BusinessTN

“Moody” Dunbar and his legacy have been preaching the gospel of the red bell pepper for more than 70 years, growing Moody Dunbar Inc. slowly but steadily into one of the nation’s top niche food producers.

Never has the red pepper supplier’s presence been stronger than in recent years as the Johnson City-based company has moved more substantially into the retail consumer market, launching its proprietary marinated roasted peppers.

Founder Thomas “Moody” Dunbar (nicknamed after a local evangelist) first planted his red bell peppers in 1933 on one-half acre on the border of Washington and Greene counties. He sold the pepper seeds to supplement his low income as a Tusculum College-educated teacher.

The increased demand for his pepper seeds led Dunbar to negotiate more acreage through land-use agreements with area tobacco farmers. During the next four decades, Moody Dunbar became a corporation, experienced controlled growth by taking over several other family-run pepper businesses and opened a second plant in Southern California. Dunbar then decided to start grooming his youngest child, Stanley, as his successor.

Stanley Dunbar, a law graduate from Vanderbilt University, put his legal career on hold to join the company heading sales, and then became chief executive officer when the elder Dunbar passed away suddenly in 1981.

“I saw that the business was right on the verge of either going forward or dying off. I could have worked for 10 or 15 years to build a law practice; I enjoyed this business more,” Dunbar says.

Today, as the food industry continues to mature, Moody Dunbar faces the challenges of not only maintaining its status as the country’s leader in canned red peppers and pimientos (red pepper’s “cousin”), but also of better competing against imported brands.

For most of its existence, the Moody Dunbar brand name remained in the background as the company focused on being a supplier to large players like Campbell Soup Co. and grocery store chains under private labels. In the early 1990s, it started more aggressively promoting its own brand.

With the help of food-centric advertising firm Creative Energy (also located in Johnson City), Dunbar’s strategies include new ways for the American consumer to use red peppers and pimientos to spice up staple recipes, such as green bean casserole.

Promoting its peppers and pimientos as healthy eating alternatives also bodes well for Dunbar’s.

Tony Treadway, president of Creative Energy, says Dunbar took advantage of the now waning low-carbohydrate diet craze by pushing its naturally low-carb, low-calorie peppers.

“All of Moody Dunbar’s products are very well-positioned from a health perspective,” he adds.

The company’s public relations campaign seems to be working. Although the privately held company keeps a tight lid on its financials, officials will say that, since 1996, Moody Dunbar has become the number two provider of roasted peppers to the retail market.

Overall, the company’s position is secure. Having already acquired many of its competitors, Moody Dunbar hasn’t engaged in any M&A activity in recent years, and Dunbar prides his company on never having had to reach for outside investment.

That doesn’t mean the company is resting on its peppers. As part of an earlier buyout, Moody Dunbar acquired a sweet potato canning facility in Dunn, N.C. Currently holding the number three spot in the sweet potato market, the company is looking to apply strategies similar to those used with its pepper products, promoting the healthy qualities of the sweet, starchy food.