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Douglas Odom, Sr. was born to Will and Kate Seifert Odom on September 18, 1902 in Nashville at 1701 8th Avenue North. Doug had a brother Williams Odom, Jr. and a sister Ethel. Doug’s father was in the meat business all his life. First, Will Seifert started a meat wagon going from house to house. Then, Will went into a meat market joining an H.G. Hill store at 14th and Buchanan Streets. It is easy to see how his son, Douglas, would enter the ever-growing meat industry.
Doug Sr. attended Buena Vista School in Nashville. Back during the days of early 1900’s, one of their fun things to do after school was to ride the garbage wagon as it went by. While he was at Buena Vista School, Doug liked all his school subjects.
But going to school wasn’t enough for Doug. So, early in life, Doug decided to start to work and earn money and learn good business sense. Doug was first employed by Western Union. He delivered telegrams after school and, with some of the money he earned, he bought a new bicycle to help with the deliveries. Doug also found the time to work as a newspaper boy on a route.
Doug’s brother Will's main interest was the meat business. So when Doug was eighteen, he and Will opened a meat market in Nashville. Mr. Will Odom, their father, financed the business through Commerce Union Bank. Doug and his brother would deliver the meat to the customers by bicycle and by car. Doug and Will kept the meat market open about five years. After working with his brother, Doug Odom worked for a meat wholesale company, working for Charles Nickens who was the owner.
Doug had experience in the meat business in a variety of roles – as meat deliverer, manager and owner. He knew all the angles, and this time it was like starting all over again. He decided to open a sausage making business because Nashville and the surrounding areas did not have a good sausage product on the market, and Doug knew he could produce one. It was this confidence and experience that led the Odom’s to move to Madison, TN in 1943 and start Odom Sausage Company. Doug bought in Madison because it still had an element of country living. "We knew he could make it if he set his mind to it because he had experience and was qualified. We were all very enthusiastic." remembers Louise Odom.
Doug Odom, Sr. In his Model 1918 Delivery Truck
Today we continue that same tradition that Doug Odom Sr. started. Our corporate office is still in Madison, TN on the same grounds Mr. Odom purchased over 50 years ago. Today, we have plants in Little Rock, Arkansas and Dickson, Tennessee.
The Odom tradition lives on here at Odom's Tennessee Pride, where our commitment to exceptional quality and value are as strong today as they were when the company was founded.
All text in these history pages came from the book, "This Is Your Life", written by the Tennessee Pride Employees, and given to Mr. Odom in 1969.
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