The Bertucci Family’s 92-Year Tradition of Family, Innovation, and Community
For nearly a century, F.E.B. Distributing Company Inc. has been known for delivering beer across South Mississippi, but the Bertucci family feels the company’s story has become about much more than beer.
Walk through the Gulfport warehouse and you’ll find an operation that looks very different from the one founder Salvador Bertucci built. But ask company leaders Jeff Bertucci, Ryland Bertucci, and Matthew Hessell what they’re most proud of, and none of them mention equipment or technology advances first. They talk about the people.
“None of that replaces relationships,” Jeff Bertucci said. “At the end of the day, it’s still a people business.”
That philosophy has guided F.E.B. Distributing through decades of family ownership.
Jeff Bertucci, his brother, Ryland Bertucci, and their cousin, Matthew Hessell, represent the company’s fourth generation of leadership. The Bertucci brothers learned the business from the ground up, pushing brooms, organizing warehouses, and working summer jobs at 13 years old. Hessell took a different path, spending five years in the casino industry before returning to the family business, where he now leads its technological evolution.
Their own children are following that same path, learning the business from the ground up. “It’s the only way we know,” Jeff Bertucci said. “If they decide this is what they want to do, we want them to understand every job.”
That respect extends well beyond family. F.E.B. Distributing employs about 115 people on the Gulf Coast, with another 145 at its sister company, Capital City Beverages, in Jackson. Many employees have spent decades with the company, including several approaching 30 years of service.
“We’re only here because of the people who came before us,” Ryland Bertucci said. “And I don’t just mean our family, but every employee who helped build this company.”
While the company’s foundation has remained unchanged, the industry around it has transformed dramatically. “It’s not our granddad’s beer business anymore,” Jeff Bertucci said.
Neither is the warehouse. Hessell has spearheaded a complete technological transformation, replacing outdated systems with mobile technology, cloud-based reporting, automated conveyors, and robotics. The changes weren’t made to reduce the workforce. They were introduced to make employees’ jobs safer, more efficient and more predictable.
One warehouse automation project cut holiday shifts nearly in half, giving employees more predictable schedules and more time with their families. Robotics now handle many slower-moving products that once required repeated manual lifting, while automated systems have reduced forklift traffic inside the warehouse, creating a safer work environment.
“We invested in technology to invest in our people,” Hessell said. “Everything we’ve done has been about giving our employees a better quality of life.”
Those innovations have also earned industry recognition. F.E.B. Distributing recently received multiple supplier awards from Molson Coors recognizing excellence in sales, operations, and market execution, achievements the leadership team credits to employees working throughout South Mississippi every day.
Ask any of them what matters most, though, and the answer isn’t robotics or awards. It’s legacy.
Nearly every morning begins with coffee and conversation between generations, where business mixes with family, ideas are exchanged and another day’s lessons are passed from one generation to the next.
“It’s a privilege,” Jeff Bertucci said. “I get to work with my dad, my brother, my uncle, my cousin, and my family every day. We don’t take that for granted.”
Even with robots in the warehouse and technology changing the industry faster than ever, one family rule remains difficult to follow. Mama Bertucci insists that whenever the family gets together—no business talk. But they admit they break it all the time.
And after 92 years, F.E.B. Distributing is more than a family beer business. It’s heritage, responsibility, and identity—woven throughout eras, shaped by the people who built it, strengthened by those who carry it forward, and destined to remain part of who they are for generations to come.
F.E.B. Distributing
(228) 863-0422 | 12155 Intraplex Pkwy, Gulfport, MS 39503
