| Our History - Metropolitan Meat, Seafood & Poultry was officially incorporated in 1944 and operated out of a warehouse on 11th street, NW in Washington D.C. In 1959 Metropolitan moved into the South West Market Complex located on E street SW, just blocks from the Capitol building. In the late 1960’s the second generation of Willard’s joined the family food business. The 1970’s were a period of continued growth but by the early 1980s many dramatic changes to the food distribution industry were taking place. Consolidation, competition and economic conditions made survival difficult and many distributors went out of business. Metropolitan built its business and reputation on outstanding customer service and the distribution of the highest quality food products. Concentrating on the core values of customer service and quality, Metropolitan continued to grow and diversify despite industry challenges. In 1986, Metropolitan Poultry purchased a local seafood company and changed its name to Metropolitan Poultry and Seafood. By the late 1980’s the beginning of third generation of Willard’s began to work in the family business. In 1989, a new, modern warehouse was designed and built in Landover, MD (our current location). The 1990’s were again a period of rapid change and transformation : continued warehouse expansion, the addition of dry goods and groceries, live lobsters, increasing live customer service hours to 5am-5pm, and adding Saturday deliveries. In 1999, Metropolitan became the complete center of the plate protein specialist with the addition of fresh meats and the opening of the new USDA approved meat processing area. The new century brought continued growth and more warehouse expansion. In 2002 the official company name was changed to the current name, Metropolitan Meat, Seafood and Poultry. Changes and growth in the new century were not limited just to the warehouse. The customer service area was expanded to cover most of the Mid-Atlantic geographical areas including the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area and southern Virginia. Product lines continued to grow with the addition of many gourmet specialty lines to complement our center of the plate items. National and world events refocused attention on the safety and the security of American food production and distribution systems. These issues had always been top priorities for Metropolitan but we continued to make additional improvements to ensure the safety and security of all our products. By 2004 customer service hours were again expanded with live sales representatives available from 5am-8pm. Continued growth also requires more employees and for the first time Metropolitan employed more than 200 people with more than 20 different nationalities represented. What’s in the Future? We have been in this business for over half a century and we plan to be around at least that much longer. We will continue to satisfy our customer’s needs and demands by listening to our customers and providing those services that they need to be successful. We are Customer Driven, Quality Focused. |  |
