Three brothers, one produce market

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The Souter Brothers — Bill, Les and Tom — of Bill’s Produce in Warner Robins offer a place for people to buy locally grown, quality produce, providing customers another option over perusing the aisles and fridges of the grocery store.

Vegetables, casseroles, cakes, jams, jellies, sauces, honey, soups and more, are available at the brothers’ market, located at 401 South Houston Lake Road, next to Lowe Toyota. The open-air market and Georgia Store is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The Montezuma-native Souters are currently in their 12th year of business, and they would be thrilled to help ease your stresses surrounding last-minute Christmas shopping. They commute 40 minutes one way to Warner Robins to run the market each day.

“We just try to have fun doing it,” Les said. “We’ve got the best customers in Warner Robins, I think.

“People pull up to a produce market, they usually get out with a smile on their face; they really do. They can see the produce, we like to make it special for them and talk to them.”

Some folks may wonder, why go to an open-air market when there’s Walmart, Kroger and Publix nearby?

“We don’t try to compete with the grocery store,” Les said. “We try to find something they don’t have. … We’ve got a lot of unique things that you wouldn’t see in the grocery store, and a lot of people are getting them for gifts — like sauces, F.R.O.G. jam, mayhaw jelly is really popular, apple butter and local honey.”

“[This is] stuff you don’t find in normal stores,” Tom chimed in response.

The brothers spoke on the history of the market, what has led up to the current moment in time and their over a decade in business.

“My brother-in-law is a watermelon farmer, and he asked if we would help him sell some watermelons,” Les said. “We started selling watermelons, and then my neighbor wanted to know if we’d like to sell some produce along with the watermelons — and it just kind of took off from there. … We were just looking for something fun to do, and then it got to be full time.”

“We leased the property from a friend of ours, and we’ve bought it since then,” Bill said.

Every year, the market opens April 1 and closes around the beginning of January. Les said it can be challenging to find country-grown items to sell in the first few months after the turn of the year.

“When we start in the spring, produce is in South Florida, and it starts working its way up,” Les said. “It peaks right here probably around the third week of June.

“So, we start following it when it’s in South Florida, and we follow it up through our area. [In] June and July, it’s all around us. And then, we follow it on up into Tennessee and North Carolina — and we actually get some watermelons out of Indiana. But by that time, it’s moved on, and we move on, too.”

The brothers will usually work alongside three more people during their busiest months of the year, a time when fresh peas, butterbeans and some fruits are a hot commodity, they shared.

“April, May, June, July — all of those summer months are pretty busy,” Bill said. “There’s a lot going on then.”

“The spring and the summer are busier than the fall,” Les said. “We still do [offer different things for] Halloween and Christmas and all that, but it’s hard to beat spring with the flowers. … We sell a lot of flowers along with the early summer produce, and then we get really local with the produce in June, July and August.”

Pumpkins are a popular item during the fall, and Christmas trees and firewood are in demand as the end of the year approaches.

Bill said he was a big fan of their boiled peanuts, adding that many people have repeatedly come by the market for those in particular.

“There’s a pretty good following for those, and it’s a novelty item at the same time,” Bill said.

They all agreed tomatoes and a few other fruits are among some of their top-selling items, especially during the midsummer.

“For about two months, peaches rival tomatoes,” Les said. “Watermelons are really popular. We call them the Big Three: tomatoes, peaches and watermelons.”

Les is usually traveling the state in a box truck, picking up the produce at individual farms or meeting the farmers at a central location.

When choosing products to feature at their market, the brothers agreed on three criteria: quality, freshness and a conscientious source.

“We’ve got a lot of farmers that meet us at the Cordele market; it’s a localized area,” Les said. “We’ve got a lot of families that meet us at the Atlanta market. … I probably spend a third of my time visiting with farmers and then two-thirds of my time meeting farmers and shopping at the farmer’s market.”

New to 2022, the brothers added grass-fed beef and tropical plants, such as a variety of palm trees, to their spread of offerings. Hibiscus and jasmine were brought in as well.

Italian cream, key lime and 10-layer chocolate are popular cake options. They source some of their cakes out of Vidalia.

As of the time of the interview with the Souter brothers, shelled pecans are a hot item.

“These are really popular right now for the holidays,” Bill said, holding up a bag of shelled pecans. “People give them for gifts, or they make pecan pies, candy and all that.”

As for the more unusual items, inside the Georgia Store you can find remedies such as Wild Bill’s Yellow Root Tea, God’s Miracle Tea and elderberry.

During the interview, someone came by and bought some pure 100% cane syrup, an offering from Nashville, Georgia. Les said that the product is made from sugarcane just once a year, and Tom explained that the syrupmakers use a mule-driven system to grind up the cane.

Recently, they visited the Cordele market to pick up some tomatoes and sweet potatoes.

In the current season, people are enjoying the apple cider sourced from Tiger, but during the summer, other popular options are the scuppernong and muscadine ciders.

They carry a variety of casseroles out of Columbus, and some of their beef is from Rochelle. They also carry a handful of different scented goat milk soaps, such as eucalyptus mint and candy cane, made in Cordele.

Inside the market, you’ll also find sunflower oil, pecan oil and pecan flour sourced from Pitts.

Along with the F.R.O.G. jam made from fig, raspberry, orange and ginger, you can also grab some G.A.T.O.R. jam while you’re perusing at Bill’s, a product made from ginger, apple, tangerine, orange and raspberry. They also carry some highly regarded cheese straws made in Columbus.

Bill mentioned their breadmaker is local to Warner Robins, and they received their last batch for the year earlier this week.

“Homemade breads are really popular; we’ve got five or six different kinds of bread,” Les said. “The sourdough is popular and the banana bread, too.”

If you like candied pecans, try some Montezuma-sourced offerings in a few different flavors: chocolate-covered, honey cinnamon, praline, roasted and more.

During the spring, you can also find local handmade yard art available there at Bill’s.

The open-air setup there at Bill’s Produce helped the Souters to retain some of their loyal customers during the tougher times of the pandemic.

They all said they’ve met some interesting people from interesting places during their years in business, citing Warner Robins being “The International City” and people coming from different countries to visit the airbase.

Tom mentioned some folks have come from London, the Bahamas, Jamaica and Scandinavian countries, among other places. They spoke of how much they appreciated their loyal customers here locally as well.

As said before, if you’re in a pinch as the holidays are fast approaching, you could always handle some of your Christmas shopping needs at Bill’s Produce.

“It’s slow right now for the holiday,” Bill said. “People are buying Christmas trees, pecans and firewood right now.”

“We’ve had a good year,” Les said. “But [when] people think of produce, they think of warm weather, sunshine, pretty days. When it gets cold, people start migrating towards the inside stuff, kind of our local items and artisan options.”

When they close up shop for the year, they have a to-do list to complete before opening for the next season.

“Once we go through that [list], then we go fishing,” Les said, laughing.

They enjoy taking trips to the Gulf of Mexico — especially Steinhatchee, Florida — fishing inshore for trout and redfish.

In the past, Bill worked in construction and business remodeling. Tom worked in insurance, and still works in it when he’s able. Les worked in the real estate and timber industries.

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