F.E.B. Distributing celebrates 90 years

One local beverage distributor is celebrating nine decades in operation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“Each generation has carried on that legacy of hard work, integrity, and what employees mean to sustain our business long term.”

F.E.B. Distributing officially began in the year 1934 by S.J. Bertucci. In 1946, the distributing company took on its official name after his son, Frank’s, initials.

As for how S.J. began the business? “He was quite the entrepreneur. You know, he was street smart, and he built a relationship with the Fabacher family who owned Jax Beer. And he started bringing beer over to the Mississippi Coast before it was actually legal and was able to secure a contract. And was one of the first people in the state of Mississippi that got a legal beer license to distribute beer.”

Nine decades later, it’s no secret relationships matter, but this family gets it to the smallest detail. “We might not always get along, might not always agree. But at the end of the day, we’re family and we all are aligned with what we want to do. Everyone’s role with the company is important in how a case of beer gets on the shelf.”

“A lot of people leave their daily jobs, they go home, and they leave work at work. It’s hard to do that in a family business because you have such a passion and desire for it, but it’s also part of who you are and what makes you who you are.”

The company is an independent wholesaler of beer that distributes to more than 1,000 retail customers. “Every morning our salesmen go out, they download a load sheet on their iPhones or iPads, they go into an average between 12 and 17 customers a day. Speak with the customer, place the order, that order is transmitted back to our warehouse, the warehouse palletized and that order comes down the conveyor to each pallet, which is an individual customer, and then it gets loaded on a delivery truck for the delivery person to take the next morning and go out and deliver our beer to our customers.”

What’s being delivered to customers ranges all over. “You know we have we represent brands like Molson Coors and Constellation Brands which is corona and Heineken. You know, big international brands like that all the way down to our local breweries here Lazy Magnolia and Fly Llama.”

A fourth generation later, the company’s outreach is vast and ever-growing. “This is not a eight to five business. This is come early and stay late. You know, we don’t we don’t leave and we don’t stop until the beer is delivered every day. ”

“They passed on that for thinking kind of mindset to my older brother. And my cousin has the fourth generation and we’re going continue to do what we need to do to make this have this business. Available for the fifth generation.”