The Houston’s Executive team recently turned to its employees looking for name suggestions for the Wilsonville office’s three conference rooms.  The turn out and variety of suggestions were impressive, but one thing was clear–employees wanted to stay true to Houston’s roots.  Numerous suggestions were made for both the John Houston and Esther Houston conference rooms that it became impossible to pick just one winner for each name.  Placing all employees’ names into a hat for those two particular naming suggestions, winners were drawn at random and received $10 gift certificates to Slick’s Big Time Barbecue located here in Wilsonville.  Congratulations to the winners:  Richard Vogel (the John Houston Conference Room, large room downstairs), Jenny Johnston (the Esther Houston Conference Room, upstairs conference room), and Christina Graiff (Room 26, small downstairs conference room.)

The history of our company has not escaped us, and is evident in our naming suggestions.  Esther Houston and her husband Jack were the original founders of House of Vintages in Portland, Oregon, offering wine and spirits to their patrons.  Their son, John Houston, joined the business after a career in the Air Force, bringing with him new energy and passion for the foodservice industry.  The original Houston’s location was located on Powell and SE 26th (hence, Room 26).

The Executive team would like to, once again, extend a sincere “thank you” to all who participated in the naming of our Wilsonville conference rooms.  Esther and John’s legacies are present and continue to live on throughout our daily operations and commitment to service.