- The story of Burris Foods began in 1925 when Edward F. Burris and his son, John W. Burris, started Burris Express. This business consisted of buying and hauling local produce, eggs, and poultry on the Delmarva Peninsula and transporting them to Philadelphia. Seeking return loads, John W. Burris convinced the American Stores Bakery (Acme Markets, Inc.) to let him haul their fresh bread on a daily basis, making store door deliveries to the eastern shore of Delaware and Maryland with greater efficiency than the railroads.
- The steamship Frederica was bought by the Burris family and used to transport tomatoes from Frederica, Delaware, to the Campbell Soup Co. in Camden, New Jersey. Coal was sometimes hauled on the return trip.
- Burris Express was merged with Victor Lynn Lines with John W. Burris as vice president of operations. This company used a combination of trucks and ships to haul freight of all types between Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the Eastern Shore.
- John W. Burris resigned from Victor Lynn and formed a new firm known as John W. Burris Trucking Company (later called Burris Food Distributors, Inc.) whose sole purpose was the transportation of food products for the American (Acme) and Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P Stores) from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia at the time.
- Kent-Sussex Tire Service Company was started by Willard Hall, CFO, as an SCorp, to acquire tires for Burris’ trucks during World War II. It evolved into a device to educate Jack’s (John E.) children. John M. Burris expanded the company into an additional location in Seaford, Delaware, and later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- John E. Burris (Jack) took over the management of Burris Food Distributors, and during the late ’40s and the 1950’s oversaw its entry into the then fledgling frozen food business. Burris begins shipping frozen foods and fresh meats out of this freezer in Milford, Delaware.
- Our original pick system in our first frozen food warehouse. In this photo, Burris Team Members are picking a load of Crosse and Blackwell Frozen Orange Juice.
- A 25-year charitable giving commitment begins; Burris family members and employees first volunteer to cook chicken at the annual Milford Hospital Fair. This company-wide fundraising effort continued for the next 25 years.
- Burris also had another side business, Burris Poultry. This picture shows Burris team members processing poultry in the building that is now our corporate headquarters in Milford. Burris Poultry (processing plant) merges with J. McKinney Willis (grain and feed) to create Bayshore Foods. The processing plant in Milford’s name is changed to Shorgood Poultry Company.
In the early 1960’s, Jack Burris was head of the Delmarva Poultry Industry. During this time, KFC’s Colonel Sanders was a guest at Jack and Lillian’s summer residence in Lewes, Delaware for two nights. Late one night, high winds caused the Colonel to wake the Burris children and send them to the beach to rescue the boats. Pictured is Jack, Lillian, and Colonel Sanders.
- Burris completed construction of the Harrington, Delaware facility. This retail case pick distribution center provides a full line of frozen foods to supermarkets, carrying more than 5,000 SKUs.
- The company sells Burris Food Distributors, Inc. to Tom Pinto, a contract carrier for Acme Markets and A&P.
- Jack and Lillian Burris at the 20th annual Milford Hospital Fair cooking chicken donated by Burris Foods, Inc.
- On February 19, our Harrington, Delaware, warehouse was destroyed by a fire in the midst of a blizzard. Many say that the Burris “Make it Happen” core value was established that day, for despite the total loss of inventory and use of our warehouse, we were up and running again in 13 weeks.
- First Board Meeting.
- Jack Burris pictured with his sons, Howard, Bob, and John. At the time this photo was taken, Breyers Vanilla Ice Cream was the number one volume item shipped out of Burris Food’s Harrington location.
- Burris sells Foodservice to Sandler Foods of Virginia Beach.
- Burris starts its first Formal Management Training Program with Bob and Joyce Anderson.
- Burris Foods, Inc. expanded operations by acquiring new warehouses in Federalsburg, Maryland, and Sumter, South Carolina. These facilities, and a newly constructed warehouse in Waynesboro, Virginia, form Burris Refrigerated Services (BRS).
- Burris purchases Glacier. This is where Burris first adopted the snowflake into its brand.
- Burris develops its first, proprietary Warehouse Management System software application.
- Chesapeake, Virginia facility built.
- Pictured is Jack and Lillian Burris with their daughter, Lilla, her husband, Bob Hoopman, and Vice President of Superfresh, Casper Jenko, at a Superfresh store opening in Baltimore, Maryland.
- Sold Kent Sussex Tire Service.
- Expansion to the Harrington, Delaware facility. This addition, known as the Conventional Section, is set up similarly to our other locations and uses forklifts rather than cranes to select product.
- A history of Burris was presented at Burris Foods Focus ’96 Seminar.
- Four generations of the Burris Family. Jack Burris, his son (and former CEO) Bob Burris, Bob’s son (and current CEO) Donnie Burris, and Donnie’s one-year-old son, Davis Burris.
- A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Benson, North Carolina on Tuesday, August 20, 1996, at the site on Gilbert Road of U.S. 302 between Interstate 40 and 95. When it was completed in 1997, it contained 125,000 sq. ft. and employed approximately 40 people. This facility was built to provide storage for the protein-producing companies in the southeast. It also had tremendous blast capacity.
- Pictured: Jack Burris with his three sons, Bob, Howard, and John.
- Burris adds the New Castle, Delaware facility to its portfolio to accommodate a major new customer — BJ’s Wholesale Club supporting their retail club stores with frozen and refrigerated distribution.
- Leased freezer space in Acme’s Distribution Center located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from 2000-2007.
- Burris expands to Florida through SACS purchase, which included two buildings in Jacksonville, one in Haines City, one in Lakeland, and one in Orlando (which was sold). There were five buildings in total.
- Burris Foods, Inc., becomes Burris Logistics.
- The first day of shipping at the newly-constructed Orlando facility at 10900 Central Port Drive was on September 11 — the new Orlando facility joined the BJ’s distribution program.
- On that same historical day, rolled out first in-house warehouse management system software, V3 installed at Federalsburg.
- Federalsburg Wins “Vendor of the Year Award” from Giant Landover.
- Burris Logistics completes major upgrade to its warehouse system software, rolled out initially to the Federalsburg, Maryland location.
- Ed Givens, Richard Black, and all of the associates at Federalsburg are to be congratulated on winning the Giant Food, Inc. (Landover, Maryland) Vendor of the Year Award for the second year in a row. Of all the vendors that supply this chain of 190 stores with meats, poultry, deli, produce or floral, Burris Logistics is the best!
- Second Lakeland, Florida, facility is purchased.
- Freezer renovation and addition to Jacksonville, Florida.
- John E. “Jack” Burris, 3rd generation leader passes. “A Mountain of a Man with the Soul of an Angel.”
- Advertising for Vocollect highlights the benefits of Voice-Directed Distribution technology, providing 99.88% accuracy, increasing productivity up 11.9%, and earning 100% of the value back in just 10 months — a real asset for cold storage logistics!
- Elkton, Maryland facility is built.
- Purchases D.L. Matthews and incorporates into Federalsburg, Maryland operation.
- The Elkton, MD facility joins the BJ’s distribution program
- Burris signs contract for a custom distribution program with The Fresh Market.
- Rocky Hill, Connecticut facility is built, and the facility joins the BJ’s distribution program.
- Burris Logistics Technology team embarks on a major technology modernization project.
- Lakeland, Florida completes an addition to the facility to total 117,247 sq. ft.
- Burris develops Burris University: a week-long training program focused on developing the Burris culture, leadership, and management.
- Bob Burris, President, and CEO of Burris Logistics passes away on September 19, 2010. Bob began working for the family business at the age of 12. He willingly passed along his ideas, experience and natural talents as a successful businessman to many aspiring entrepreneurs.
- Donnan “Donnie” Burris is promoted to CEO after his father, Robert D. “Bob” Burris, the 4th generation leader of Burris Logistics, passes.
- Burris sells three facilities: Sumter, South Carolina, Benson, North Carolina, and Chesapeake, Virginia.
- Burris Retail Distribution becomes Burris Custom, with a focus on offering services to extend our partners’ supply chain to include distribution, transportation, warehousing, procurement, and logistics technology.
- Lillian Burris (wife of former CEO Jack Burris) passes away on Tuesday, April 8, 2014.
- Elkton, MD takes on its first ecommerce partner, Everspoon, providing direct-to-consumer fulfillment to American families’ doorsteps.
- Burris Logistics Technology team rolls out the Supply Chain Portal, which provides end-to-end visibility and transparency of the Supply Chain.
- The Rocky Hill, CT facility partners with Market Basket as a frozen bakery product distribution customer.
- Burris opens 250,000 square-foot public refrigerated warehouse in McDonough, Georgia.
- Burris Logistics acquires Oklahoma City, Oklahoma warehouse.
- On the 40th Anniversary of the fire that destroyed our Harrington, Delaware warehouse in the midst of a blizzard, Burris Logistics team members who experienced this tragedy first-hand, reflect on the challenges and culture at work to ensure operations were quickly restored.
- John Hummel becomes the president of Burris Custom. John takes over the vision of providing an entire suite of distribution services to our partners, as an extension of their supply chain.
- We are ESSENTIAL. We are FAMILY. We are ONEBURRIS. As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), the frozen and refrigerated food industry experienced an incredible increase in demand. Our team pivoted to “Make It Happen.” We had to focus on our partners’ demands and the well-being of all team members.
- Exited the Specialty Retail Business to convert Federalsburg, Maryland facility to an ecommerce fulfillment center to expand our Northeast Network
- Sold Lyndhurst, Virginia facility.
- ONEBURRIS Business Development takes flight, becoming an enterprise sales team that offers all Burris brand services to interested partners. These services include warehousing, distribution, ecommerce, freight brokerage, fleet delivery, and logistics technology.
- Two operational brands, PRW+ and Custom combine under the leadership of Division President John Hummel to create the Burris Logistics operational brand providing warehousing, direct-to-consumer fulfillment, and distribution. This creates greater service opportunities in all Burris Logistics locations.
- Harrington, Delaware’s 220,000 square foot location yields control of Albertson’s Mid-Atlantic division’s frozen food business.
- Acquisition of Waukesha, Wisconsin, adds ecommerce network growth and increased coverage of 1-Day Ground shipping.
- Addition of a new distribution center in Independence, Kentucky, to accommodate BJ’s expansion of its footprint in the Eastern part of the United States.
- Sold Haines City, Florida facility.
After an amazing twenty-plus year relationship, BJ’s Wholesale Club acquired the four Burris Logistics Warehouses and operations that supports their club stores across the country. The twenty year partnership is unheard of in third party logistics and was a true testament to a relationship that worked!
“Burris Logistics has been proud to partner with BJ’s on its growth and transformation over the last several years,” Burris Logistics CEO Donnie Burris stated. “This acquisition represents the next chapter in Burris Logistics’ evolution and presents amazing opportunities for both BJ’s and the team members at these distribution centers. I am incredibly proud of what we have created and extremely excited to see the future growth for all involved.”
