CHICAGO — Moving a family-owned business down the generations is a familiar story for many drycleaning operations, but determining how to do that while maintaining parent/child relationships takes planning and compromise from both sides.
In Part 1 of this series, we examined how younger generations can earn leadership roles in organizations where people have watched them grow up. Today, we’ll continue by exploring the strengths that each generation brings to the table when it comes to operating the business.
Fresh Eyes on an Old Business
Not every generational difference plays out as friction. Sometimes it’s just a new set of instincts layered onto an established operation.
Andrew Strong, son of Robert Strong, owner of Country Club Cleaners in San Ramon, California, describes his father as an eager early adopter, someone who tours other cleaners specifically to point out what not to do.
“He’ll say, ‘Oh, these people are stuck in the past. They’re using paper tags. They don’t have good software,’” Andrew says. “So, we don’t really clash on that.”
Dan Shvartshteyn, son of Alex Shvartshteyn, owner of London Cleaners in Cleveland, says his own contribution runs in a similar vein, on the marketing side. The shift traces back to the pandemic, which upended how he thought about reaching clients.
“I started to view the company differently, and the way that we market to our customers,” he says. “A lot of dry cleaners don’t do a lot of marketing, and with the ones who do, the formula has always been, ‘Let’s throw as much at the wall and see what sticks.’ I had a conversation with a friend of mine back in 2020 who changed the way I look at marketing completely. Now, I view marketing as reaching the people who are already looking for us, and everything we do is trackable. That vision is how you grow a business versus how things used to be.”
Deferring to Elders
Both sons named a common underlying difficulty: disagreeing with but learning to sometimes yield to the person who raised them.
“I’d say those times that we do disagree, having to take a step back and having to defer, has probably been the hardest thing for me,” Dan Shvartshteyn says. “Especially when I’m passionate about something, and knowing that he can be passionate about it as well. Sometimes I just have to say, ‘You know what? It’s his company and I have to do it his way.’”
Andrew Strong describes the shift in less hierarchical terms.
“It used to be his way or the highway, because I wasn’t around,” he says. “But now, his decisions are being questioned, which allows for deeper thought and maybe a different process to things. I don’t think we have much that holds us back. We have a strong relationship.”
Robert Strong acknowledges the friction from his side, too, and where it tends to come from.
“We don’t agree on everything,” he says. “Regrettably, some of our debates were more father-and-son driven than business-partner driven. We are both working on this.”
Letting Go of the Wheel
For all the emotional complexity of stepping back, both fathers describe the operational side of it as surprisingly manageable.
“This really hasn’t been a challenge for me,” says Robert Strong. “There’s plenty for both of us to do.”
Alex Shvartshteyn credits a manager who broke him in years before Dan ever joined.
“I had a plant manager for probably 15 years who taught me how to let go by saying, ‘Stop following me, I got it,’” he says. “So, I was already reasonably well-trained. But I still do, from time to time, nudge and say, ‘Make sure you follow up on this and that.’”
The Shvartshteyns are roughly two years into what they originally saw as a three-to-five-year process, formalized with an outside adviser.
“Having a third-party adviser see you throughout this process really helps,” Alex says. “We meet once a week, but we also talk throughout the week. It helps to have a professional pointing out things you’re missing.”
Come back Thursday for the conclusion of this series, where we’ll explore how succession planning can change relationships, and offer advice for those beginning the transition process. For Part 1, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
