FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- This year R. L. Schreiber, Inc., provider of food bases and spices to the foodservice industry, celebrates its fiftieth year in business. The first twenty five years, from 1968 to 1993, were driven by its founder, Raymond L. Schreiber. Leadership transitioned to his children when Ray passed away in 1993. Today, his kids remain at the helm along with members of the third generation and non-family management.
Ray was the younger of two sons; his parents were Austrian and Czechoslovakian immigrants. His father, Leo, was an artisan who crafted leather gloves worn by European royalty, turned bookkeeper after moving to the United States. His mother, Mary, made fur garments for a Minneapolis company, and was an outstanding cook and baker. With his pedigree of hard working artisans, passion for excellent food, and solid history of work experience, Ray set out on a mission.
When Raymond Schreiber moved his wife Jane, five kids and a dog from Minnesota to Fort Lauderdale in the summer of 1968 to start a food business, it was a gigantic leap driven by vision, faith and courage. The younger of his kids remember him selling the idea to them by saying Florida is where Disney World was being built. The older kids were familiar with the allure of Spring Break, and Jane, his wife, knew she would enjoy the sunshine, beaches and warm lifestyle change.
Vision, Faith and Courage
Ray wanted his own company where he could manifest his vision for success by engaging his work ethic, experience, high quality products and strong relationships with people. With a few careers in his rear view that built more character and knowledge than fortune, he was resilient in his hunger for success. His new venture would allow him the opportunity to build a business on the foundation of proven recipes, experience and values.
Ray was a man of great faith, and instilled that in his family. He believed in his mission, the products, himself and God. This faith was an essential ingredient in his plan, because it supported the king sized portion of courage required to accomplish this dream. His vision and personal faith kept him strong and focused; his belief in the products and ability to connect with people provided the enthusiasm to create awareness and desire in the marketplace.
With the formulas in hand for exciting products, Ray began making them in his small plant in an industrial area near the Fort Lauderdale airport. He passionately crafted the products in the morning, and personally delivered them to local restaurants in the afternoon. His kids helped on the weekends and after school, progressively playing bigger and bigger roles in the business.
The initial product line was a modest selection of high quality bases, one soup mix and one seasoning blend. The handcrafted integrity of the products, along with Ray's enthusiastic and vibrant presentation immediately roused excitement and loyalty of chefs, and set the foundation for enduring values that remain integral in the business today. In 1978, a full spice line was added to the offerings, and the selection of culinary items continued to grow.
The Company – Today and Tomorrow
Today, R. L. Schreiber, Inc. proudly offers over 1000 culinary items that infuse vibrant flavor and convenience to thousands of professional kitchens. The company is also known and appreciated for its high standards in food safety protocol and great quality.
The product line is primarily distributed through a network of independent purveyors who engage a high-touch model with their fully stocked trucks delivering immediate gratification to culinary specialists. The distributor network thrives from coast to coast with a network of over one hundred.
There are currently 130 employees between its new Fort Lauderdale headquarters and its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Kentucky. In 2011 R. L. Schreiber, Inc. moved its spice manufacturing to a brand new 125,000 square foot plant in Lebanon, Kentucky. The Kentucky facility offers increased production capacity, enhanced R & D and Food Safety areas, professional kitchen and a purveyor training center.
Additionally, the company moved its center of operations from Pompano Beach, Florida back to Fort Lauderdale in April of 2018. This synchronistic move within the scope of the Fifty Year Anniversary is auspicious and exciting. The shift into beautiful new headquarters sets the stage for a vigorous launch into the next fifty years.
The brand continues to flourish upon its original values of Safety, Quality, Unity, Integrity, Profitable Growth and Service Excellence. These standards have driven the family business's culture from day one, and offer a solid foundation for the dynamic growth that R. L. Schreiber, Inc. works toward every day. These timeless values remain a viable base from which to nurture its culture and growth, enhanced by technology and innovation going forward.
In honor of the company's Fiftieth Year, the brand's identity features a revitalized logo and enhanced focus on the company as Purveyors of Fine Flavors. The enhancement symbolizes the trademark's robust history, traditional values, as well as its commitment to progressing into a new age with technological advancements, compelling product lines and a new generation to facilitate and manage growth.
Anne Schreiber explains, "One of our biggest sources of pride is the fierce loyalty many of our customers have for our products and service. You know you are doing something right when people insist on your products, and have been buying them for decades! It's a very good feeling. We appreciate the business, and are very grateful for the opportunity to provide that through our purveyors."
In its fiftieth year, R. L. Schreiber, Inc. has renewed its sponsorship of the American Culinary Federation's (ACF) Student Team Competition and Award. The ACF was established in 1929 and is the largest professional culinary organization in North America with over 22,000 members in 230 chapters across the United States. "The sponsorship is an exciting way to support young chefs, while immersing in the heartbeat of the industry at these events," says Tom Schreiber, Sr.
As R. L. Schreiber, Inc. looks at the next fifty years, it honors and re-commits to the timeless strength of the values upon which it was conceived and built. With great pride, satisfaction, anticipation and gratitude, the R. L. Schreiber, Inc. family celebrates its golden year anniversary. With continued vision, faith and courage it embraces a commitment to innovate and respond to the needs and offerings of a new generation in the marketplace and in leadership as the family's third generation comes of age. The mission is to nurture growth and relevance in the market, and continue to be a vibrant player in the success stories of our customers.
Katie Schreiber Peterson says, "Gratitude holds a big place in our fifty year celebration, for our parents, employees, purveyors, customers, suppliers and families. It's a really big deal, a great accomplishment that we are very grateful for and proud of. We plan to do it for the next fifty years and beyond."
SOURCE R.L. Schreiber
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