Foods was looking to hire someone to replace Jan Warner when she retired. They also wanted someone to help with their ERP software selection. They asked me several questions but the one I remember the most was from Janet Sutton. She looked at me and said “Why would you want to come here and work?” At the time, I was working for Morton Thiokol in downtown Chicago. I told her I wanted my family closer to home, which was Dixon. That question did scare me a little bit because I had never worked for a small company before and I felt that if the owners didn’t like me, I would be fired. I had only worked for large corporations which meant I dealt with a lot of politics. It took me a little while before I started to feel comfortable at Crest Foods, which was my issue not Crest’s. Crest Foods is the first company I worked for that didn’t have any politics to deal with, which was an eye opener for me. Over my past twenty years, I’ve enjoyed the challenges that Crest has provided me and I really enjoy all the people I work with at Crest. It was the best decision I ever made.” Mark McWethy From Jim Nalley: “ They way I ended up working at Crest Foods is interesting. I was doing drywall work for Tom Balch in his home. At that time Tom was a supervisor in the Ingredient Division. Tom talked to me about coming to work at Crest Foods. I worked for about six years under Tom and Tracy Whipple as a Lead Mixer in the Ingredient Division. From there I went to the West Warehouse as a fork lift driver, which I still do to this day. I can’t say that my intent was to stay for 20 years but I liked what I was doing. Crest Foods had good insurance and took good care of their employees. So I decided to stay. Over the years I have always coordinated a softball team that Crest Foods has spon- sored. Even during the years when Crest had some rough times, they still sponsored the softball team. I have had about 85 employees play for this team over the 20 years. This was my last year coordinating a softball team and I really appre- ciate Crest Foods doing this for me for all these years. I am very appreciative for Crest Foods and very grateful for all the years here. Thank you Crest Foods for 20 years!” From Susan Larson: “I knew about Crest Foods from living here all of my life. My parents both worked here when Crest was just the building on Main Street. My sister also worked here during high school and after graduation for several years. I had left my previous job and was looking for something close to home since I had two small children at the time. I also knew that Crest was a family oriented place having grown up knowing the Meiners family through High School. I saw Pam Furman (a Crest Foods employee) one day and asked her if she would let me know if an opening came up in the office area at Crest Foods. About a week later she told me that there was an opening in the Payroll De- partment I contacted Jeff Friday, who was in charge of payroll at the time, (and I had gone to school with him). A few days later, after my interview, he hired me. At that point in my life I was not planning on being at Crest for 20 + years but here I am. There have been many things that stand out during my years here. I tell new people all the time that when I first started here I was scared to go out into the warehouse because I thought I would never find my way back to my office! The Payroll office I believe has moved four times since I have been here. I have met so many wonderful people. Other memories that stand out are the tornado of course. Life in the Payroll office is just never dull (a little stressful) but never dull. I just thank everyone for 20 interesting years of my life here at Crest and I have enjoyed being a part of this company as it has grown and changed over this time.” From Joyce Meiners: “This is a milestone I have been looking forward to reaching. It might not be much to some but during our life walk each of us picks goals and milestones to mark our path for our own reasons. I appreciate the op- portunity to work at Crest and the expressed faith in my capabilities to do my job. Thank you to so many of you that have helped me along the way! I started at Crest Foods working for the Product Development Lab. I was hired to develop seasonings for our customers for use in chip dip applications. At the time, the seasoning development was under the same management as stabilizers. Before coming to Crest, I was working for a spice-blending manufacturer. I met Millie (Ludwig) Richards at a Food Executive Meeting where she spoke about the opening. Obtaining a job in this area in product development was a high priority and the motivation for coming to Crest. I really liked the people I met at Crest and the overall culture. I very much wanted to make a career at Crest Foods.
January, February & March 2016 Crest Ink 5
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