However, McLane is really a grocery guy. For years, he ran the McLane Group, a wholesale grocery company in Temple started by his grandfather. It distributed to convenience stores and mass marketers. The wholesale grocery business is a lot like the Army. In the military, amateur soldiers discuss tactics.
Professionals talk about logistics.
And that's the wholesale grocery business. To win, you must have just the right amount of supplies in the proper place and at the lowest possible cost. Drayton McLane proved to be a master at using technology to do just that. It distributed in all 50 states as well as foreign countries. In 1991, Wal-Mart bought it and McLane ran what became a subsidiary for six years.