Fifty years ago, an ambitious young produce man named Hiram Folds convinced his boss to let him try to sell a single load of bananas in addition to the potatoes and onions the company specialized in.

The move proved so successful that within a few years, Folds had purchased General Produce Inc., now one of the nation’s top distributors and the 2013 winner of the prestigious Georgia Family Business of the Year Award from the Cox Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw State Cole College of Business and Georgia Trend magazine.

Hiram Folds (arms folded) at the H.C. Davis Banana Co. warehouse circa 1951. Folds later joined a small Atlanta company called General Produce, which he eventually bought. (Photo courtesy of General Produce)The criteria were demanding, the award process was arduous. But when the three generations of Folds and Springfield families, who now own and operate General, receive the award in November, it will have all been worth it, said Jeannie Springfield, Hiram Folds’ daughter and the company’s chief financial officer.

Preparations for the ceremony began in September, when award representatives visited for photo and video sessions for the upcoming festivities.

“We felt like celebrities,” Springfield said. “I’d never done a video before — we had no idea what to expect. The entire application process was a lot of work, but now that we’re through, we’re excited. And with the photos and video behind us, now we just kind of feel like we can coast until the awards dinner.”

One place General Produce will not be coasting is in its prime location on the Atlanta State Farmers Market. The company also has another facility in Starke, FL, and four cross-dock locations in three states serving 11 Southeastern states with overnight delivery.

The pace is frantic, the work non-stop, but the family business is thriving — likely because the ownership considers the entire team extended family.

Springfield’s brother Calvin serves as the company’s chief executive officer. Third-generation family members Cal Folds, Rex Springfield and Megan Springfield are already involved in operations at various levels and are preparing to take on leadership roles in the years to come.

But the rest of General’s employees get as much credit for the company’s success as if they were family. There are 27 General Produce employees who work alongside members of their own families on the team. And Springfield is quick to single out Executive Vice President Randy Lineberger, IT Director Brett Marler, Business Development Manager George Wiley and Derek Powell, who heads up the retail support division and export sales, with helping General grow beyond Hiram Folds’ wildest expectations.

“Every family member and every employee who has joined us has added something and made things better for all of us,” Springfield said. The non-family leadership team “does whatever it takes to get the job done — they make it possible for us to actually have a home life. As my son, Rex, wrote in part of the application process for the award, this was a family business when we bought it and it’s still a family business, but it’s not just people related by blood. The relationships we’ve made, whether it’s customers or vendors, become friendships. We still do business with the families of people our dad did business with over 50 years ago.”