OOH …Here’s One Thing

 

by Jim Johnsen,
Managing Director, Johnsen, Fretty & Company

 

 

We Are Family

Truth be told, I have always been a little regretful that I wasn’t born into a family business.  My father spent his whole life towing the line for the Grumman Corporation and his father worked for the U.S. Post Office before dying at an early age.  My maternal Grandfather was the General Manager for the Porcupine Club on Hog Island in the Bahamas, a retreat for wealthy brits before it was sold first to Huntington Hartford, heir to the A&P Supermarket fortune, who decided that Paradise Island sounded better than Hog Island, then to Merv Griffin, and later to Sol Kerzner who decided to go large with the “Atlantis”.  Here is a little snippet on its history:

“What I like about Paradise Island is the largely unknown and interesting history. The island acts as a huge breakwater which created one of the New World’s best harbors . The Spanish likely found the protected anchorage in the 1500s and stayed on the leeward side as do ships today. The island became known as “Hog Island” and the oldest existing lighthouse in The Bahamas was built on the western end in 1817. Navigation into the harbor has been greatly improved over the years and the lighthouse remains an important landmark for cruise ships and other vessels. In 1913 the “Porcupine Club” opened on Hog Island, an organization for elite millionaires with buildings on the harbor side and a beach house on the ocean side. Members of the Porcupine Club included U.S. banker Andrew Mellon, J.P. Morgan, Howard Hughes and Vincent Astor. The Club property eventually became an early Club Med which was later incorporated into Atlantis.”

https://islandmapstore.com/paradise-island/

Anyway I digress.  The closest I got to the family business was making the rounds with my Grandfather at the Porcupine Club.  While I was only 7 at the time, watching him practice his craft of making each member feel like the most important person in the world and then running back to the kitchen to attend to yet another crisis left quite a mark on me.  I am really grateful to have had that experience.  

With that said, there was no family business for me to ease my way into after college.  And I think as a result I have always had a small fascination with what makes family businesses tick, how they function (or sometimes don’t), how they deal with multi-generational issues and more relational shareholders as time moves on, how they don’t implode and in some cases how they become big businesses and create tons of wealth for a number of generations to come.  

So, just the other day, as I was googling for something totally different, I stumbled upon the oral history of the Golden Grain Company – titled “Golden Grain: The Story of A Family Owned Company” By Vincent DeDomenico.   

Big whoop right?  Just another story of a 19 year Sicilian boy, “Charlie” Dedomenico, on a boat, arriving at Ellis Island not knowing a stitch of English.  He jumps a train to Boston because he knows of some people from his hometown that will take him in.  He takes up barbering for money and quickly learns English.  After a few years he heads for San Francisco as he has heard the streets are paved with gold.  A few fellow Italians take a liking to him and teach him the retail produce business.  Soon he is off and running, building a decent produce business himself, until his father in law convinces him to sell everything and get into the pasta business (sign of a true entrepreneur…go against the rational).  Long short, through many trials and travails, market run ups and depressions and wars, the business thrives, and low and behold he brings his three Sympatico sons into the business.  American success story right?  Hold your horses, this is where it gets really interesting, and once again proves out one of my favorite business proxies…”when you are in business, you’re in BUSINESS”.  

One of the sons, Tom, meets and marries a Canadian woman (I bet there is a back story here as well), and they take up housing with an elder woman, an Armenian refugee from the genocide of the early 20th century (which parallels the holocaust in terms of the devastation).  Her story of walking from Armenia to Syria to avoid death is alone incredible.  She teaches Tom’s new wife to cook one of her specialties, rice pilaf.  Anyway, shortly after mastering her rice pilaf, she cooks it at a family dinner.  Tom’s brother, Vince stares at his dish of pilaf and says, “this would be great in a box”.  

Any idea where I am going with this?  Here’s a hint:

https://youtu.be/yzOR_Fal_SY

You got it.  With the hit of that little ditty the Golden Grain blasted into orbit.  Was it the old Armenian grandmother that made it happen?  Was it the wife of Tom?  Was it Vince whose light bulb went off?  Was it the R&D team that perfected over 3 years in the lab?  The answer was all of the above.  And that’s the beauty of a great family business.  Everybody puts on the jersey with pride and leans in.  

(https://www.npr.org/2008/07/31/93067862/birth-of-rice-a-roni-the-armenian-italian-treat)

Thanks Johnsen for another piece of trivia.  But what’s the point?  If I said that after WWII the Golden Grain started utilizing outdoor advertising with a campaign that stated “The Brand that Won at Rome” give you a clue?  And if I mentioned that its advertising for its Rice A Roni propelled the Company to a place it never would have gotten without advertising resonate?  The point is to see the next Rice A Roni coming around the bend, listen to its story and help it get the word out.

https://youtu.be/eBpYgpF1bqQ 

“Everyone can see we’re together
As we walk on by
(And) and we fly just like birds of a feather
I won’t tell no lie

all of the people around us they say
Can they be that close
Just let me state for the record
We’re giving love in a family dose”

btw: here is the 400 page history of Golden Grain if you want to go deep:  https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/rohoia/ucb/text/dedomenicifamily00ggcorich.pdf

 

 

jfco.com
Securities transacted through StillPoint Capital Member firm FINRA/SiPC

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