Cypress Roofng Lyons Specialty Company

ESTABLISHED 1923

History

History

Cypress Roofng was founded in July 2019 by Caprice Cline and her children, Joshua, Samantha and Alexandra. Josh has since found love and moved to Florida, so the company is now a 100% woman-owned business. “We started this business to help people,” says Caprice. “We know it sounds cliché, but this has been our motivation day in and day out. We are a company that values faith, family, honesty and integrity—not just the bottom line.”

In 1945, LSU auditor William E. Davis, Sr. began selling 10-cent pecan rolls to local stores from the storage room behind his garage. He named his side business Baton Rouge Wholesale Candy Company. The next year, he purchased Lyons Specialty Company, which had been founded in 1923, from the owner’s widow for $7,690.61, leaving Davis just $75 in the business bank account. He continued operating under the Lyons name in order to keep the company’s existing customers. Davis’ grandson Hugh Raetzsch Jr. is CEO of the company today.

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK WITH FAMILY?

WHAT VALUES OR PRINCIPLES GUIDE YOUR BUSINESS?

According to Caprice, “It’s great 99% of the time, but the other 1%, the Mom in me wants to come out! Seriously, we are so blessed to have the privilege to work beside family every day. And we have about 10 other family members who work with us, so we have family all around us. So much fun!”

For a family to work together successfully, everyone must pull their own weight. When I began working in the business over 30 years ago, I was given an opportunity by my grandfather and my mother, Jane Dunlap. It was my job to make the most of that opportunity. Now that my kids are entering the business, they have the same opportunity.

WHAT VALUES OR PRINCIPLES GUIDE YOUR BUSINESS?

WHAT IS IT LIKE TO WORK WITH FAMILY?

We believe the most important thing we can do as humans is to give back to others and our community. We are involved in our church and local community through the Chamber and Rotary. One important way we help our customers is through the process of working with insurance companies. We also specialize in working with Realtors and management companies in making the repair and replacement process easy.

Early on in my career was a difficult time. There were some strained relationships and even today, there are scars from those times. But over the last couple of years as my two older sons have graduated from college and entered the business, it has been extremely rewarding. I feel very fortunate to see my kids every day and share the successes of running a 100-year-old family business. Not many people get that opportunity. It is truly special.

HOW HAS YOUR BUSINESS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?

HOW HAS YOUR BUSINESS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?

So much has changed compared to when I began in the business over 30 years ago. One of our core values is adaptability … it has been key to our success and the success of our customers. What’s important to our customers today is different than it was just a few years ago and what will be important to them five years from now.

We have grown from our original four to a company of almost 25 employees. We now have our commercial license and are delving straight ahead into this part of the business. We have gone from replacing one to two roofs a week to 8-12. God has richly blessed us. Our first year, we produced a little over $600,000 and last year did $11.5 million.

WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON FOR YOUR COMPANY?

WHAT’S ON THE HORIZON FOR YOUR COMPANY?

We completed an expansion project in 2018 which doubled the size of our warehouse and office. This gives us the necessary space and added efficiencies to more than triple our current sales at our existing facility. We will continue to focus on growing our food service category, growing our MAX12 customer membership program, and growing our Marketing Advantage Monthly in-store marketing program.

We just completed the purchase of property to begin the process of building our Cypress Headquarters in Gonzales in Ascension Parish. We are from the area and want to continue to invest in our community. We have partnered with an expert in every facet of commercial roofing and are super excited about this new division.