The Truitt family and continuing the story…

One never knows just where they’ll wind up in life. There are so many intersections in life you can only judge the intersections in retrospect, not knowing at the time for sure whether you made the right choice. So this begins the narrative and so it should begin in retrospect.

In 1973 I moved to Oregon from rural Louisiana along with my wife, Lynda (a native of Baton Rouge) and my 9 month old daughter. I was 26 at the time and very excited to be moving to a wonderful part of the country. I was going into business with my brother in the food processing industry, picking up the pieces of an old canning plant in Salem. At the time I didn’t know that almost all parts of the business needed updating – big time. Nor did I know at the time that odds were stacked against me. That didn’t matter. I had the energy to confront the challenges. There began many intersections. My father used to say, “Better by far to slow down a race horse than to speed up a plow horse.” So, you confront challenges at a full run.

During the early part of the new century we began to evaluate our practices. At first our focus was on the agricultural and plant practices – things like chemical usage, recycling and the like. Our intent was and is to be certain that these practices add up to sustainability. But soon we realized that our sustainable practices needed an emphasis on health and wellness, in other words human sustainability. That is why our motto is, FOODS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE®. Our intent is for all foods that we make to make a difference for our employees, our growers and ultimately our consumers; i.e. human sustainability.

Today, TRUITT FAMILY FOODS® has lots of challenges and steep hills to climb but the keenest insight in retrospect is that these are best confronted at a full run. Continuing the story means that others filled with energy need to move into the lead. It’s time. That moves us directly into the topic of family. Who’s in the family?

My experience in this world has been just priceless. I wouldn’t trade one thing. I’m grateful for the challenges and the resulting opportunities. I would not be happy keeping this to myself. I’d be miserable. So when confronted with the choice of moving on in life or giving others an opportunity to carry on into the next chapter, my choice has been to move others into position to carry on. So, my goal with TFF has been to establish a platform and business that will challenge and stimulate others so that they can have the same type experience that I’ve had. My deep hope is that at the right time they’ll do the same for a new and fresh cadre of managers and leaders. The family are the members of TRUITT FAMILY FOODS®. We’ll hear from them in coming posts. In other words, the story should continue; so that it’s human sustainability.

The family is incomplete without new members. I hope that we’ll hear from you and that you’ll help us continue the story. The story will never be completed and that’s precisely the idea. Our mission is to be sure that the story will continue…