Patricia Bible
Grit, Family, Foundation
KaTom Restaurant Supply Founder, President, and CEO Patricia Bible's story is truly the American dream. Her visionary leadership grew a company she began in her home's garage with her late husband Tim to the sixth largest of its kind in its industry.
Patricia's life is shaped by grit and determination. She learned it from the strong women who raised her, including her mother, who worked three jobs while studying to become a nurse, and her grandmother, who cared for Patricia and her three siblings. A young Patricia also got into the workforce to help support the family, taking odd jobs delivering newspapers, selling vegetables grown by the family, and lifeguarding at a local pool.
There's nothing we can't overcome. Just push, push, push, push and keep opening your mind to greater ways of thinking and greater ways of doing.
The lessons she picked up on the value of hard work served her well when, as a young woman, she began a relationship with the man who would become her husband. The entrepreneurial couple jumped on every new business opportunity and found success everywhere. Patricia was the backbone of every operation, from tasks as simple as toting deposit bags of quarters from washing machines to the bank to getting her private pilot's license to fly to locations around the country when time got tight.
When help was needed in the KaTom warehouse, Patricia earned her forklift certification—something she continued to put to good use when she helped move the company's stock to KaTom's new Kodak, Tenn., headquarters in 2012. No role was too big or too small as Patrcia put her heart and soul into ensuring KaTom continued to reach new heights.
You don't know what you don't know until you face it.
Strength through adversity
After 15 years of running KaTom hand in hand, Tim passed unexpectedly in 2001. Rather than shrink from a new set of challenges, Patricia looked to the 18 single-head-of-household women who were employed by KaTom at the time and chose to meet those challenges head on.
Despite doubts and scoffs from others in the industry, Patricia pushed forward with a plan to launch katom.com, one of the first eCommerce sites in the restaurant supply space. The site was launched just weeks after Tim's passing and was an unquestioned success. Today the platform remains one of the primary engines behind KaTom's continued growth.
Breaking industry barriers
As she stepped into solo leadership of the company, Patricia became one of the first women in top leadership roles in the foodservice equipment industry. She relied on the grit and determination she learned in her upbringing to continue forward in the early days after Tim's passing.
As KaTom continued to grow under her leadership, she recognized the platform and recognition she was gaining; she used this notoriety as an opportunity to inspire other women in the foodservice industry and in the broader business world. In 2025 she earned the prestigious Enterprising Women of the Year award from Enterprising Women Magazine and landed on the Inc. Female Founders 500 list, recognizing her as one of the most accomplished woman entrepreneurs in the world.
It's not just about reaching financial milestones; it's about building a legacy of excellence, integrity, and continuous improvement.
Empowerment through success
Since stepping into the CEO role, Patricia has led KaTom to annual sales growth from just over $4 million to more than $500 million in 2025, with 16 years running on Inc. magazine's list of the 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in America. Along the way, she grew the staff to more than 260, brought on Paula and Charley—her and Tim's two children and the inspirations for the KaTom name—as presidents, battled breast cancer and West Nile virus, and moved KaTom to a 20-acre campus that's home to a 350,000-square-foot building after multiple expansions.
She also built KaTom into a full-service partner for commercial operators, supplementing its inside sales and eCommerce teams with kitchen design, outside sales, installation, contracts, bids, and other services. It is now the sixth-largest company in its industry.