Business Philosophies
Ask a dozen Reser's employees which of the company's potato salads they like best, and you'll likely get a dozen different answers. Ask about the company's business philosophy, the solid foundation upon which Reser's stands, however, and you'll hear agreement.
Mildred Reser's early determination that her products would be delivered fresh to customers every Sunday, even if it meant working 24 hours straight on Saturday, has never faltered. Striving for outstanding customer service is quite simply a fact of life at Reser's.
As Gayle describes it, "The customer is number one here. We'll find a way to do whatever the customer wants. And that comes from the top. The word 'no' is not in Al's vocabulary. He doesn't want to hear, 'Gosh, we can't do that because ...' Customers are the reason we're here.
"For example, no order is ever too late. If the truck is just pulling out of the driveway and there's two inches of space on it and a customer wants another pound of potato salad, we'll get the product on the truck. We've called trucks back a few times when they're going to scale out so we could put on another pound of potato salad.
"We've streamlined over the years, we're bigger, and we're more sophisticated, but no one forgets our customer focus."
Leadership is another basic Reser's philosophy.
"We are pointedly aggressive," Peter observes. "We identify niches, we identify opportunities to fill voids in the marketplace, and we go after them."
"We're an entrepreneurial company," Mike says. "Even though we're approaching $300 million in sales, we still operate as a small business with the way we make decisions and handle things. And it's a very relaxed environment. Dad isn't your typical corporate president/CEO. He still operates this as a relatively small business. You don't have to go through secretaries or assistants to talk to the president. Anyone can walk into his office just to say 'hi' or to plop down in a chair and chat with him."
That small-business attitude generates another business philosophy: flexibility.
"We're nimble," Peter says. "We're not bureaucratic, there's not a lot of red tape. Get the decision-makers together in a room and you walk out with a decision. Al sets the tone for that."
Ron agrees. "You don't have to have a million meetings to get something done. Things are still hands-on enough that we can make quick decisions and have them signed off on in real time."
"Other companies may take six to eight months to develop a product," Darrell chuckles. "We take six to eight days. And most of the time it works out."
Plowing profits back into the company is another basic Reser business philosophy.
"Over the years," Al says, "we've continually reinvested the profits back into the company. We have financed much of our growth internally."
A can-do attitude is another Reser's hallmark.
"We don't say, 'I think I can,'" Marty observes. "We say, 'We will get it done.' Over the years, we have had salespeople who made promises to customers that seemed impossible to deliver. With everyone pulling together, however, we've been able to meet the customers' needs."
Reser's takes carefully considered, calculated risks.
"Our approach to risk is calculated and educated," Mark observes. "Take the whole potato concept, for example. There we were in Topeka in 1993 producing six million pounds in a facility designed primarily for salad production. Based on what we learned in production, the market, and the future potential, we took the next step to build a $10 million operation with 60-million pounds capacity. A lot of people, a lot of companies would not have taken that risk."
On the other hand, Reser's is also a company of dreamers.
"We develop products and we delete products," Pat says, "and we're doing well if we have one winner out of 50. The excitement is in trying new things, not in just filling the shelves."
Al agrees. "Look at the mashed potato project. I never thought you could sell a mashed potato. Now we run more than a million pounds a week. But sometimes I get so excited about an idea and it just falls flat."
Keith Mills remembers one such idea. "We sold steak patties for a while and Al had the idea of making them in animal shapes, kind of like animal crackers. He called them Jungle Patties. They didn't catch on."
But many ideas do. Take tortillas for example.
"We were the first company to put refrigerated tortillas in the Pacific Northwest. We got in on the early bell curve and rode it all the way up," Marty says.
Potato Express is another Reser's first the company plans to make a winner. Al got the idea for the pre-cooked potatoes at a European food show.
"We visited about four plants that produced peeled, ready-cooked potatoes. We took what we saw and built on it. We saw mini-curls, rounds, and dices in Europe. We added baby whole peels and red skins."
Al bought equipment in Europe, and Potato Express became a reality in the Pasco plant.
"It's had a slow to medium start," Al says, "but you can see by the accounts that it's picking up monthly. It's kind of like bag lettuce was 10 years ago. I think it's got a real place in the market."
Marty agrees. "We've gotten it on the shelves everywhere, and we know consumers are already comfortable with bag lettuce. Now we just have to convince them they need Potato Express. We're telling them, 'Hey, we've done the hard part. We've peeled the potatoes and we've cooked them. All you have to do is heat and eat.'"
The drive to create that hot new product never stops. "We throw a lot of ideas at the wall," Mark chuckles, "and a lot of them fall. But some of them stick."
Creativity is an important Reser's philosophy and it is something Tony likes best about working for the company. "They allow you to be creative. They've allowed me to help design, operate, and work with the plant using whatever innovative techniques are out there. As a result, we are a step ahead in the food industry."
Successful companies don't achieve prominence without hard work from everyone involved. Reser's is no exception. It might, however, be an exception in the attitude its people bring to each other and their work. No list of what people like about the company is complete without the word fun. It's a basic, important business philosophy, and employees, from the people who worked at the Cornelius plant to current employees in plants across the country, remark about it.
"We work hard and we play hard. It's not unusual to hear people say that around here," Don says. "We all put in a lot of time and we work hard. We also have a lot of fun together both at and away from work. The company encourages people to enjoy themselves and to socialize through activities such as summer picnics, holiday parties, Halloween parties, and general corporate activities."
"The environment is a great one to work in," Peter agrees. "And the idea that people work hard here but they have a lot of fun is very true. We know what's expected of us at work, and at the end of the day, we can get together and socialize. People enjoy each other's company outside the workplace. We have a true family environment."
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