Thornton Brothers: Staying True To Core Values — One Customer At A Time

By Harrell Kerkhoff, Maintenance Sales News Editor

Shown, left to right, are Clay Gilbert, President/CEO/Owner; Kerrie Lang, General Manager and Integrator; Sherry Lott, Accounting Manager; and Kelly Embry, Operations Manager. (Photo courtesy of Thornton Brothers)

The keys to developing long-lasting friendships and partnerships in business often include proper communication, establishing shared visions and goals, and celebrating milestones and successes. It’s a process that officials at Thornton Brothers have known and followed for decades, resulting in productive results since the company’s founding in 1939.

Today, the distributor of jan/san and related products and services, located in Athens, GA, continues to focus on what has brought Thornton Brothers to prominence over the past eight-plus decades, while company representatives also look ahead to future partnerships and continued growth.

“We’ve come a long way through the years due to a great sales team and other dedicated employees who embody our values and consistently deliver for our clients,” Thornton Brothers President and CEO Clay Gilbert said, during a recent interview. “Thornton Brothers has also thrived thanks to the loyalty of our customers and the support of our trusted supply partners.”

Gilbert added the distributorship is broad-based, focusing on a wide variety of customers within such segments as jan/san, packaging, and safety supplies. The company has expanded as well in recent years, such as providing products and services related to laundry and warewash.

“Entering new markets, such as laundry and warewash, has been fun and has presented some new opportunities for us,” Gilbert said. “Many of our current customers are tied to industrial accounts. That includes food processing, such as those connected with the poultry business, which is large in Georgia. We also sell to a broader range of people, such as those in charge of maintaining churches, municipal, and education facilities.”

Thornton Brothers’ mission is the same today as when it was founded — to empower organizations to succeed. In late 2024, the distributorship celebrated its 85th anniversary with a customer appreciation event. More than 200 customers joined the company’s employees and enjoyed a full lineup of engaging industry seminars and hands-on product demonstrations. The event enabled customers to step away from their daily routines, connect with the Thornton Brothers team, and see innovative solutions to enhance operations, productivity, and sustainability.

In addition to the celebration with customers, the distributorship recognized its longest-serving team member, Lamar Duncan, who has worked in sales for 50 years at the company.

“Lamar has always represented our company’s values of hard work, dedication and trustworthiness,” Gilbert said. “He’s been an integral part of our company’s success for a very long time.”

Such dedication has been a common denominator over years at the distributorship by many people, helping the business continue to grow into the 21st century.

“One of the main objectives of our employees is helping customers realize all the things that we can do for them as a distributorship. It goes well beyond just selling cleaning products to people,” Thornton Brothers General Manager and Integrator Kerrie Lang said. “Our objective is to allow customers to focus on the things they do best and let our team of employees take care of the rest as it pertains to facility maintenance and inventory management. As part of that focus, we provide pertinent ROI capabilities involving our lineup of products and various programs, including the servicing of equipment for our customers.”

It helps that Thornton Brothers has many solid working relationships in place with valued vendors. Such relationships have often spanned for decades.

“We strive to work with suppliers who want to be our partners and grow with our company,” Lang said. “Just like with customers, communication is huge when it comes to being proactive with our suppliers. That includes supplier sales reps willing to work with our customers to help them understand how to better clean a specific part of a facility and/or use a specific product.”

Gilbert added: “Supplier sales reps can make a huge difference when it comes to helping our customers who are having specific problems. Those reps know their products and systems very well. Such help allows us, as a distributor, to further build customer relationships.

“The main objective we have with our suppliers is the same as with our customers — building trust. Our suppliers and customers must be able to trust us and vice versa.”

Gilbert also spoke highly of Thornton Brothers’ longtime membership in AFFLINK, a buying group that today features a network of 200-plus manufacturing partners and 300-plus regional and national distributors.

“We joined what would eventually become AFFLINK in 1973, helping our distributorship improve supplier relationships, employee training, and benefit from many educational programs over the years,” he added.

A Good Place To Be

Northern Georgia is home to many wonderful things. Included within this region of the Peach State is the southern edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains; the abundance of scenic rivers, lakes, forests, and small towns; and the sprawling metropolis known as Atlanta, GA. Northern Georgia is also the longtime home of Thornton Brothers, its employees, and many of its customers.

Specifically, the distributorship is in Athens, a city of approximately 127,000-plus residents located 70 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta. The city is also the home of the University of Georgia and is known as well for its vibrant music scene, launching such famous alternative rock bands as R.E.M., and the B-52’s. According to Gilbert, it’s a good place to live and conduct business.

“The economy remains strong here and we have some very good competitors who help us stay on our game,” he said. “Overall, it seems there is more new business coming into Georgia, adding additional opportunities. And, the overall labor force in our area continues to exhibit a great work ethic.”

Thornton Brothers was started by Frank Thornton, and his sons Charles and James Thornton, to help solve a specific need. Their family restaurant in Athens was having trouble getting certain supplies. One thing led to another and the Thorntons began acquiring, selling and delivering tissue, towels, and paper bags to a variety of businesses.

A few years later, due to product shortages brought about by World War II, demand for other items grew, as did the new distribution business. With greater demand came greater expansion of product lines to accommodate client wishes. The Thornton Brothers distributorship was well on its way.

For decades, the company flourished under James and Charles Thornton, as the brothers both envisioned a business built on client relationships. Jimbo Thornton (son of James Thornton), meanwhile, started at the distributorship in the late 1950’s by working in sales and helped grow the business significantly prior to his father passing away in 1975. Jimbo then joined his uncle Charles in the leadership of the company. When Charles passed away in the late 1980’s, he was succeeded by Jimbo.

Clay Gilbert later joined the Thornton Brothers team and shared in the Thornton family’s vision, helping keep in place the core values that Thornton Brothers lives by to this day, while also adding improvements to the company.

“I started at Thornton Brothers in 1995 and became general manager, learning the business from the inside out,” Gilbert said. “I also had experience working in the industrial side of the economy for several years at Ingersoll-Rand. After business school, I gained additional knowledge working for an iron distributor in North Carolina. That experience added to my understanding of distribution, which helped when I joined Thornton Brothers.”

Gilbert became president of Thornton Brothers in 2003 upon the retirement of Jimbo Thornton. It was a year that marked another big milestone — the construction of their current facility. The event afforded more space and helped update the company’s various delivery practices. The result has made Thornton Brothers more efficient over the past two-plus decades for the benefit of both existing and new clients.

“Prior to the move we were in a warehouse in downtown Athens that literally dated to the 1860s, making it very difficult to receive and ship products. Everything had to be done manually as there was no room for forklifts,” Gilbert said. “The construction process of our new facility was quite an adventure as we worked hard to establish a modern facility. The result has been outstanding. We are in an industrial park and many businesses have since been built around our facility, turning out to be a great location.”

When asked what has led to Thornton Brothers’ success over its many decades of service, Gilbert named two key factors: leadership and relationship building.

“I never knew Jimbo’s dad, James Thornton, but I did know his uncle Charles Thornton. The Thorntons were really good at taking care of both employees and customers. Those characteristics were handed down over the years, helping build and grow the distributorship along the way,” Gilbert said. “Although I did not grow up in this industry, I have been in it long enough to know the value of building solid relationships, which often result in lasting friendships.

“Today, I can call on a number of people within the industry to ask a question or seek advice. We are fortunate to be part of an industry full of good people who are very helpful in a variety of ways. That is a good example of why relationship building is so important in business.”

Perhaps no time in recent memory was the importance of relationship skills put on full display than during the COVID pandemic. Gilbert and Lang discussed lessons learned during such an unprecedented time.

“As a company, we learned a lot from the pandemic experience and continue to put that knowledge in play today. As with many companies, the pandemic forced us to become more agile. We could not just do the same old thing every day, in the same way, and expect the same or better results,” Gilbert said. “We had to find different ways to conduct business, especially during the early days of the pandemic. We started to source new products, and in response, the emergence of new customers began to develop.”

Lang added: “Despite the difficulties of the pandemic, Thornton Brothers found ways to pivot so that our customers were taken care of on a regular basis. Our salespeople stayed active in helping customers no matter what challenges they were facing. We also showed our customers that we are more than just a provider of products. As a distributor, we could — and continue — to help them protect everything that matters — people, places, and products.”

The Essentials Of Service

Along with providing a wide variety of products that include cleaning chemicals, floor care supplies, paper products, dispensers, cleaning equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), and specialty products, Thornton Brothers specializes in different services. That includes:

  • Equipment Repair and Preventative Maintenance: “The main objective of our service department is to help customers with unexpected repairs to their floor equipment. It’s vital to get such equipment running again, without major disruptions,” Gilbert said. “We will also help customers determine an ideal schedule for routine maintenance so that equipment is properly operating.”

Equipment service work at Thornton Brothers takes place both in-house and one-the-road by the distributorship’s factory trained technicians. The company also maintains a large stock of equipment parts.

  • Customer Training: The Thornton Brothers facility includes a demonstration area used to train customers on how to properly maintain different floor surfaces and other areas of an away-from-home facility. The training includes the use of proper products, tools, and procedures.

“Many of our salespeople spend a lot of time training, including the proper operation and maintenance of equipment,” Gilbert said. “It’s a never-ending task. Training will never go out of style and remains a big part of what we do, as a distributorship. It helps that our salespeople are excellent communicators and enjoy building relationships.”

  • Inventory Management and Improvements in Technology: Thornton Brothers’ investment in technology — such as using digital tools for enhancing logistical operations, inventory management, and customer interaction — has helped streamline the distributorship’s overall operations. Some of that investment now includes work with artificial intelligence (AI) programs. AI, for example, is helping the distributorship improve training procedures for its customer service representatives.

The distributorship also offers to its customers the Guaranteed Availability of Inventory (G.A.IN.), an inventory replenishment system that delivers smaller quantities of the products that customers need, more frequently, without having to pay higher premiums. The automated system keeps track of a customer’s inventory data, allowing Thornton Brothers to determine the most beneficial levels for delivering supplies. The process eliminates the need for ordering on the customer’s end, and there is no contract required. G.A.IN. also lessens crowded storage space issues and ensures products will always be available. If for any reason supplies are not available, Thornton Brothers will pay the customer a penalty.

  • Prompt and Accurate Delivery: Employing quality drivers and maintaining efficient delivery methods are other critical elements to Thornton Brothers’ success.

“We refer to our delivery drivers as ‘ambassadors’ as they are in front of our customers on a regular basis, more so than anybody else at our company,” Lang said. “In essence, our drivers are the face of our business. It’s about going above and beyond just leaving some boxes on a dock.”

Gilbert added: “Many of our drivers have become great friends with customers. When we hosted our recent customer appreciation day, it was common for the attendees to tell us how much they appreciate the efforts of our drivers.”

  • Sustainable Practices/Green Products: Another focus among many distributors today is providing products and systems that are considered friendlier toward the environment and/or more sustainable.

“We continue to introduce new products and systems, helping customers adjust as the industry changes. For example, there is a new regulation involving floor finish. In response to this change, we are providing alternatives as a certain type of finish will no longer be available,” Gilbert said. “Some customers are more interested than others when it comes to sustainability and green-focused products. However, we continue to offer such items and are available to help with the transition.”

A Reliance On Core Values

To date, Thornton Brothers has a workforce of just under 25 employees. That involves a variety of positions, including those who work in sales, equipment service, delivery, and warehouse staff. The biggest characteristic among this group is a shared focus on the company’s core values.

“Those core values serve as a foundation and have helped our company succeed over the years,” Gilbert said. “We also rely on providing, and receiving, feedback involving our people, helping set a strong foundation when it comes to customer service and making our company better. We see ourselves as a learning organization. Part of that is understanding the real needs of our customers. It’s especially helpful when managing their inventory and working through supply issues.”

A recent example of such cooperation is the work taking place between representatives at Thornton Brothers and those in charge of maintaining a recently built arena in Athens. The new facility is home to the Athens Rock Lobsters minor league hockey team and serves as a venue for concerts and other events.

“We are helping provide that facility with cleaning equipment and supplies, along with the necessary training for those in charge of maintenance,” Gilbert said. “That would not be possible without our experienced salespeople and service employees.”

Thornton Brothers stands out not only for the quality of its products and services, but also for its exceptional company culture. Central to this is the implementation of the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) model, which has been a guiding framework for over a decade. This system ensures alignment across teams, clarifies goals, holds employees accountable, and fosters a unified direction for the company.

The focus on culture at Thornton Brothers goes beyond just business strategy; it’s about creating an environment where employees who resonate with the company’s core values can thrive. The leadership team places a high priority on ensuring that all hires and performance evaluations are based on these values. This results in a cohesive workforce where each individual is committed to contributing to the company’s success and the shared vision.

This strong cultural foundation is felt by customers, too. Whether interacting with salespeople, customer service representatives, drivers, or finance and procurement staff, customers quickly notice the consistent quality of service. It’s clear that every employee at Thornton Brothers is dedicated to upholding the company’s values, which ultimately translates into providing the best possible experience for each customer.

Both Gilbert and Lang see a bright future ahead for Thornton Brothers and other distributors that put customer care ahead of everything else.

“We work with a broad range of customers, such as people in charge of maintaining large municipal facilities and schools. They aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. We are also blessed to be in a state where a lot of industrial business takes place,” Gilbert said. “It all translates to continual business and added opportunities.

“It also helps that we have a strong network of friendly partners in place, involving business professionals, who we can rely on when needed.”

He noted that despite certain challenges taking place within the cleaning industry today, such as ongoing consolidation and supply chain disruptions, opportunities should still be plentiful in the years ahead. That is especially true for companies willing to go the extra mile for customers.

“Where there is change, there is opportunity. For us, it’s about letting our customers know that we can free up their time, so they don’t have to worry about such things as proper floor care and finding enough toilet paper,” Gilbert said. “They have more important things to do and should be able to rely on us to take care of what we specialize in — proper facility maintenance.

“This is a fun industry to be in. There are all kinds of great people involved in cleaning supply, and we all serve an important need. That became so clear during the pandemic. It may not be the sexiest business around, but for those who like helping people, and become part of a team, it’s a good place to be.”

Lang added that helping solve problems for customers never grows old.

“I have been with Thornton Brothers for 15 years and have learned a lot when it comes to customer service,” she said. “We are not just providing products to people. We serve as a key resource as it pertains to training, equipment repair, inventory management, and much more.”

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