DATE: Wednesday, May 7, 1997                TAG: 9705070437

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT,STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   85 lines

SUPREME FOODS CHIEF DOES THINGS HIS WAY

Continuous meetings and detailed problem-solving may be fine for other businesses, says Jesse Dilday, president of Supreme Foods Inc. But he settles for the simple philosophy of ``do right, and love one another'' while he watches his company grow.

Dilday, who turned his back on big business years ago to do things his way, announced recently that Supreme Foods will add 15,000 square feet to its restaurant food and supplies quarters in Wilroy Industrial Park.

And just as he did for the original Suffolk facility, Dilday drew all of the plans and added general contractor to his titles.

Supreme Foods supplies restaurants across Virginia and North Carolina - everything from fresh meats to paper products.

A line of meats processed in Dilday's Norfolk plant is sold as ``Jesse's Best.''

Supreme Foods ships more than 1,000 orders a week, and the expansion is expected to increase business.

``I worked for big corporations long enough,'' said Dilday, affectionately called ``Mr. D'' by employees. ``It's a dog-eat-dog world. They fight all the time in upper management.''

Dilday, 67, worked in the steel, automotive, air freight forwarding and chemical industries before deciding to go into business for himself in the early '70s.

He and his late wife, Bernice, sold almost everything they had, and he traveled from Richmond to Norfolk to shop for a business. He wasn't picky.

``Reduce it to numbers - they're all the same,'' he said.

He found Melchiorre Bros. on 44th Street in Norfolk, a company making refrigerated pizzas, potato salad and Italian sausage and distributing items to grocery stores.

The name soon changed to Supreme Foods, and Dilday bought other manufacturers' food products, re-selling to retailers. For several years, Supreme Foods specialized in supplying grocery stores.

That changed on a snowy day when Dilday's son, David, was driving a truck for the company.

The younger Dilday, now senior vice president in charge of sales and marketing, recalled that other deliverymen had been tracking through the store with two-wheel carts all morning. The store manager told him he would have to clean the floor before leaving or the company's pizza contract would be canceled.

When his offer to clean up his own tracks was not accepted, the driver called his father. ``He said, `That's it. Get out of there.' '' The company shifted from pizzas to full-service restaurant supply.

``We moved to the center of the plate,'' said Ronald E. Dunphy, vice president in charge of sales. The term refers to full service.

Another son, Michael Dilday, runs the computerized ordering service and inventory control program that helps support the company's ``customer-driven distribution'' motto.

Daily, Supreme salesmen spread out and enter orders into lap-top computers. The orders are picked up at the Suffolk plant and prepared for delivery.

Leased tractor-trailers are sent out at night from a truck hub in Raleigh. Two additional truck hubs - in Fredericksburg and Greensboro, N.C. - will be added with the expansion.

Delivery drivers pick up the trucks early the next morning.

A comprehensive training program for salesmen helps the staff communicate with customers, David Dilday said.

``We have trained our sales people to understand restaurant profit and loss,'' he said. ``They know about menu planning, food cost control, marketing and inventory management.''

John Saylor, vice president of Crestar Bank in Norfolk, described Jesse Dilday as ``very thoughtful, very analytical, as honest as the day is long.''

He said Dilday's management style is ``one of thoughtfulness. There's no question who makes the final decision, but he obviously involves middle management and considers how others feel.''

Dilday credits the trust of Crestar and his 100-plus employees, - the ``Supreme Team'' - with his company's success.

He treats employees to expenses-paid outings. Employees write poetry in his honor.

``My father has always been real focused on the people aspect of the business,'' David Dilday said. ``He encourages everybody to work together, to respect each other. He's tried to introduce things into business like faith and love, things you don't hear much about today.''

Jesse Dilday said, ``It's a successful business, but it's all about relationships.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

JOHN H. SHEALLY III/The Virginian-Pilot

Jesse Dilday's Supreme Foods will add 15,000 square feet to its

operations in Suffolk.

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