70
TOBACCO BUSINESS
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
All in the Family
Two family business veterans offer five tips for growing your
family-owned retail business.
By Jennifer Gelfand
F
or many retailers, business is a
family affair. At inception or over
time, spouses, parents, siblings and
children often join the company, either by
pitching in on the workload or by investing
in startup or expansion capital. Ideally, the
result is closer family ties, a tightly knit
company culture, and a business you can
pass down through generations—in short,
both the business and the family benefit.
Unfortunately, that’s not always how it
plays out.
“The highs are higher and the lows are
lower in a family business—you suffer
more when things are bad, but when
they are good, you get a greater benefit,”
explains Jeff Miller, president of Miller Oil
Co., which operates Miller’s Neighborhood
Markets.
In fact, only one in three family
businesses survives to the next generation.
There are ways to boost the odds of your
company being one of them. Here are five:
CommuniCate, CommuniCate,
CommuniCate
All too often in business, particularly so
when families are involved, assumptions are
made about what people know and how they
feel about issues, strategies and goals. This can
lead to misunderstandings that will undermine
the company and your family relationships.
The solution: set regular times to meet with all
the family members involved in the business
to reviewdaily operations, discuss overarching
goals and resolve any disputes that arise.
“Communication needs to be a priority,”
says Katie Wagner, vice president of Arrow
Mart, vice president of MWS Enterprises,
which owns 54 convenience stores throughout
Western andCentral NewYork,many operating
under the Yellow Goose Markets and Arrow
Mart brand names. “When we do it, it builds
us up; when we don’t, it takes us down.” MWS
keeps up a running dialogue by holding weekly
strategic planning meetings where the three
family member principles discuss initiatives
and assess progress.
Define Roles
One of the nice things about a family
business is being able to count on the hard
work and energy that family members are
willing to put into the business. At the same
time, it’s important not to take advantage of
that relationship and ask too much of family
C-STORE CORNER
Arrow Mart’s Katie Wagner
Miller Oil’s Jeff Miller
