CREATIVES: Entrepreneur to Watch – Georgia Pecan Purveyor Putt Wetherbee
Georgia pecan purveyor Putt Wetherbee is an entrepreneur that post-college successfully grew and sold a fertilizer company. He brought this experience back to his family business, Schermer Pecans.
Pecans are in Putt’s blood. His father, a pecan grower since 1959, purchased Schermer Pecans in 1977 and with it became the owner of one of the largest pecan companies in Georgia. Putt’s namesake, planter and philanthropist Francis Flagg Putney, was part of the largest commercial pecan planting that took place around the turn of the century and some of the orchards still remain in the family.
Serving as an Advisory Board Member to US Pecans, the new promotion arm of the National Pecan Council, Putt is an entrepreneur to watch as he moves around the country promoting flavorful and healthy pecans.
We love Putt and his delicious pecans (especially the roasted salted but the dark chocolate are also pretty special with a glass of red wine). Get to know him better here as we asked him to share what inspires him…
Inspiration:
A desire to be a positive marker in my family’s rich heritage in this part of the world and give my children the opportunity to continue our hard working and enjoyable legacy.
Theme Song:
Jessica, the Allman Brothers Band
Fave book or author:
Book: Atlas Shrugged
Authors: Although we haven’t heard much from them recently, Robert Ruark, C.S. Lewis, Mark Twain
Favorite charity:
The ones closest to home, especially those that need time as much as money because they give everyone the opportunity to serve.
#1 skill/attribute needed to be an entrepreneur:
Most all entrepreneurs are bold and hardworking by nature so setting that aside you must be able to listen and be honest with yourself about you and your ideas. If you can’t recognize or listen to others who recognize your weaknesses or flaws in your ideas success may be delayed or never arrive.
Role model:
Wow, these questions were pretty easy up to now! My first thought is for what aspect of my life: Christian, family, business? All of these aspects are important to me and I look to different people for strength and guidance. Some of my role models are real and some are characters in books; some are permanent and some are situational. Anyway, some of the most recognizable in my book are: Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee and George Washington Carver. I like to think that one of my ancestors, Francis Flagg Putney, may have done some work with Carver since he was an early planter of peanuts.
Favorite quote:
Favorite quotes float in and out of my life like role models but the current is from a book that me and my five year old daughter read together at least twice a week “…and then he smiled a foggy smile and said ‘but you’ll do’ “ from a book called City Dog and Country Frog.
Interesting tidbit about you or your business:
The interesting thing about my business is that it is interesting and fun! California may not agree but growing pecans is kind of like a vineyard; you work the same rows of trees year after year and no year is ever the same. Developing Schermer’s great products and story into more diverse markets continues to be a very rewarding learning curve. Plus I get to go all over the world for our export business and meet some fascinating everyday people like me. I am very fortunate to nurture two of my passions on a daily basis: growing pecans and growing businesses!
The Southern Coterie is a social network (tscoterie.wpengine.com) with events (thesoutherncsummit.com) that connect influencers, entrepreneurs and marketing professionals with an affinity for the South.
Enjoy this series where we introduce you to Southern creatives we find inspiring-
Nan Myers, Jay Ducote and Jane Pope Cooper
TJ Callaway, Natalie Evans and Javacia Bowser
XOXO – CHERI HARDEN LEAVY
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Schermer Pecans is hosting our morning break at The Southern C Summit in Nashville October 17th. Putt is serving his roasted salted pecans and also has special guest Lee Epting making the famous Epting Events pralines. Can’t wait!
Sitting at a farmhouse in middle Georgia waiting for today’s Georgia game to start. Looking out the window, I see pecan leaves blow in the wind. From eight to fourteen years old, each fall my brothers and I picked up pecans. Sometimes my dad on a big John Deere tractor with the tree encircled with a chain shook the trees and they hailed nuts in steady rain to the ground, while we tried to best the other in how fast we could fill our buckets. We had incredible Stuarts that my grandmother had planted. The sixty plus year-old trees here were tended by a couple well known to those who passed by and stopped to buy them. One concrete building on the place, air conditioner in the window, was dubbed “The Nut House,” where the shelled pecans were kept cool after being bagged.
Laud Putt for where he has taken the company. Pecan orchards, even those not tended where gnarly and horry branches bravely survive, catch my eye whenever I travel. And pralines, I love. What a bonanza for the Souther C. And to you, as always kudos for another great focus on Georgians holding on and growing old tradiitons.