Serving The West Since 1933...Serving The Rest Since 1973
Esther & Jack Houston opened the House of Vintages wine & spirit store in downtown Portland in 1933. Esther & Jack had one full time goal...excellent customer service. That was over seventy years ago and that same goal is still the culture at Houston's Inc. This led to their next venture, Complete Catering Service & Party Rental. They furnished everything except the guests. In 1953 it became apparent to Esther & Jack that their Bar & Restaurant supply side of the business was expanding at an enormous rate. They soon ceased their catering business and started the hunt for a larger warehouse facility.

In 1971 Esther & Jack’s son; John Houston came into the business after a distinguished career as an Air Force pilot during Vietnam that earned him a silver star and two distinguished flying crosses for going into hostile positions flying a 90 mile and hour single engine Cessna.
John’s new mission: Bring Houston's Inc. to the next level. John brought with him a passion for the business and the food service industry. Since that time, Houston's Inc. has continued to grow, and today services customers across the nation. In a 1971 interview with the Sunday Oregonian John states:
"We sell only to jobbers, hotel suppliers
& bar supply companies, never in competition
with the people who buy from us."
-That statement and commitment still holds true today.

Today, Tomorrow & The Future
Today, Houston's Inc. has over two-hundred full time associates whose full time goal is a commitment to excellent customer service. We now have two state of the art distribution centers, One in Wilsonville, Oregon and our most recent distribution center, located in Riverside, Missouri. We stock over 10,000 items. Everything that you see in our catalog and on our web site we stock. If there is something that we do not carry, our special order department can source it. The investment in people & technology has Houston's Inc. poised to grow with our customers as well as the industry's needs. Some of the initiatives that we have launched in order to support future growth are our e-commerce web site, CD-ROM electronic catalog, and bar-coding capabilities that efficient foodservice response (EFR) is heading towards. Houston's Inc. is on the cutting edge of procurement software to ensure a smooth and consistent line of supply to our customer base.

Leading The Industry in Flexible Service

Weekly inventory turns or better

• Reduce customers space requirements
• Convert inventory into cash
• Reducing customer payables
• Make new products available at no risk
• Provide fill-ins for those who buy direct
• Reduce dock time at the Receiving dock
• Provide sales training
• Increase return on inventory investment
• Focus on net profit, not gross profit