good and were a serious company to work for.

 

No no no Martin Brower is alive and well. This is MBM Meadowbrook Meat Company of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. They are a national customized food service distributor that delivered to Red Lobster, Denny's, Olive Garden, etc etc etc. They did all the Darden Restaurants and many other major serious chain restaurants. They were bought out in 2012 by McLane and folded into McLane this year.