Displaying items tagged: Family Business Alliance

GRAND RAPIDS — Ferris Coffee & Nut Co., a family-owned and Grand Rapids-based coffee and nut roasting business, has completed a succession plan that passes leadership to the next generation.

Amid its many strains on companies, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have prompted more owners to think about the future and eventually pass a family business down to the next generation.

A survey this year of hundreds of U.S. family-owned businesses showed that owners prioritized keeping employees on the payroll even as the pandemic disrupted their business and that most regularly give to local charities.

After nearly two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, smaller family-owned businesses are generally better positioned to overcome labor and supply chain challenges than non-family-owned companies. 

Family-owned businesses have been key contributors to West Michigan’s culture around charitable giving, but the COVID-19 pandemic and lingering questions around a seeming lack of succession planning may change the nature of that philanthropy in both the short and long term.

Two years before Craig Wassenaar stepped into the role as president and CFO of Skytron LLC, a Cascade Township-based medical device company owned by the Mehney family, the plan for his next role with the business was already well underway. 

New Jersey native Diana Schad is now leading the Grand Rapids-based Family Business Alliance as its CEO. The former Washington, D.C. lawyer — whose husband, Matt Schad, runs the family-owned Nucraft Furniture Co. — believes that family-owned businesses tend to operate very differently from other companies and therefore require specialized advocacy and research. Schad spoke with MiBiz on these topics, as well as her desire to diversify the Family Business Alliance’s membership. 

As president of Grand Rapids Label and chair of the Family Business Alliance, Bill Muir understands what family-owned companies are going through right now. According to Muir, manufacturers remain optimistic heading into the new year, and they’re making more investments to support their customers.

Running any business is challenging, but when you add the dynamics of family ownership into the mix, it creates an entirely different set of hurdles.

Family-owned companies often do what they can to keep their businesses in the family, but at times, that’s not always prudent

Family-owned companies often do what they can to keep their businesses in the family, but at times, that’s not always prudent

The company CEO Marc Schupan runs today barely resembles the Schupan & Sons Inc. he took over more than 40 years ago following the sudden death of his father.