The Past that Became Our Company's Future

In the early 1950’s Chuck Furr worked for a poultry distributor that was owned by his father and uncle. Throughout his career he worked for several distributors before joining a NY based food broker.

Taking the experience he had gained in the food industry over the years, Chuck started his own brokerage company in 1969 titled the C. Furr Company. Todd Furr joined his father in 1978. Ten years later Todd Furr, President and his partner Mike Rogers opened what is known today as T. Furr & Associates.

J/P Brokerage started in January 1976 after Jay O'Brien, one of the co-founders, left Morrisey Food Brokerage. He began his successful company with eight foodservice lines. A few months later his son Kevin O’Brien joined his father as a Sales Representative calling on the distributor known today as Sysco Eastern Maryland.

With a company legacy dating to 1896, Buzz Crown Enterprises was a leading sales agency servicing the foodservice community in Virginia and West Virginia. They were known as a results oriented company and had the industry awards to prove this. In 1994, Buzz’s son Taylor Crown joined BCE as a Sales Representative and eventually became an Executive Vice President.

As the foodservice industry changed and demanded that we change with it, J/P Brokerage merged with T. Furr & Associates in April of 1999. The J/P Brokerage Company also had a strong presence in the retail arena. This merger solidified T. Furr & Associates as the authority regarding food service and retail. Another partner was added to the team in May of 2005. Brian Dague brought both broker and manufacturer experience to the company. In August of 2006 both Buzz and Taylor Crown joined T. Furr & Associates, forming a unified, regional food service sales and marketing agency that covered the territories of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Later in February of 2008 Mike Miguelez joined our company as the Director of Non-Foods/Equipment and Supplies. We now had several generations of expertise under one roof bringing with them relationships that each had built over a period of 25+ years.

The Senior Management Team of T. Furr & Associates worked diligently on strategic plans to address the regionalization movement. In 2010, this led to expanding South by merging with the leading Carolinas agency, McIntyreSales, thereby forming the premier Mid-Atlantic regional sales agency. George Howard and Kristi Phillips, Owners and Sr. VPs of McIntyreSales, brought to the plate a combined 39 years of experience in the North Carolina and South Carolina markets, which, when added to the existing markets of T. Furr & Associates in Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D. C., Virginia and West Virginia, combined two successful sales agencies with common cultures and business philosophies.

Today, although the look of our company has changed our commitment to our clients is the same as when the "founding fathers" first began. Our company has experienced dynamic growth over the years due to our service level, professionalism, and focused operator presentations that include cross marketing demonstrations that exhibit the most effective use of the products we represent. The elements of a strong management team, driven sales force, marketing department as well as other segment specialists, allow us to anticipate the needs of our principals and operators. As one team we can effectively implement your sales and marketing strategies within the food service, retail and equipment & supply arena.

Our commitment to you is that we will continue to invest in quality people and the technology needed to ensure that all areas of our company meet our expectations as well as yours. We will continue to leverage the relationships that we have built over the years in order to build your sales growth.