Andy’s Seasoning still cooking up success
Multi-million dollar company turns 25, expands
By Bill Beene
Of the St. Louis American
After 25 flickering years, Andy’s Seasoning is still cooking.
On Saturday the locally owned and operated seasoning and breading/batter company celebrated its Silver Anniversary and a 14,000-square-foot expansion of its warehouse and administrative offices at 2829 Chouteau.
“We were on top of ourselves – we needed more space,” said Andy’s Seasoning’s Quality Assurance Manager Debra Moreland, while guiding a tour during Saturday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Products from the multi-million-dollar company line grocers’ shelves in 41 states, usually near seafood departments.
Locally, the popular and tasty products are available in Schnucks, Shop ‘N Save, Dierbergs, Food For Less and other small- to mid-size stores throughout Missouri.
Andy’s Seasoning also contributes two of three custom breading/batters for McDonald’s popular chicken nuggets in four Southern states: Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Architects for McDonald’s designed the company’s first building at 1931 Washington Blvd.
Direct sales for the nuggets are made to Keystone LLC and Tyson Foods, Inc., which prepares them.
During the ceremony on Saturday – attended by dignitaries, civic leaders and business people – employees and other company supporters were awarded with certificates of appreciation.
“I appreciate each and every employee; they hardly ever leave,” said Andy’s Seasoning’s soft-spoken President Katherine Anderson, who founded the company with her late husband Reuben “Andy” Anderson in 1981.
The Anderson’s began by selling barbecue sauce and seasoning salt to local stores, but went back to the recipe mill – their basement – after realizing that barbecue sauce was a seasonal source of profit.
Then “Andy’s” enterprising brother German Anderson took a liking to a fish breading that K. Anderson prepared for a home meal. He told her it ought to be on the market, and in 1983 it was.
The Andersons discontinued the barbecue sauce in 1990, but continued the fish breading and seasoning salt, adding other products to their line.
Those products include chicken breading and seafood batter. The line has since added low-sodium, vegetable and Cajun fish breading.
“And it’s good,” said civic leader Ida Woolfolk, after other speakers flowered K. Anderson with compliments but hadn’t mentioned product quality.
Word of mouth is primarily how Andy’s Seasoning’s line of products has grown, though Andy was a “good businessman and salesman” and the company employs effective salespeople.
Three of K. Anderson’s sons hold executive positions in the company. The Rev. Larry Lee is director of operations, Michael Lee is plant manager and Roy Lee is manager for information technology.
K. Anderson had stepped down in 1989, with Andy running the company solo until he died in 1996.
When he died, K. Anderson and her three sons not only had to deal with the death of a loved one, but a $2 million debt accrued by the company, which faced foreclosure.
Refusing to let Andy’s dream die, she went back to work at the company and enrolled in a entrepreneurial program at Saint Louis University in the evening. Still, the question became: Can she rescue the company out of debt and revive it?
The answer is yes. K. Anderson created a recipe for success.
And though she couldn’t bank on banks for much help, she remained hopeful.
“We would be there (in bankruptcy court negotiations) with Katherine sweating bullets, stomach uptight, nervous and frustrated,” said attorney Paul Maloney.
“We would look at Katherine and all she would say is, ‘Don’t worry, it will work out.’ And it did.”
Women’s Yellow Pages President Jan Scott added, “She is running the operation, but in 1997 when she tried to get money to keep this thing alive, she found obstacles galore – ‘certainly a woman could not do this and certainly not a black woman’ – but they didn’t know how bad she was.”
Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brown, who emceed the event, said, “I had no idea that this woman had the courage, vision and strength to fight back and say I can handle this company.”
“The revenue doubled, she continued to hire people and continued to produce products,” he said.
Over the years, the company has grown from 6 to 35 employees, 3 tractor tailors to 15 and a basement side-hustle to a 25,000-plus square ft. plant.
K. Anderson recalled when “Andy” thought he wouldn’t get beyond his ford truck. “But, as you can see, we’ve grown and we may need more land because we may expand more.”
Woolfolk said, “She is a good example of being a lady and being in charge, firm, but gentle. What a nice role model for woman entrepreneurs.”
