CHICAGO — Retiring and having a new owner take over a drycleaning business is one thing. Handing it to your child without losing that personal relationship in the process is another.
Alex Shvartshteyn, owner of London Cleaners in Cleveland, and his son Dan have been working through a formal transition for the past two years. Robert Strong, owner of Country Club Cleaners in San Ramon, California, is a few years behind them, still adjusting to the idea that his 24-year-old son Andrew wants to take on the business.
“I have never really seriously thought about succession,” Robert says. “This has all been driven by my son. I was caught by surprise that he had an interest in taking over the operation.”
A Decision, Not a Default
Neither Dan nor Andrew grew up assuming the business was theirs as a given.
“I would say that I grew up in this industry,” Dan Shvartshteyn says. “My parents bought the place when I was a year old, and from the time I was very little, I was running around this place. But I always kind of knew that it was something I didn’t want to let get out of my family. Did I know the ins and outs of how it was going to happen back then? No, but I always kind of knew that it was probably something I was going to want to move toward instead of away from.”
Andrew Strong took longer to get there with his father’s business: “Honestly, I didn’t always expect to join the business. When I went to college, I was 18, and like a lot of people, I wasn’t completely sure what I wanted my future to look like. I wanted to explore different opportunities, learn new skills and figure out what interested me before making any long-term decisions.”
He graduated early from Arizona State University and came into the business while the rest of his class finished school.
“Somewhere along the line, he became committed to one day running the business,” Robert Strong says, adding that the succession is still not written in stone. “He’s still 24 years old. It’s not unusual for someone that age to make a career change.”
Alex Shvartshteyn had similar doubts about timing, though not about Dan’s commitment.
“The only thing that I wish I had done differently is not to let him come into the business when I did,” he says. “I should have let him work for somebody else for more years, pick up some more experience, and see the way other businesses operate before he came into the family business. That made it a little more difficult in the beginning.”
Earning the Room
Both sons describe the same early obstacle: employees who’d watched them grow up and weren’t ready to take orders from them.
“It’s not there so much anymore, but there definitely was some of that,” Dan says. “My dad taught me from the beginning that you lead by doing. So, I’ve grown up, and there’s almost nothing in this building that I couldn’t do. If I need to go press shirts, I’ll go press shirts.”
That attitude was helpful in people seeing that Dan was willing to put the work in. “It also helped, because there’s always some of that ‘kid-with-the-silver-spoon’ stigma you have to deal with,” he says.
Andrew’s version of the same lesson involved actual cooking: “At first, it was hard. They just called me ‘the boss’ son.’ But then I started to show them, no, I really care about this and I want this to succeed, and I want everyone in here to succeed as well. One thing that really changed how they thought of me is that I bring in homemade lunches and barbecues. We have a grill out back, and we’ll have a big party with drinks and music. That’s one reason I think they appreciate me.”
Come back Tuesday for Part 2 of this series, where we’ll examine the balance of new ideas and hard-won experience.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
