Maintaining traditional values and culture in a progressive environment: consultant Pat Jones visits one of the country's oldest and most successful beer distributorships - Del Papa Distributing

Modern Brewery Age, Sept 9, 2002 by Pat Jones, Larry Del Papa

Some things never change at Del Papa Distributing, an 8 million case distributor headquartered in Galveston, Texas then again, some things always change. Beginning in 1910 as a wholesale grocery business and then in 1930 as an Anheuser-Busch distributorship, the company is led by Larry Del Papa, CEO and grandson of the founder. Like his father before him, Lawrence Del Papa, and his grandfather, Omera Del Papa, who founded the company, Larry places culture and maintaining traditional values above all else...certainly above short-term profitability.

Larry Del Papa was born into the beer business and learned the business from the bottom up...much of which he credits to his father who still arrives at work each and every day even though past the age when many people retire from the office. His passion for the business is perhaps only exceeded by his thirst for knowledge, his unfaltering commitment to change and his insatiable desire to provide service and quality to the customer above all else...the same differentiating factors that have made Anheuser - Bush the number one brewer in the world. Harvard MBA's would be hard pressed to dazzle Larry with their knowledge of management and leadership principles...he is one of the few small business owners we have met over the years that can out "consultanese" the consultant...very well read, expert on industry trends and constantly striving to improve.

Responsibility was not simply handed to Larry, it was earned and he demonstrated by successfully assuming more and more responsibility that he was up to the task. Larry adamantly believes that, "you cannot forget where you came from one customer and one case of beer at a time." Like his father before him and grandfather before that, Del Papa values every customer and treats them with the same respect whether buying 2 or 2000 cases of beer a month. For example, no customer receives a volume discount simply because of size or purchasing power. This creates fairness in the marketplace and helps maintain the relationships and mutual respect that have long been a hallmark of the Del Papa family name.

Nowhere is team more evident than at Del Papa Distributing. Key performance indicators, bonus opportunities and organization structure all center around the team, not the individual. While core values have remained much the same over the years, progressive thought concerning leadership, work teams, and organizational structure have changed dramatically. "Beginning in 1993 l realized that something had to change," says Larry Del Papa. "The old 'command and control' system along with attitudes surrounding blind obedience and decision making had to change. I noticed that few people were making decisions causing operations to bottleneck waiting for my decision. The organization was very hierarchical and decision-making was never questioned. Now, we make most decisions as a team. Even though I may not agree with all team decisions, I have found that buy-in is vastly improved because of the participatory process and therefore, objectives are much more likely to be executed than they were prior to changes we made in 1994. We speak with one voice."

Larry is often quick to point out that in the team-based culture, even though he is the owner, he is "powerless" to dictate or mandate execution (although he can be very persuasive when he feels the company is moving off course). Although quite the team player, nothing disturbs him like hearing, "Larry said." Employees who continue to use his name to help convince, persuade, and push their own personal agendas, typically do not last long within the organization as peer pressure mounts to become personally more accountable.

This sort of progressive thinking has helped transform Del Papa into one of the most efficient and well-managed distributorships anywhere in the country. Currently completed or in the process of renovating their three separate warehouses in Victoria, Beaumont and Galveston Texas, nothing stands in the way of strategic thinking and yearly development of a strategic 5-year plan. Moreover, Del Papa has spent millions upgrading their technology base to include wide distribution of laptops, recent enhancements to hardware and communication protocol, and field use of Blackberry devices for receiving and sending e-mail. They are currently engaged in an initiative designed to provide the company with information, to quote Larry Del Papa, "in every conceivable way." Understanding the need to outsource non-core "support functions," Del Papa has taken a leadership role in outsourcing technology services, warehouse operations and in the recent past, accounting and financial services.

Del Papa was the first account for one of the Big "5" firms in the city of Houston where accounting and financial services were run by the auditing firm, and the company is currently working on plans that will significantly enhance sales force automation and provide field personnel with the timely information they need to run their businesses as well as conducting in-depth reviews of profitability for each one of their accounts.