About
SunBurst Foods
She was just going to make some sandwiches, wrap them in waxed paper, and display them on a few retail counters around town. There were no feasibility studies, no small business loans, no licenses, no sanitation inspections, no legal documents, and no financial planning or records. It was simply a possibility of "making a little spending money" while her sons were in school. There was one obstacle - Virginia Darden had no vehicle to use for delivery, but she had a friend, Nita Robertson, who had access to a 1938 Chevrolet. So, they agreed to work as partners making D & R Sandwiches on the kitchen table at the Darden's residence, a rented house at 204 N. Lee Street in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
In May 1947, Virginia and Nita went to the Colonial Supermarket on John Street in Goldsboro and bought the ingredients and supplies to make one hundred and twenty sandwiches. Virginia and Nita delivered the sandwiches to ten local retailers. To their amazement, all the prepared sandwiches were sold by mid afternoon. The retailers requested continued delivery. With cautious excitement, Virginia and Nita took their first day's receipts, totaling approximately $10.00, and returned to the supermarket again.
Unexpectedly, news of this delicious new product quickly spread throughout Goldsboro. Unfortunately, within six months, Nita bowed to the demand and withdrew from the project. With profits saved during these first few months, Virginia made a down payment on a used 1942 Plymouth. She was prepared to continue as Darden Sandwich Company.
Within two years, the operation had outgrown the little kitchen on Lee Street. Virginia, along with her husband Charlie built a new residence at 1802 E. Walnut Street. Accommodations were provided here for her sandwich business until 1954. With a combination of space problems and zoning regulations, Virginia was forced to move her enterprise to a small commercial facility that offered about 800 square feet, and it provided her with 650 additional square feet for her business. This building was located at Brookside Shopping Center on South Slocumb Street in Goldsboro. This location was the home for Darden Sandwich Company for the next fourteen years. During this time, the operation grew to six routes, twenty employees, and seven thousand sandwiches produced weekly.
Two major groups of problems faced Mrs. Darden in 1968. A declining agricultural market, increased competition, and a surge of fast food restaurants were the first major problems. Secondly, Mrs. Darden felt a heavy burden from twenty-one years of ninety-hour workweeks and ever increasing governmental regulations. In light of the increasing business complexities, Virginia Darden made a business decision that would change the leadership at the Darden Sandwich Company. With a BA degree in accounting and ten years experience in business management, Virginia's youngest son, Bob, was charged with the responsibility of managing Darden Sandwich Company on June 1, 1968. One of Bob Darden's first business decisions was to move the company to a location about one mile north of US 70 Bypass on Highway 13 North, also known as Berkeley Boulevard.
The new location, about 2400 square feet, improved working conditions and facilitated further growth. Delivery vans replaced station wagons, personnel policies were formed, commercial plant equipment replaced domestic furniture and appliances, and the delivery area was expanded. The business was incorporated under North Carolina law in 1969, and the name was changed to Imperial Foods, Inc.
Within three years, the business had outgrown the existing facility. Two acres of land on a service road, just off US 70 Bypass, was purchased and construction was on the horizon. In 1972, twenty-five years after its humble inception, Imperial moved into the newly constucted seventy-five hundred square foot commercial building.
Who would have envisioned that this new facility, almost ten times larger than that used less than five years ago, would quickly be outgrown by the constant increase of business? Additions to the plant came every year for ten consecutive years until the main plant had doubled to fifteen thousand square feet with equal footage in maintenance and warehouse buildings located behind the main facility.
During this period, a young Navy veteran, Ray Lewis, accepted temporary employment with Imperial and was quickly recognized for his energy, drive, willingness to work, and ability to get the job done. Eventually accepting permanent employment with the company, he steadily moved through the company ranks to share the management responsibility with Bob Darden. Through his dedication, hard work, and business expertise, Ray Lewis had been directly responsible for the recent success of Imperial. Lewis was rewarded for his hard work and dedication by being promoted to President on July 1, 1995, resulting in the third management succession.
Thirty-five years of hard work with unyielding emphasis on quality products had made Imperial a leader in the prepackaged sandwich industry. The Company had survived obstacles created by agricultural mechanization, relentless competition, a storm of fast food restaurants, fuel shortages, and never ending increases in government regulations. Unfortunately, in 1984 a major problem presented itself, and it was like a giant tidal wave to the prepackaged sandwich industry. Convenient markets, which had become the primary source of sandwich sales, were beginning to market food products prepared on site. Essentially, an industry's retail customers had now become its primary competition!
This impending threat to Imperial's existence and an increasing number of requests from businesses for Imperial products in their concession/vending areas resulted in Imperial's decision to diversify into full line vending and coffee service. At this time, by all evidence, this action was both wise and timely. Sales volume from vending and coffee service more than compensated for the decrease in sales to convenient markets. The Company's vending concept was simple: give the consumer quality products, quick dependable service, and state of the art equipment, and this has proved to be very enticing to vending customers.
In September 1991, a fatal industrial accident at Imperial Food Products Company in Hamlet, North Carolina, a company totally unrelated and unknown to Imperial Foods, Inc., created a public furor, much of which was directed at Imperial Foods, Inc. due to the similarity in name and business. Tragically, a three month, thirty thousand dollar, publicity campaign to correct this problem was not totally successful. The hard earned, irrefutable image of Imperial Foods, Inc. was tarnished beyond repair resulting in the decision to change the company's name to SunBurst Foods, Inc. on January 22, 1992. Although unfortunate and unpleasant, this appears to have been a prudent decision.
With a new name and reputation intact, years of dreams and planning became reality when SunBurst moved into its modern plant. This new addition gave SunBurst an additional nineteen thousand square foot processing plant in August 1994. The five-acre plant site facing US 70 East Bypass provides a complex of facilities totaling forty-five thousand square feet from which SunBurst will grow into the twenty-first century.
Unexpectedly, B. G. Darden, "Mr. D" as he was known, passed away in 1998. Due to his vision and planning, SunBurst, will "Keep on Keeping on".
On August 2, 2000, Terri Ingram accepted employment as SunBurst's Human Resources Manager. With a B.S. Degree in Business Administration from NC Wesleyan and her commitment to SunBurst and drive to succeed, Terri Ingram was promoted on June 13, 2001 to Administrative Operations Manager, and on February 28, 2005 she became the Vice President of Administration. Through her continued work ethics and commitment to SunBurst, Terri Ingram became the President of SunBurst Foods, Inc. on January 1, 2011. This resulted in the fourth management succession.
Today, SunBurst Foods, Inc. continues and looks forward to continued growth in its wholesale market. With Ray Lewis continuing as CEO of SunBurst Foods, and Terri Ingram's leadership as President, the company continues to grow and diversify. Our route sales people manage an area from North Carolina's mountains to its coast, and our market also reaches into South Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana and Virginia. SunBurst employs over 80 dedicated, hard working persons who assist in making SunBurst Foods the success it is today.
One-half century ago, Virginia Darden innocently created the SunBurst philosophy of meticulous attention to detail and quality, resulting in the slogan "A Quantity of Quality." She was just going to make some sandwiches, wrap them in waxed paper ...