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If the UT Martin Alumni Relations staff wants to host an impromptu event with little or no logistical challenges, then The Pictsweet Co. in Bells, Tenn., is the place.

Gathering a roomful of UT Martin alums would be as easy as announcing it over the headquarters intercom and making a couple of quick calls to employees just down the road.

At last count, 21 alums are employed by Pictsweet — all but five at corporate headquarters in Bells. The others are located on farms in surrounding counties. 

Some of the 20+ UT Martin graduates who work at Pictsweet include, left to right, Jeff Duck, Jason Criswell, Gardner Lake, Lindsay Selph, Angela Wilhaucks, Johnny Parnell and Jim Berry.

Simultaneously employing 20 + graduates from the same university probably sets some sort of record. But the connection does not stop there. Almost all of the UT Martin alums have siblings, parents, children and extended family, who also are graduates of UT Martin. Many also have family members, who are not alums, working for the company. To say Pictsweet is family-oriented is an understatement.

Alums range from Johnny Parnell, corporate accounting manager, who graduated in 1971 and has been with the company for 27 years, to Brian Hawks, a December 2009 graduate who was hired in March.

The Pictsweet Company is a national processor and marketer of food products headquartered in Bells. Products are sold to supermarkets and to food-service institutions such as schools, hospitals, hotels and restaurants located throughout the United States and to United States military commissaries located throughout the world. Most of these products are sold under the Pictsweet brand while some are sold under Pictsweet customers’ labels.

Pictsweet is one of the largest processors of frozen vegetables in the world. Processing plants and cold-storage warehouses operate in Tennessee, California, Texas, Delaware and Utah.

The company obtains fresh vegetables for processing from independent farmers as well as Pictsweet’s farms.   Controlling its vegetables from seed to harvest made graduates with agricultural degrees a natural for the company.

There are field representatives, farm managers and research and development specialists constantly reviewing and improving operations, developing new products and refining best practices.

But that’s just the start. Processing, packaging, marketing and sales, logistics and financial management have also attracted UT Martin graduates through the years.

A myriad of different reasons led the UT Martin grads to Pictsweet — a company many will remain with until retirement. Jeff Duck and Jim Berry were self-employed in warehousing/trucking and software development/education, respectively. Duck is now Bells warehouse manager, and Berry is IT senior developer. Both have been with the company for three years. Husband and wife, Brian and Gardner Lake, were agriculture graduates who lived and worked in Montana for several years before returning home to be closer to family and joining the company. Gardner is supervisor, administrative services, and Brian is assistant farm manager.

Parnell, a Jackson native, who resides in Medina, began as a cost manager. Pictsweet “has evolved significantly, through the years through acquisition and through new facilities,” he said, and added, “the technology in accounting has changed dramatically from adding machines to PCs.” He noted that products continue to evolve with what the consumer wants. “This is a great company to work for. The future is unlimited,” Parnell said.”

Partial to the brand, he said, “We eat the peas and carrots at my house because my wife makes a great homemade chicken pot pie with them.”

Parnell comes from what he terms “a very strong UTM family.” His wife, Doris, is an alumna. His son has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UT Martin, and his daughter, completed her pre-pharmacy coursework prior to receiving her doctor of pharmacy degree at the UT Health Science Center. His brother, sister-in-law, brother-in-law and daughter-in-law also are alums. Parnell is very proud of his UT Martin business degree and added, “the university did a good job giving me the skills I would need later on.”

Lake oversees the daily operation of the corporate office, the service station and the company mail facility. When she graduated from high school, she said there was no question in her mind about where she would attend college. A “strong program in animal science” drew her to Martin. The Lakes also have several other family members who attended UT Martin.

She appreciates the way their lives have evolved since returning from Montana to be closer to family. “Here we are in Bells, Tenn., (at corporate headquarters) working for a nationwide company.”

Berry, who is glad he took the advice of College of Business and Public Affairs Dean William Baker to stay in accounting, appreciates his overall view of business as he carries out his responsibilities in software development, electronic data interchange and ecommerce. “This is the first time I’ve worked for a private company. It’s a good place to work.” The Trezevant native knew he was joining several UT Martin alums at Pictsweet, but had no idea there were more than 20.

Originally from Fulton, Ky., Angela Wilhaucks is a corporate cost accountant and has been with the company for 17 years. She enjoys her chosen career, and working for a food-related company may have been fate. “Cooking is my hobby,” she said. “I’m constantly trying new products.” She has several recipes in the Pictsweet cookbooks. Her favorite product is broccoli, “steamed a bit” or used in casseroles.

For Lindsay Selph, a Crockett County native, Pictsweet offered an opportunity to put her degree in marketing to work. Her mother and sister work for Pictsweet, so she knew it was a good company. She deals with buyers and brokers in the retail segment of the business.She hopes to advance in the marketing department and establish a career with the company.

As another graduate with a degree in agriculture, Duck said he was “immediately familiar with the principles, urgency and importance of things” when he joined the company. The knowledge and experience he gained at UT Martin were valuable, he said. Having other alums working there was a bonus. He knew several members of his fraternity (Alpha Gamma Rho) were employed at Pictsweet. “It’s a pretty neat bond. We immediately had a lot of things in common.”

Jason Criswell, corporate manager of private label and food service and an agriculture business graduate, also is part of a UT Martin family. His wife, Carol, and brother, Kyle, are alums. Criswell appreciates his agriculture background. “I had a good understanding of ag business and how we operate here — better than many of my counterparts who are just sales (oriented).”

Zach Baggett, a 2000 graduate and native of Humboldt, is manager of consumer marketing. He began as a graphic designer of packaging and marketing material. Now, he focuses on product, packaging and market research, as well as consumer research and product development within the company’s very consumer-centric emphasis.

Consumers have been affected by the economy and make decisions accordingly, he said. “It’s not like past recessions. Consumers are more savvy,” said Baggett. “They want upscale meals — to indulge, but at a reasonable cost.” He added, “Restaurant traffic is down. Home is the new center.”

Pictsweet’s “traceability of product sets us apart,” Baggett said, emphasizing quality’s role in the entire process. Baggett added that the research and development team is focused on agriculture sustainability, as well.

And what would a food product company be without a test kitchen? Baggett said Pictsweet gets ideas and concepts from a variety of sources, including online research and an extensive library of cookbooks from various regions of the country. Employees also offer recipes and suggestions —  one of the more interesting, at least in name: “Black-Eyed Pea Cake.”

His current Pictsweet favorite: edamame in microwaveable bags. “It’s the new popcorn for our family.”

From a family of fine frozen foods to the “family” that grows, processes, packages, markets and manages them, to your family’s dinner table. It gives a new meaning to “food chain.”

UT Martin Graduates at PictSweet