Going Nuts in South Alabama

You might say, Mark Hatchett, owner of the Dees Pecan Company in Grand Bay, Alabama, is a little nutty over pecans. If indeed he is a nut, Hatchett’s a healthy one. The former Auburn University baseball player is a sharp, youthful 70-year-old. Must be all of that pecan oil, filled with antioxidants and vitamin D. Like his mentor and friend Clarence Bishop, age 90, of Fairhope’s B&B Pecan Company. Hatchett knows what it takes to survive during trying seasons. 

Hurricane Sally put a damper on these family businesses and the Alabama pecan production. In Grand Bay, the pecan trees themselves were not devastated, but still. “It rained for eight straight hours,” Hatchett recalls. “Heavy, rain-soaked nuts broke tree stems, and when the nuts hit the ground a month ahead of harvest, they rotted.”  

Hatchett has rebounded from the storm. His retail outlet, located at 5960 Dawes Road in Grand Bay, Alabama, offers roasted, salted, chocolate covered, chopped (ready for pies), and even ready-made pies: classic, chocolate, and sugar-free. Other products range from fresh ground pecan coffee (try the bourbon, butter, or chocolate pecan roast); to coffee mugs; T-shirts, gift baskets in the shape of Alabama, and corporate gifts, like decorative pecan tree tins filled with homemade goodies, all which make such welcome gifts for the holidays.

Back in Fairhope, at 16151 Greeno Road (Hwy 98), Brett Bishop, 24, a fourth-generation Bishop (and descendant of the Brown family; his grandmother was a Brown, hence, the B&B) has been learning every facet of the business from the time he was a little kid. He remembers when, in between the rows of pecan trees, his family planted corn and beans. “When I wasn’t at football practice,” says the athletic Bishop, “I was out in the fields picking up limbs, doing whatever my dad (Doug) needed me to do.” His grandfather, Clarence, whom he calls “Paw Paw”, has been called, by Hatchett, “The Godfather of the Pecan Industry in Alabama.” 

You’d think the two businesses over 40 miles apart would-be competitors, and maybe they are. But to a large extent, they are great friends. Both are proud members of the Southeastern Pecan Growers Association. The Hatchetts and Bishops rely on each other, plus their pecan-farming friends in Georgia. “That’s where the largest production of pecans comes from,” says Bishop. “The Georgia pecan growers help us out when we need it. They have thousands of acres of pecan trees. We have 125 acres.” Bishop has learned from the best. Just ask Hatchett. When referring to the B&B Pecan Company, Hatchett says, “They do everything right.”

Longevity and perseverance define these growers. The Dee and the Bishop families combined have nearly 165 years of farming. Brett Bishop is now applying his hands-on learning with his business degree, and with his devotion to the land, he’s a natural at helping in every facet of the business. “I’m updating our website when I’m not out in the groves sweeping the rows, hand-grading the nuts, or shaking down some Elliotts.” The Elliott pecan is king. Hatchett concurs.                                                  

“It’s all about the oils, and Elliott pecans have more oil, which imparts a distinctively rich flavor.” 

Having endured and overcome several disappointing growing seasons through the years, Hatchett gladly shares his knowledge with his customers. “Studies have shown the native American Indians, who, in the early 1800s introduced us to the health benefits of pecans, had very low incidents of heart disease. The Pawnee Indians (for whom the Pawnee pecans are named) had the kind of ingenuity to keep the early pecans growing. They uprooted saplings and carried them to replant in the Delta.” Hatchett is so knowledgeable about the pecan industry, he could teach a Master Class on the subject, should a degree in Pecan Harvesting be offered. He describes a painstaking process when he explains what it takes to graft a tree to grow a specific variety.  

The historic building owner that smells of roasted pecans at the intersection of Dawes and Grand Bay Wilmer, Hatchett employs a friendly staff. The tradition that began in 1925 would make DeWitt and Myrtle Dees, Hatchett’s grandparents on his mother’s side, mighty proud. “They never met a stranger,” Hatchett recalls. 

Customer service extends beyond the retail stores. Both Dees and B&B ship pecan products to all 50 states. Pawnee, Choctaw, Elliott, Gloria Grande, Stuart, Cape Fear, Schley, and Jackson are just some pecan varieties in their stores. Maybe these growers aren’t nuts after all. They just have uncommon endurance. We all benefit from the Grand Bay-Fairhope connection. It has provided a network of support, benefitting both farmers and the Alabama pecan industry, not to mention our tastebuds.