Golub Family

Category: Executive of the Month
Published: January 2008

Neil, Lewis, Jerry, Mona, and David Golub are Success Magazine's Executives of the Month. They tell us how a small 1930's retail store became a 100+ store supermarket giant, and what the future holds for Price Chopper. They're no strangers to philanthropy, either.

Success Magazine: What does success mean to you?
Neil: Success is having good health and a strong and healthy family. It's having the resources to enjoy the fruits of your labor. I also believe success is having the ability and the resources to make your company and community more vibrant. Without a healthy community, your business cannot be healthy. Personal success is the ability to help others. To stand for the things that you believe will make a difference in your life and the lives of people around you, and the ability to back it up with actions. Success is having a thriving business that is relevant in a demanding and competitive industry. A business must be profitable in order to survive. We are reenergizing and redeveloping Price Chopper everyday. Everyone must do their part within the family and the corporation, in order for our company to thrive. We must work together to meet the needs of our customers in this ever-changing market.

SM: Why has Price Chopper been so successful?
Neil: We are doing things that are vital and relevant to bringing about a dynamic success. The relevant things that we do are the following: we are constantly keeping up with the times, we monitor consumer trends, and we maintain our competitive edge to ensure that we are a premier retailer in our industry. One's business must be profitable and capable of staying healthy. We are constantly developing our people, and we have mentoring programs that are developing opportunities for them. We have a very strong management and leadership culture. We are keen on leadership development from within. Everybody runs their own ship, but we are all accountable to each other to promote our business and ensure that we offer the best products in the most exciting environment in the industry. Lewis set up the profit sharing plan where our associates own 50% of the stock. According to our industry reports, our stock this year has increased by 34%. Our family provides the stability and leadership factors. We provide over 500 different career opportunities with a cross section of skills for our people. We are not a family business; we are a family in business, which speaks to our focus on what is good for the business. We have a Board of Directors which is active in providing professional management and diversity of ideas. My job is to keep our people energized with a growth plan and new stores opening every year.

SM: What examples can you give of successes that you have had in your life?
Neil: We have had successes corporately in that we are recognized as one of the largest privately held premier supermarkets in the nation. We just reached our 75th anniversary on November 17, 2007. It has been an honor to serve our customers and our communities. I believe our greatest successes have been our ability to give back to our communities. Because of our financial success and our desire to help we can give back and serve those in need. We have assisted in the renaissance of Schenectady. We worked with Roger Hill, the President of Union College, and George Roberts to initiate Schenectady 2000, the outcome of which became the Metroplex Development Authority. Ray Gillen, chairman of Metroplex, has worked tirelessly with everyone to bring about a successful renovation of downtown Schenectady, and we're moving our corporate headquarters there. We are building a new main office on Nott St. and expanding our existing warehouse operations in Rotterdam by 524,000 square feet. We will employ an additional 1,000 employees in Schenectady County with this expansion. We lost the battle but won the war with trying to save Bellevue Women's Hospital. You cannot win every battle, but we have had a major impact on trying to save the hospital and its service to our community. We are very much involved with the Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne. Charlie Woods, in conjunction with Paul Newman, started the Double H ranch and, when Charlie Woods passed, we helped to raise funds for the ranch and make it the premier Double H Ranch in the world. As chairman, we worked with Max Yurenda to make the Double H Ranch a wonderful environment for children and families who suffer from life-threatening illnesses.

SM: Price Chopper came from very humble beginnings. How did it all get started?
Lewis: My grandfather Lewis Golub, a Russian immigrant, came to America in 1900. He opened a grocery warehouse in Schenectady in 1908. His sons Bill and Ben worked with him and, upon his passing, opened their first retail store in Green Island in 1932. Neil and I worked with my father and uncle as we expanded our store operations until Bill passed away in 1992. Neil and I have worked our way up from the bottom and we have developed our company to what it is today. The Price Chopper/Golub Corporation has provided a magnificent place to work for our associates and we are continuing to pass on the torch of ensuring that we give back to our communities. We have over 116 stores at present and we expect to open 5 stores per year over the next 7 years. We are very much concerned with the health and well-being of our family, our associates and our community.

SM: What role does each individual family member play in the Price Chopper organization?
Lewis: I am retired and serve as Chairman of the Board. Neil is the President and CEO. Jerry is the Sr. VP of Sales and Merchandising. David is the VP of Store Operations. Mona is the VP of Public Relations and Consumer Services. Chris is the newest family member to join the team after recently graduating from Siena College; he's working in the finance department. Each family member is part of the team. Neil and I are board members with eight other non-family members. We are an active board who contribute to the management and guidance of our firm.

SM: Currently you are a private corporation. What about the next generation of Golubs? Do you envision them continuing the family tradition?
Neil: The family tradition of four generations of Golubs managing Price Chopper will continue. We all support each other in our corporate roles. We support our family members to join our company, but we do not force their participation. Jerry and David each worked at other corporations prior to joining our company, which we believe rounds them out for different perspectives for future generations and decision making for our company.

SM: The Price Chopper chain has thrived because of innovation. Your company has always been a multi-market food store from lobsters to Christmas trees and you have always been innovative in approaching new market ideas. What new marketing ideas are you planning for the near future?
Neil: Innovation is the key to our success. We must listen to our associates and customers, as well as our family and board members, to have well-developed plans for the future. We match experience and new ideas in everything that we do. We are going to expand our natural and organic food lines. We have expansion plans to open 5 to 6 stores per year. We are looking to acquire other potential stores in our vicinity. We plan through our capital budget and marketing plans for the next 5 to 10 years.

SM: What is your greatest achievement?
Neil: Our greatest achievement is that we have an open leadership style that allows everyone within our organization to build towards our future.

SM: To what do you attribute Price Chopper's success?
Lewis: We have to do our homework on a consistent basis. Ben and Bill started the Price Chopper company during a recession. They opened their first store in Green Island and their second store within one year. When other companies were dying they had the ability to see a need and fill it. They were at the right spot at the right time, but they did not rest on their laurels and hope and pray that they would be successful. It took a tremendous amount of hard work and discipline. You have to overcome adversity, take advantage of opportunities, and be ready to act. As a company, we have always been proactive and ever-changing. We have always been concerned with our consumers. We are careful to properly price our products, give the highest-quality and take care of our customer needs. We were the first to offer S&H Green stamps, the first to be open 24 hours, the first to offer our guests self-checkout. It takes hard work, passion, and we have to capture the needs and desires of our customers. We are also very involved with our community and its development. Ben and Bill, along with their father Lewis, were always socially minded and community active to help their fellow man, and we have continued that to this day. When I cleaned out my father's desk, I found an invoice for when he sent a truckload of infant formula to the families of Ecuador who had been ravaged by the earthquake in 1949. From generation to generation we want to impress upon our family members and associates how critical it is to give back to society. That is our greatest success.

SM: As Senior Vice President in charge of sales and merchandising, what immediate and long-range goals do you have for Price Chopper?
Jerry: We want to develop a healthy, growing company that continues to add to our customers a viable entity for the long term. We want to meet their changing needs and lifestyles and add value to their lives. We will be focusing on perishables and on natural and organic products, expanding the food variations. We will be expanding our prepared meals for our hardworking families who seem to have less time to prepare their family meals.

SM: How do you find balance in your life?
Jerry: By making sure that you are in the right place at the right time. In our personal and professional lives time is our most valuable commodity. We cannot afford to waste time. It's quantity vs. quality. We seem to think that if we spend a few quality minutes with our families, that they will be fine, but that's not so. We need to spend a large quantity of time with them, as well, to listen to and play with them. It's important to spend the right amount of time professionally, personally and civically with our families, employees, social obligations and friends.

SM: So time management is critical?
Jerry: The more I learn and study people I find that short-term and long-term goal planning is the most critical aspect of success. People are looking for the final results. There is increased demand on everyone to perform. The competing entities internally and externally are vying for that ultimate goal of being successful. Whether it is a merchandise team or construction and store planning team, we all are trying to do our very best at Price Chopper. That is why we have the benefit of having non-family executives in our company. They help to broaden our horizon and contribute to the success of our company. We surround ourselves with great people. They help us to know and develop our strengths from our weaknesses. We have team building to cover all the basics, always looking to the goal and the future.

SM: How do you ensure the profitability of your merchandise decisions?
Jerry: We look to have balance in all of our merchandising decisions. What is the total offer? What competitive advantage does a product line offer? What values do our customers gain from this product line? Each of our decisions is not just based upon the profitability of the merchandise. We want to develop a reason for our customers to shop at Price Chopper. For example, our bakery is not a profit center. We produce all of our breads and freshly-baked, heart-healthy products from scratch. That is not cost-effective, but we know that the freshly baked products are good for the health and well-being of our customers and their families. We weigh out the different factors, and we try to ensure that we provide our customers with the highest quality at the best prices. We have developed a greater "Heart Healthy" diet for our hardworking families that includes everything from all natural meats and organic vegetables to prepared foods. We are constantly looking for products that meet our customer's needs.

SM: The Price Chopper chain is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. New stores are opening every year, you have construction expansion in your stores always improving them, and you must maintain the quality of the operations including a pristine appearance and safe environment during these expansions. How do you monitor such a vast operation?
David: I find it very stimulating. We have a great team of associates from our line employees, store management, field supervision, and upper management. We have developed a team that is very experienced and knowledgeable. Our people make the difference staying the course. We have developed model stores where we emphasize training, staffing and safety. In our model stores, our managers and staff get a great lift by exemplifying and training others in the way they should go. We identify ongoing trends and continually work on opportunities using the right resources. My experience was initially in the merchandising end of the business. Working with Jerry in merchandising and my team in operations has developed a great synergy in our organization. The merchants dream the idea; we bring the dream into reality for our customers. We have high standards in all phases of our operation; we've set the bar very high. We have a great team where we plan continually to meet the needs of the stores and execute a precise schedule to complete our projects. It is a great challenge for our stores to maintain a clean and safe environment, especially when we are doing in-store renovations. I am only as good as the people working with me. Our success is not just for the family but for our 24,000 associates who make us who we are. Our people make it happen.

SM: This is the 75th anniversary of Price Chopper. What are your thoughts on the Golub family business?
Mona: We are inspired by our past and focused on our future. Where we are today is a reflection of where we have come from. Our family and everyone within our organization work diligently to build on the quality foundation that Ben and Bill laid 75 years ago.

SM: What have you done to commemorate the 75th Anniversary?
Mona: We published a 20-page insert which included archival photos, historic facts and a timeline of the milestones of our professional and civic achievements as well as the recollections and reflections of family members and longtime associates alike. Additionally, we launched a 75th anniversary private label program that linked 5 million specially-labeled packages of our most popular Price Chopper brand items with a "nickel back" promotion that connected with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and raised $250,000 for breast cancer research. We also hosted celebrations in each and every one of our 116 stores, offering free cake and coffee to our customers and celebrated Founders Day on November 17th at "Ben & Bill's New York Deli", the deli/restaurant named after our founders, which is located in our Slingerlands, NY store. Much of our family was there as we gave out sample sandwiches, chatted with customers and enjoyed some live music. We also produced a stainless steel 75th anniversary travel mug which is available in the stores and entitles its owner to 32 cent refills (commemorating our founding year, 1932).

SM: The Golub name is synonymous with philanthropy, and the Golub Foundation was established in 1981. What are some of the organizations that you contribute to?
Mona: We donate to thousands of charitable and philanthropic organizations throughout our footprint, which include hospitals, schools, senior citizen and youth programs, community projects, health and wellness-related initiatives, cultural arts endeavors, historic preservation and disaster recovery efforts. And we employ a two-pronged approach to our civic work: Our charitable giving is done through the Golub Foundation, while hands-on support for community endeavors is handled by our promotions and special events team. In either case, we aim to personalize our approach as we work to serve the unique needs of each locality. And though we're thrilled to have won some very prestigious national awards for our service to community, we tend to focus our time and energy on "doing" what we do, as opposed to "talking" about it.

SM: As Vice President of Public Relations you have branded the Price Chopper name to be synonymous with quality and creativity in the supermarket field. What creative plans do you have to move the corporation forward to keep your name ahead of the pack?
Mona: Our creative plans are borne of our dedication to the basics: We listen to our customers and we keep our finger on the pulse of the industry and technology. As consumers express their interest in wellness and organics, we dedicate ourselves to providing them with the best products and information available. As environmentally and ecologically sound construction technology is developed, we commit ourselves to "Going Green", in establishing the next generation of Price Chopper Supermarkets and administrative buildings. We intend to be good neighbors and good corporate citizens for the long haul.

SM: What advice do you have for up and coming entrepreneurs?
Neil: My advice to an up and coming entrepreneur is to stay focused. Do not try to do everything. You must build an organization from the ground up and surround yourself with good quality people who will enhance your company. You must listen to your spouse and advisors who know what you do not know. You must have a good, solid plan for business, marketing, finance and the future. You must be able to not be afraid to act out your plan. You have to be smart enough to go out and get help when you need it. You must take advantage of the opportunities as they arise. Be prepared to work very hard.