Not long after Richard Graeter and his cousins, brothers Bob and Chip, purchased the family business from their parents in late 2003, effectively ensuring fourth-generation ownership of Graeter’s Inc., the trio sat down with a business consultant to determine how to guide the ice cream company’s future.
The meetings focused on three things — streamlining Graeter’s image, beefing up its online sales and establishing an expansion plan for the 135-year-old company’s long-term future.
"Brand management, brand identity, logos and all that nonproduct-oriented type of thing was stuff that my father and uncles (didn’t worry about)," Richard Graeter says. "They were just making the ice cream and getting it out in the stores. My aunt was worried about getting the doors opened on time.
"They were so close to the day-to-day operations of the business that they never had the time to pull back and look at the strategic part. That’s what the three of us are doing."
Graeter, who pursued an accounting and finance degree at Miami University before earning a law degree from the University of Cincinnati, recognized early on that a successful past didn’t guarantee a successful future. In fact, less than 3 percent of family-owned businesses ever reach the fourth generation.
Graeter’s, itself, almost didn’t make it. The company’s ownership transfer to Richard, Bob and Chip required more than three years of planning and a family business consultant to end the squabbling among the third generation of Graeters.
But that’s all in the past. Today, more than a year after Richard, Chip and Bob reached an agreement among themselves and with their parents, business is booming.
Richard, who serves as president and CEO of Graeter’s Franchising Corp. and Graeter’s Inc., oversees a two-fronted operation — a 12-store ice cream retail business that employs more than 300 people and generates nearly $14 million each year; and a 25-store franchising operation.
Under his leadership, Graeter’s has updated its image, strengthened its foundation and expanded its reach. To accomplish this, he recognized essential components that simply had not been previously necessary. He, Chip and Bob have rebranded the venerable Cincinnati icon and set it on a solid path for its next phase of growth.
