No matter the state of the economy, Charlie Billow is always in a growing industry. As owner of Charlie’s Produce, the largest independently owned produce company in the Northwest, his growth has as much to do with good soil and weather conditions as it does with balance sheets. Working with growers, restaurants and retailers, Charlie’s
company provides the crucial link between farm and plate for much of the Northwest. And the numbers are astounding. Charlie's Produce delivers approximately 937 million pounds of produce annually to places as varied as Dutch Harbor in Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands to Seattle's hottest restaurants. His Seattle warehouse alone has more than 2,000 varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers. Each day, his buyers are on the phone with growers all over the world, from Chelan to Chile. But it wasn't always so. Charlie grew up in North Seattle and worked for several years on the docks unloading produce as a "lumper" before he landed a job as a truck driver for a wholesale produce distributor.
“Back then, there were a lot of one-truck shows,” Charlie says. “They were called peddlers and they would buy and deliver small amounts.” After driving delivery trucks for several years, one of the more popular local peddlers was looking to retire and offered Charlie the opportunity to buy his truck. “Slim was a character who everybody liked, and he offered me his truck for $3,500,” he says. Feeling like he had exhausted his opportunities as an employee, he took over Slim’s truck at the age of 28. “I think that first year I made $9,000,” he says.
Charlie donning a winter coat to visit the temperature-controlled warehouse.
Despite the humble beginnings, Charlie saw potential and quickly bought another truck. He forged his niche by quickly developing a deft hand for finding the best quality produce, and by doing things for customers that his competitors typically avoided, such as delivering on Saturdays. “It’s simple, the restaurants and stores don’t have big enough storerooms to get through the weekend,” he says. Besides flexibility with deliveries, several key produce innovations contributed to the company’s growth, such as supplying fresh basil and Haas avocados year-round—items taken for granted nowadays.
5 REFLECTIONS
Favorite Book: “Shogun” by James Clavell
Favorite Food: Eggs
Favorite Movie: “The Big Lebowski”
Best Advice: “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” -My Dad
Favorite Activity at the Club: Basketball
“We had restaurants that wanted to serve fresh pesto, so we needed to find sources for basil year-round,” he says. Charlie also worked with farmers to make sure they were only giving him the ripest, blemish-free fruit. Back then, farmers would often pick everything and put it in one box. “I met with a grower in California and had him pick only red, ripe strawberries, and that kind became our calling card with customers,” he says. Over the years, Charlie’s passion for the business, and focus on taking care of his customers and employees have paid off with steady growth every year. Nowadays, with more than 900 employees and facilities in Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Anchorage and Dutch Harbor, Charlie’s Produce has come a long way from its humble origins. “I thought we were big in the ’90s,” he says, laughing. Still, Charlie can walk around the huge warehouse and list off the inventory without the aid of notes.
“It’s one of my knacks,” he says. One benefit of being in a business dictated by seasons is that it always left time in the winter for skiing with his family. Although his company is now busy all year, Charlie takes time each winter to chase storms. “I try to ski 40 or 50 days a year with four or five heli-ski trips,” he says. Attesting to this, Charlie’s office is plastered with photos of him and friends floating through waist-deep powder turns from Sun Valley to Revelstoke, British Columbia. When he’s not skiing, Charlie is golfing, hiking or playing basketball at the Bellevue Club. While Charlie has come a long way from driving trucks, he hasn’t forgot his roots. “Back in the ’70s truckdriving was a great job, and here at Charlie’s we still think it is,” he says.
