John “Art” Phillips
Life of a salesman
John Arthur Phillips was born in 1915 and grew up in rural, south Alabama. He began to develop his sales skills as a young entrepreneur.
A business arrangement with Smith’s Bakery of Mobile, Alabama marked his entry into the baking industry, an association that lasted a lifetime. Smith’s would ship bread by train overnight across Mobile Bay to a small depot near Bay Minette, Alabama. As a teenager, Art became the local bread man and a business success.
Based on his success, Smith’s recruited Art, and he moved first to Mobile. Over the next 17 years, he and his growing family moved to other locations in Florida and Mississippi to develop bread sales in markets where Smith’s had bakeries.
Art learned of a sales opportunity at King’s Bakery in Chattanooga, TN, from a flour salesman. He joined O.D. and Anna Ruth McKee in May 1952. It was like a match made in heaven.
Initially, Art used his sales experience and relationships with bread bakers in the Gulf States to expand the sales of King’s products to a new distribution channel. Distribution by bread trucks was a certain path to reach a wider audience.
In the early sixties, the company then known as McKee Baking Company introduced the Little Debbie brand of family-pack snack cakes. This innovative, new product concept, individually wrapped snack cakes in a box, fit nicely in combination with the distribution of bread. The bread bakeries provided the Little Debbie brand access to more geography, more retailers and more consumers.
Over time, the once small local bakery, today known as McKee Foods, grew to be a regional and then national marketer of snack foods.
From distribution by a select number of bread bakeries, a large and talented sales team developed a channel of hundreds of wholesalers and thousands of retailers.
From a position on the bottom shelf of a bread rack or Hostess display to prime in-store locations within arm’s reach of consumers nationally, Little Debbie became “America’s Number One Snack Cake!”
Art Phillips was a true, southern gentleman. He greeted you with a twinkle in his eye and a friendly smile, framed by the ever-present bow tie that had become his calling card.
Love of his company, its people, and products fueled his selling passion and inspired many others to achieve sales success.
Mr. Phillips retired from McKee Foods in 1999 after 47 years of sales leadership.
“Let’s double it” was his motto. Not just a sales goal but a way of life.
John Arthur Phillips, Sr. 1915-2006
Art was dedicated to his wife of 62 years, Eula, and his family, comprising four children and ten grandchildren. He had a great passion for his Lord and was a member of Jones Memorial Methodist Church for over fifty years.