Family businesses share experience, secrets to longevity

METRO DETROIT — The Detroit area is filled with family-owned businesses that take pride in their work and build meaningful connections within the community.

As such they are crucial to the economy on a local, national and global level. According to the Conway Center for Family Businesses, 59% of the country’s employment is generated by family businesses, defined as those where two or more people from the same family own a majority stake.

Like every business venture, family businesses have their own set of pros and cons when it comes to running operations.

 

Keeping connection and history within the family
Matt Klopp, store manager at G.A. Fuchs Church Supply in Troy, owns the business with his brother, Greg. They are the third family to own the company since it opened in 1919.

“It’s a long-standing family business, and I love it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Klopp said.

He said owning the business with his brother has made it easier to keep in touch regularly.

“It is nice to have something that we can all do together and have something that bonds us,” Klopp said.

Because G.A. Fuchs Church Supply is run by a family, Klopp said that they highly value the connections they make with customers and employees.

“Even if they’re not part of our blood family, they’re still our family,” Klopp said.

Joe Allemon is in the third generation of Allemon’s at Allemon’s Landscape Center on Mack Avenue in Detroit — a business his grandfather started in 1929. Now, Allemon’s children operate the business, and sometimes, his grandchildren help out as well.

Allemon said the biggest benefit of running a family business is “the privilege of being able to work with family members.” He sees his sons at work every day, and even his grandkids from time to time, which he said he does not take for granted.

The family business has also provided the opportunity to keep history alive at Allemon’s Landscape Center.

“It gives them a chance to hear the history that I remember and that I retained from my grandfather, who started this business,” Allemon said.

Allemon said the business has gone through several changes in the almost 100 years it has been operating. Passing on stories and history allows for the opportunity to compare and contrast the past and present.

 

The struggles of a family business
Though both family business owners have many positive things to say about the experience of running things, there are a few obstacles that can come up in a long-standing family business.

Klopp said he wears a lot of hats as a business owner, meaning he is hands on with everything having to do with the business.

“Sometimes it can get overwhelming, trying to play a role in every single aspect of the business,” Klopp said.

G.A. Fuchs Church Supply is closed on Sundays in order to give employees a guaranteed break every week to spend quality time with family.

While Klopp said this is a decision that he values, he can see how it could be considered a drawback from both a customer side and the business side.

When running a family business, Allemon said it is important to keep business and work talk at a minimum at home.

“Believe me, it always doesn’t happen that way,” Allemon said. “But it’s a goal that you kind of set to keep work at work.”

 

The secrets to the longevity of a family business
Allemon said the key to running a family business is communication and the ability to work through the tougher times.

“When times are good, things are easy,” Allemon said. “When the tougher times are there, that’s when it really comes down to brass tacks.”

Klopp said it is important to “love what you do.”

Though that advice can apply to anything, he said, “With a family business in particular, if you don’t love it, it can get really overwhelming,” Klopp said.

Fortunately, Klopp said he loves what he does.