Work and family mix well for these local businesses

The November 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review reported on a longitudinal study of family-operated businesses.

The magazine’s results showed that during good economic times, family-run companies don’t earn as much money as companies with a more dispersed ownership structure. When the economy slumps, however, family firms far outshine their peers. When HBR looked across business cycles from 1997 to 2009, it found the average long-term financial performance was higher for family businesses than for nonfamily businesses.

The simple conclusion HBR reached is that family businesses focus on resilience more than performance.

They forgo the excess returns available during good times in order to increase their odds of survival during bad times.

The dynamics of three local families in generational businesses were interviewed by B Magazine: Roy White, Robin White and Amber White Timberlake of Roy’s Tire & Auto in Jackson; Walter Joe, Kevin and Josh Ford of Ford & Sons Funeral Homes headquartered in Cape Girardeau; and Bob Fox and Jim Fox of Cape Girardeau’s Fox Family Dental.

Roy’s Tire and Auto

Roy White left Jackson Tire Center nearly two decades ago never imagining he would soon start a family business down the street.

“I left Charlie [Glueck]’s employ on a Saturday and by Monday, five of my former co-workers came to my house to ask me to open a [tire] store and that got me thinking,” White said.

White and his wife Robin launched Roy’s Tire and Auto in September 2003 at the former Jackson Glass location at 408 E. Jackson Boulevard.

The Whites’ daughter, Amber Timberlake, a 2002 graduate of Jackson High School, has been with them since Day 1.

The business took first place in the 2021 Southeast Missourian People’s Choice Awards in the categories of auto repair, oil change and tire store.

Roy and Amber work the counter while spouse Robin labors behind the scenes.

“My wife does the office work, handles all the tax paperwork and runs our shop. [Robin] knows which guy can do which job and who can do it the best,” White said.

White said working side-by-side with his oldest daughter reveals their similar personalities.

“Amber is a lot like me. Sometimes she gets a little stubborn.”

Timberlake does not disagree.

“Yes, I have a stubborn streak and [Dad and I] have become more similar over time,” she said.

White said Amber is a “quick learner and very sharp,” adding she knows cars and may be more knowledgeable about tires than he is.

“[Amber] can tell a customer what size tires will fit just by eyeballing the vehicle — and they work every time. I can’t do that without getting a calculator out and doing some figuring,” he said.

Timberlake said she likes her work at Roy’s “most days” and said at the very beginning, some customers were dismissive of her abilities.

“At first, the attitude was ‘you’re a girl, you don’t know what you’re talking about,’ but there’s a lot less of that now.”

Both father and daughter say the pandemic has impacted the business in a significant way.

“The last few months have been really hard because I can’t get enough help since COVID,” said White.

Timberlake said Roy’s Tire and Auto has been busier since the onset of the coronavirus scare in 2020.

“People seem to be holding on to their vehicles longer and, of course, they need repairs.”

Time off in a family business, Timberlake said, can be a challenge.

“Dad has never had a job where he was off on Saturdays,” she said, noting Roy’s is open six days a week but added they do take two weekends off every year so the family can be together — over Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Asked to define success, White points to returning customers.

“Really and truly, (success) is taking care of the people and making them happy. You can’t make everybody pleased, and I know that, but as long as I’ve been here, the people are fantastic. The whole time I’ve been doing this, 18 years, I’ve had two people really furious with me.”

White said the family sponsors some youth teams, buys ads supporting Jackson football and gives to churches.

Timberlake adds Roy’s Tire additionally helps out by purchasing advertising in the yearbooks of Jackson, Meadow Heights and Woodland school districts, and provides funding for numerous benefits like Nolan Weber and patronizes the American Legion.

“We typically don’t say ‘no,’” she said.

White, a 1982 graduate of Greenville High in Wayne County, praised the Cape Girardeau County seat town which hosts his business.

“I love being in Jackson, period, and (I) hope to stay here until I can retire.”

Josh Ford, Walter J. Ford, Kristen Ford LaBruyere and Kevin Ford at Ford & Sons Funeral Homes in Cape Girardeauby Sarah Yenesel ~ B Magazine

Ford & Sons Funeral Homes

On Nov. 1, 1949, then-Cape Girardeau mayor Walter H. Ford and Ross Young launched the Ford-Young Funeral Home on Sprigg Street, a location still in operation today.

“I was a freshman in high school then and I’ve been here [at the funeral home] since the very first day,” said Walter Joe Ford, the late mayor’s son and a 1953 Cape Central alumnus, who signed a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers organization after graduation and played minor league baseball for four years.

The Fords would later buy out the Young family.

Ford & Sons is now in its fourth generation of family leadership and owns two funeral homes in Cape — including the lead location at 1001 N. Mount Auburn Road — plus one home each in Jackson, Perryville, Altenburg and Benton.

Walter J. Ford, who also once served as Cape Girardeau County coroner for more than six years, is now past president of the company and still comes to work every day.

“We provide a good service and we’re proud of it,” said Ford, adding, “The bottom line is we have to take care of everybody who calls us (and) we treat everybody like family — not as customers but as friends.”

Ford’s son, Kevin, and his grandson Josh, now serve as company president and vice president, respectively.

Ford and Sons was ranked first among funeral homes in the 2021 Southeast Missourian People’s Choice Awards.

Kevin Ford, who joined the business in 1983, said working with family “is rewarding and challenging at times, with good days and bad days. I’ve gotten to work with my dad, with my brother Cliff, with my son Josh and my daughter Kristen LaBruyere — and it’s been a great experience.”

Kevin’s son, Josh, came into the company in 2009 and said he enjoys working with his dad and grandfather so closely.

“Sure, we agree and disagree at different times and all small businesses are more intimate, but I get to spend more time with them than I could have had I done something else,” Josh said.

The eldest Ford, Walter Joe, said the company is “definitely growing and expanding.”

It’s a business model embraced by son and grandson too.

“If [another] opportunity presents itself, we’ll look at it. Josh, who is not only my son but my partner, is young and pretty aggressive and I’m somewhat the same,” said Kevin, adding the family’s most recent acquisitions are a crematory in Cape and the 2019 purchases of funeral homes in Perryville and Altenburg.

Walter Joe noted the funeral business is a 24/7 operation.

“We have to work smart and not overwork our full-time people, so we have part-timers on weekends and evenings to share the load.”

Son Kevin echoed his father’s thoughts about a work-life balance.

“You try not to take (the business) home with you but it’s not always possible. It’s a goal of mine to try and leave (the work) here at the funeral home.”

The three living Ford generations are in general agreement about the definition of success in their business.

“We know we’ve done a good job because the community has allowed us to stay,” said Walter Joe.

“When a family thanks you and when they return to use our service in the future is a good barometer,” said Kevin. “We know a lot of these folks generationally.”

“Getting appreciated during a hard time, if we can make it easier for them to get closure, that’s when we know we’ve done our job,” added Josh.

Kevin Ford said athletics are important to the family and Ford & Sons donates to various athletic and other programs in the Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Notre Dame, Saxony Lutheran, Kelly, Perryville and St. Vincent dePaul school districts.

Kevin added his family has been a decades-long supporter and sponsor of the Louis K. Juden Post 63 American Legion baseball team in Cape Girardeau.

“If you’re going to run a business, you need to support the community (and) give back as much as they’re giving you,” said Josh Ford.

Bob and Jim Fox of Fox Family Dental in Cape Girardeau.By Sarah Yenesel ~ B Magazine

Fox Family Dental

Bob Fox, D.D.S., the current mayor of Cape Girardeau and a 1970 Southeast graduate, opened his dental practice in 1975 at 832 North Kingshighway Street, where it remains today.

In 2010, Fox’s son, Dr. Jim Fox, joined his father to form Fox Family Dental.

“I had an associate, [the late] Dr. John Sauer, but John went out on his own and Jim joined me a year later,” recalled the elder Fox.

Jim Fox said he “had opportunities” after graduating from the same dental school as his father, the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), but said the example his father set was decisive in coming home.

“One thing I saw was Dad was always at everything I did growing up [and] he was able to be there at my track events. When I started shadowing other [dentists], I didn’t think I’d have the same autonomy. I didn’t want to be at the mercy of a system and wanted to work for myself,” said Jim, a 1996 Cape Central graduate.

Incidentally, during his Central days, Jim Fox was a noted pole vaulter. He was Class 4 state champion during his senior season.

The younger Fox still appreciates having his father close by.

“It’s nice to have (Dad) as a resource. Early on, if there was a difficult extraction, for example, he was right there to consult with on how to take care of it.”

Mayor Fox and his wife, Connie, had three children — Jim is the youngest. Jim’s oldest sibling, Lana, was struck and killed by a car during a family visit in Arkansas in 1977.

Reflecting on the tragedy, Bob Fox said “you realize how important relationships are. (Lana’s accident) brought us closer to our family, our church and our friends.”

It’s a lesson son Jim said he has taken to heart.

“Relationships are the key to happiness,” opined Jim Fox. “All we have to offer one another is each other.”

Father and son don’t always see eye to eye but “99% of the time we do,” said Jim. “I’m blessed with a good dad who raised me with the idea that doing the right thing was most important.”

The mayor said when son Jim joined the practice, the younger Fox was assigned a couple of tasks right off the bat.

“I delegated to Jim taking care of our staff,” said Bob. “I learned right away if you treat your staff like family, they’ll stick around. We have folks who’ve been here for 40 years. Jim saw this approach growing up and has continued it.”

Bob Fox also said he wanted Jim to be the dentist in their practice who saw new patients so that his son could develop a long-standing relationship with them “for years and years.”

Jim said his father also turned over endodontics to him right away.

“I never enjoyed that specialty. I found it tedious and time-consuming,” said Bob.

“Yes, (Dad) quit doing root canals immediately,” Jim recalled, adding the overall standard of dental care in Southeast Missouri has improved tremendously in recent years “because we have more specialists now.”

Jim said he appreciates his dad’s business expertise and his approach to dentistry.

“You do your best; you do what’s right and you make sure your patient has a clear expectation of outcomes. We’re careful and prudent and we operate in the 95% success range,” said Jim Fox.

Bob Fox said his son has real dental skill and talent.

“[Jim] has great hands, which are so important for a dentist, and he is so meticulous and a perfectionist — just like I am,” said the elder Fox.

Cape Girardeau’s mayoral incumbent also said his son apparently has picked up one of his dad’s quirks at work.

“I’ll whistle as I come down the hall and sometimes [Jim] does it now too,” said Bob.

Success in dentistry is pretty easy to measure, the mayor said.

“Success is people wanting to come back, being happy about our work, which I think has something to do with doing the job right, being honest with patients and giving them options,” he said.

“The pursuit of being perfect is not attainable,” said Jim, who said on the rare occasions when a patient isn’t completely satisfied after a procedure, he does self-reflection.

“The hardest thing is when a patient has false expectations and I see that as my fault — that I haven’t explained things well enough.”

Both father and son believe giving back to a community they love is necessary and enjoyable.

“We prize education and the idea every kid deserves an opportunity, so we give to the public schools and to SEMO, especially,” said Jim.

“If you’re involved with your kids, you’re involved in the community,” added Bob. “We regularly donate services to those who can’t afford it, we help fund sports teams, we financially help with charity golf outings and we give to veterans organizations.”

Neither Fox has any desire to expand to a second location.

“At continuing education events, consultants have great ideas and can tell [dentists] how to make more money. Don’t get me wrong. I work hard and want to be paid for what I do. If you target your goals based on production, though, you lose what’s best for people — and we’re just not going to do that,” said Jim.