Family-owned businesses form the backbone of Louisiana’s economy, from agriculture to manufacturing to retail to hospitality. Many of the state’s longest-lived companies are family affairs that have passed down a shared culture and institutional knowledge from one generation to the next.
But running a business with relatives also presents potential pitfalls, as personal relationships intersect with day-to-day management, long-term strategy and financial decisions.
In this installment of One Big Question, we ask: What is the key to managing the unique challenges of running a family-owned business?
Justin Alford, co-owner, Benny’s car wash and convenience stores, Baton Rouge (third generation)
It can be very tough and challenging. Everybody has their own opinions of how things should be done. It’s not that one is right and the other wrong. Everybody has the good of the company in mind. But a lot of times they can go in different directions.
The key to getting through it is communication. We try to have meals together and talk things out.
We’re also really focused on the next generation. My daughter Helen, a CPA, is now the fourth generation to join the business, along with my father and brother and I. I have a niece and nephew, still in high school, who may want to be a part of it, too. So we are trying to do a lot of succession planning now and really think about how we can hand this off to the next generation, as long as they are willing to do it.
Hugh Raetzsch, president and CEO, Lyons Specialty Co., Port Allen (third generation)
From a very young age, I put a lot of pressure on myself to set an example, because I felt like everybody was watching what I was doing as a family member coming into the business. If you don’t feel the pressure of working in a family business, then maybe you’re not approaching it the right way, because you should feel like you are being graded differently until you earn the respect from the other team members.
Hugh Raetzsch, CEO of Lyons Specialty Company, a Port Allen wholesale distributor for area convenience stores, Monday, May 22, 2023. The company has been in business for 100 years.
A lot of people require their kids to go work other places before they come work in the family business. I didn’t do that, but I did require them to graduate from college. I never wanted the family business to be a fallback.
The other key part to family businesses succeeding is everybody having a role and each person respecting that role. I’ve been fortunate with my kids coming in that they all have different interests in the business. That helps because you’re not stepping on top of each other.
It’s also important to make sure each person is pulling their weight. Things start to unravel when one person feels like they’re doing more than the other.
Betty Chenier, co-owner, Chenier Farms, Opelousas (fifth generation)
You definitely have to treat it like a business. You have to lay out all the rules and regulations, just like as if it were Walmart or any other company, and everyone needs to be on board, whether it’s your son, your sister-in-law, whoever.
John and Betty Chenier talk about the recent cuts to two U.S. Department of Agriculture programs. The program contributed to at least half of their business.
You have to have the right family members involved in the business. You just can’t have family members that don’t like this type of work, especially with farming because it’s so different and labor intensive.
In our case (my husband, son and myself), we’ve been doing it for so long, we know what to expect — and what not to expect — from each other.
I’m 64, my husband’s 71, but he works like he’s 25 or 30 out in the field. I am the one who’s kind of like the boss. I’m more or less the manager of what to plant, how much to plant and where we’re going to sell it.
Todd Andrews, CEO, Tasc Performance, New Orleans (co-founded with parents and siblings)
Todd Andrews, TASC CEO, stands for a portrait at the store at 3913 Magazine Street in New Orleans, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022. TASC Performance’s first retail store showcases activewear that the company makes from a blend of fibers, including viscose from bamboo. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
The most important thing is communication — sharing financial information and strategy, as it relates to the entire business, from inventory to operations to overall marketing.
Also important is to be fully transparent to everyone — our family and our investors — as to our strategy and where we’re applying investments across the board to support growth for each channel of our business. They’re all involved, they have the opportunity for input and ideas, so it’s more of a conversation.
Chris Tucker, president, Chauvin Brothers, Chauvin (fifth generation)
It’s kind of a weird dynamic. Me and my father ran the lumber portion of our business, and for a long time, we were in our own building. So unless it came to stuff like, “Hey, we need more money for this,” I’ve never really had issues with anyone since I’ve been there, which is going on 35 years. We’ve always gotten along.
My cousin Tommy Chauvin, (now an adviser) just retired as president the first of the year. He was really from the old school. I have a lot of that in me, but I can stay away from the office more. I can bring a laptop to a hunting camp, where he probably wouldn’t.
My wife, she’s my general manager. She came from another industry, and she kind of has to watch out for our employees, point things out to me. She’ll say, “You’re not noticing this because you were brought up in this business — this is all you’ve truly ever really done — and you’ve got to worry about their feelings.”
Tommy and I never had that issue because we’re just from the same mold — you get up, you go to work. And me and him made it work.
