Knaup Floral owner reflects on century-old family business as she seeks buyer

Kathryn Knaup is entertaining offers to sell family-owned Knaup Floral, 838 William St., a fixture in Cape Girardeau since the enterprise was launched 102 years ago.

Long-established brand

Knaup said her pioneering paternal grandparents, John and Clara Knaup, bought the Gelven greenhouses on a handshake agreement June 10, 1920, and the Knaups have operated their successful floral enterprise ever since.

"Because of COVID, we did have a small, socially distanced gathering of employees two years ago to mark a century in business," Kathryn Knaup said.

Family leadership

• John & Clara Knaup: 1920 to 1976.
• Richard Knaup: 1976 to 1999.
• Kathryn Knaup: 1999 to present.

Kathryn Knaup, who employs 10 people, is quick to acknowledge her late sister's contribution to the business.

Mary Knaup Gardiner died in July 2016 at the age of 62.

"(Mary) didn't want ownership but she was always here at the shop and was well-loved by our customers," said Kathryn Knaup, who added the company has no family succession plan because her children have other vocational interests.

"I've loved this business, have been in it my whole life, and 100 years is a good run for our family," she said, adding if a new owner desired her services, she'd be glad to help for a period of time as a consultant.

Knaup, a member of the Notre Dame Regional High School and Southeast Missouri State University halls of fame for softball, plans to get married before month's end.

Knaup also notes efforts to improve her knowledge of the floral business, attending Chicago's American Floral Art School in 1993 and working six months in Munich, Germany in 1990 at Atelier Heidi, a silk wholesale studio.

Knaup Floral has been in continuous operation since 1920. Kathryn Knaup is president of the family business and said she is entertaining options to sell her shop.Jeff Long

She has also given back to her industry, serving as board member of the region's FTD District as secretary and vice chairwoman for four years.

"I feel like I'm at retirement age because of all the years I've spent in the business. I was shirt-tailing my dad since I was a kid, from the time I was old enough to lift a broom or cut flowers," she said.

Family businesses

Harvard Business Review, in a July 2021 article, citing data it compiled, said family businesses last notably longer than other companies in which ownership is not related by blood — despite an oft-quoted 40-year-old study suggesting the opposite.

HBR said a single 1980s-era study of Illinois manufacturing firms is the basis for most of the facts commonly cited for family business longevity. The study concluded only a third of such companies made it through the second generation and only 13% survived through a third.

HBR reported, as it studied the data more thoroughly, publicly-traded firms fared worse than those passed down generation by generation in families.

The Harvard journal's researchers discovered a 1950 to 2009 review of 25,000 publicly traded U.S. firms — one revealing on average, non-family companies lasted approximately 15 years — in other words, not even through one generation.

Core business

"We've always had a lot of walk-in traffic at our office, our parking lot is easily accessible and we have appreciated the relationship we've had with customers for multiple generations," Kathryn Knaup said, noting Knaup Floral's everyday business is providing flowers, foliage plants and fresh custom designs for "get well" occasions, anniversaries, birthdays, bereavement — noting Knaup Floral was "the very first" to offer silk flowers locally.

"The business has changed a little bit in that more customers want to remember others while they're still alive and still with us," Kathryn Knaup said, while noting providing tribute or memorial flowers remains an important part of Knaup's service.

Enduring tough times

COVID-19 presented challenges to the business when the pandemic broke out in March 2020, the owner admitted.

"We watched our buying, we didn't fill some vacancies for awhile, but honestly, our customers supported us during the worst of COVID and that's been heartwarming," Kathryn Knaup said.

Knaup recalled a special day several years ago when employees of a local funeral home came into the store.

"They brought in their own money and laid it on the desk," she recalled. "A family the funeral home was helping couldn't afford flowers and they said florists make the job of funeral directors easier — so they put up some of their own money. That gave me goosebumps. I added some of my own funds, too. (Knaup's) primary charity are the churches. We try to make sure God's creation is present in sanctuaries because it's all for His glory."

Knaup Floral, its owner and president promised, will continue as a full-time florist into the foreseeable future.

"I've loved this business, helping people celebrate happy moments and comforting them through sad ones. It's been a gratifying career for me, absolutely, and it's bittersweet to entertain offers to sell but I'm paying attention to God's direction in my life now," Kathryn Knaup said.

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