Carolyn Doerle, managing director, chief executive and owner of Doerle Food Services, says if she had to choose between getting an MBA or a master’s in psychology as preparation for running a business, she would definitely opt for the latter. Doerle has headed up the Louisiana distribution company for 29 years and recently was honored by the International Foodservice Manufacturers Association with its 2008 Distinguished Industry Achievement Award.
She originally was trained as a psychiatric nurse. After earning her master’s degree in psychology, she practiced for 10 years, specializing in women’s issues. She remembers starting one of the first consciousness-raising groups in the 1970s in Lafayette, La. After four years of working on crisis intervention in a psychiatric hospital, however, she experienced burnout. For a change of pace, she agreed to join her father’s business—a distribution company he started in 1950—to manage the human resources department for two years. Twenty-nine years later, she owns the business and has years of successful achievements to her credit.
When the question of succession came up, Paul Doerle, Sr., brought in an outside consultant to help with the decision. It was not an easy process, as five children, including Carolyn, worked in the company. She bought out her siblings in 2003 and has been at the helm ever since.
Doerle looks back at a number of watershed events that have borne out her belief that there are opportunities in crises. In the 1980s, the Louisiana economy took a dive because of the failing oil and gas industry. Nearly two-third’s of the distributor’s business was energy and marine-related, meaning they provided food for the offshore business. Doerle led their entry into the health care industry. This diversification has proven successful, and the company is now dominant in long-term health care distribution.
The business also grew as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There are three distribution centers in the state. Headquarters is in Broussard, with two satellite centers in Shreveport and Port Fourchon. They were relatively unharmed in the two hurricanes and have increased business as a result.
Doerle credits her outside board of advisors for supporting her decision-making over the years. She recruited presidents of successful, noncompetitive distribution companies as advisors and mentors. She also believes her psychology background has been key to her style of management, which is based on consensus building rather than a militarylike chain of command. Nevertheless, she lets it be known that “the buck stops with her.”
Doerle has built the business by being a risk taker. Recently, she purchased a building that increased headquarters warehouse space from 100,000 square feet to 400,000 square feet. At the time, the company did not have the additional business to fill the warehouse. Her belief in “if you build it, they will come” paid off. Two major broadline distributors closed their distribution centers in Mississippi with the result that Doerle gained Sonic and Subway chain business to the tune of more than $130 million. She managed to recruit 120 workers when Louisiana’s unemployment was less than 3 percent at the time. The new chain business came with a steep learning curve in terms of transportation, technology and labor, she says, but business is booming.
Doerle is most proud of the fact that she has preserved the family legacy, as she says, “beating the odds of family business failure.” She says her early career in psychology allowed her to segue easily into her role as chief executive. Certainly, she came to distribution armed with the people skills and the intuitive ability that have allowed her to develop into a strong, innovative leader—well deserving of the IFMA award.
