12 minute read
All in the Family
Photo by JOHN BURNS Photo by JOHN BURNS
By ERIC SMITH Photos by JOHN BURNS
Running a family business with your spouse and/or sibling isn’t for everyone, but Hogan Muffler & Brake, Circle Coffee Co. and Family Business Resource
Center, have embraced it }head-on.
carrie & curt hogan | hogan muffler & brake
—Curt Hogan Co-owner Hogan Muffler & Brake
HOGAN MUFFLER & BRAKE
Curt and Carrie Hogan purchased their Topeka business from Cowan Muffler 37 years ago as newly married youngsters with a 2-month-old baby and little to their name.
Ken Cowan was retiring after running multiple muffler shops for several years and offered the one at 4018 SW 21st St. to Curt, who had been working for him.
“Young as I was at that point, my thought process was, if you gotta rebuild, might as well rebuild while you’re young,” Curt said. “And I’m not going to lose much because I don’t have much.”
After a half a year on the job by himself, Curt, 20, said he called his 17-year-old brother, Kevin, and asked him to come work for him.
“He said, ‘Do you have enough to keep us busy?’ I said, ‘No. But I’m tired of playing one-handed solitaire until I get things rolling.’ So, he came, and we played two-handed solitaire and got the business rolling. Thirtyseven years later, he is still with me,” Curt said.
Curt and Carrie have had two more sons and multiple grandchildren since then. All three sons have worked for the family business at some point, as well as one of their granddaughters, Curt said.
The business is up to eight employees now and has expanded over the years with the addition of outbuildings, bay spaces and equipment. Even after all these years, Hogan’s bread and butter remains custom exhaust fabrication and installation.
“My goal when I went into this at 20—and it’s still my goal today— was: When I retire, I do not want my standard of living to decrease. I don’t have to be rich; I want to be comfortable. But I wouldn’t mind being rich,” Curt joked.
Today, two of the Hogans’ sons are currently employed at the business—Ryan, the 2-month-old when the business started, is now the lead exhaust technician and their youngest, Tanner, is a service advisor. The Hogan boys each began working at the shop part time when they were 16, and they all worked summers and after school. }
Hogan Muffler & Brake’s “bread & butter” is custom exhaust fabrication and installation.
Photo by JOHN BURNS
Photo by JOHN BURNS
Curt said running a business with family “is not for the weak of heart.”
“It’s definitely a double-edged sword,” he said. “The nice thing about it is, I have complete trust in those that are in charge when I’m not available.
“The downside of it is, in all honestly, I’ve lost a lot of socializing with my brother and my sons. Because quite frankly, you work with them all day, you don’t want to see them every night.”
As the owner of the business, Curt said he expects certain performance levels from his employees, but even more so from his kin.
“I came to expect more from family because they’re family,” he said. “And that’s a natural feeling that business owners that have family involved run into.
“I’m not going to say we haven’t had our troubles. As a matter of fact, in the 37 years, my brother has been fired once and quit once. Both of them lasted less than 24 hours. Once cooler heads prevailed, it was obvious that it was just a blowup over the situation at hand.”
The middle Hogan son would probably still be at the business if it wasn’t for his dream job opening up, Curt said. Joshua Hogan took the job as head high school wrestling coach at Washburn Rural last year. Joshua also owns Hogan Lawn Care and coaches kids club wrestling as well.
Carrie Hogan is co-owner of the business but is medically retired after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She has been cancer-free for a few years but still fights the ravages of chemotherapy and radiation and hasn’t been active in the day-to-day operations for several years.
Looking into the future, the Hogan patriarch said the eventual plan is for his sons to take over the business.
“I feel great about the future, but I also feel a little bit of skepticism,” Curt said. “We’re traversing waters we’ve never traversed before, just trying to determine if this is the new normal or if we go back to something else.”
Curt said his goal is to make sure the business that he and his family have built
over the years will be viable and able to }support his children once they take it over.
ruth vincent, david & jackie vincent | circle coffee co.
—DAVID VINCENT Co-owner Circle Coffee Co.
Circle coffee co.
David Vincent and his wife, Jackie, opened one the area’s newest coffee shop and bakery at 1710 SW Medford Ave., a few blocks west of Washburn University, with David’s older sister Ruth Vincent working as the head pastry chef.
And while David admits it was a leap of faith to open the shop, he said his family’s business experience served as a great example.
David is the eighth of 11 kids in his family, so he’s had the benefit of watching his family oversee companies and find success. His dad, Austin Vincent, is an adoption lawyer in Topeka and runs his own practice, Christian Family Adoptions, while his brother Matt runs Golden Rule Design & Build, and his sister Hannah owns Hair by Hannah salon.
“I’ve gotten to watch a few of my siblings run businesses, so I think it’s just a normal thing for me,” David said. “Yes, it’s scary, and yes, it’s a big risk in some ways, but getting to see my older siblings model that risk, and do it really well, has given us a lot of confidence in what we’re doing.”
David’s younger brother Timothy just opened a business called Community Woodworking Co., and he did all the wood interior accents and furniture at Circle Coffee Co.
“He did a really amazing job,” David said. “He’s only been
in business a few months but he’s already doing really incredible work.” Before Circle Coffee Co. was a 20-employee neighborhood cafe inside an old laundromat in central Topeka, it was a mobile coffee cart, built and operated by family friend, Cameron Philgreen. Topeka had food trucks and other mobile businesses, so why not coffee? One of the first events he attended with his coffee cart was David and Jackie’s wedding in October 2018. The Vincents owned a photography/videography business, where they would travel to various locations to shoot weddings and other private events. } September/october 2022 TK Business Magazine 47
Photo by JOHN BURNS
Circle Coffee Co. is a 20-employee neighborhood cafe inside an old laundromat in central Topeka.
David said that for years the two of them had been having conversations about what it would look like to someday have a coffee shop. Combine that urge to chase a dream with the beginning of burnout with the photography/videography business, and Circle Coffee Co. soon became a reality.
David and Jackie bought the mobile business in 2019, a decision the couple did not go into lightly.
The couple knew that a coffee business would not be the most profitable venture in the world, but they also knew that money isn’t always the deciding factor. They also wanted to something they really enjoyed.
“I wanted to do something that I would be proud to tell my kids about,” David said. “And maybe someday pass this business on to them if that’s in the cards.”
David and Jackie both really love coffee and have always enjoyed coffee shop experiences and inviting friends over for java.
“That’s a good test, if you’re trying to see if you should open your own place,” David said. “Do you enjoy having your friends over for this? The answer was yes.”
David said he and Jackie and their friends spent a lot of time at the PTs at College Hill at SW 17th and Washburn. It was their gathering spot, and so when it closed during the pandemic, they felt like something was missing in the neighborhood.
“Because my wife and I appreciate going to a nice coffee shop and spending time with each other and with friends, we felt like this would be something that would bring a lot of value to the area,” David said. “We }
Photo by JOHN BURNS
Photo by JOHN BURNS
Circle Coffee Co. places a high importance on fun seasonal beverages while also sticking to the classics.
wanted to inspire other young people to stay in Topeka and start businesses and invest in our community.”
While Circle Coffee Co. places a high importance on fun seasonal beverages, it also sticks to the classics. David said the shop makes a “really, really good” cappuccino and offers more off-the-wall signature drinks that rotate through on a seasonal basis.
David and Jackie specialize in coffee and Ruth does the baking.
“My sister is really talented,” David said. “Everything she does is really top-notch. So, of course we always thought about having her as part of the coffee shop on the bakery side.”
In addition to traditional baked goods, Ruth specializes in making allergen-friendly items that don’t taste allergen-friendly, including a streusel coffee cake that’s glutenfree and vegan.
Working through different communication styles and creative opinions is the biggest challenge in running a family business, Jackie said, but at the end of the day, it’s a gift that makes them a better team.
“Watching Ruth and David learn how to work together has been fun,” Jackie said. “They both love doing things with excellence and want to master their craft. They are both so good at what they do. It’s really special to be a part of it.”
While running a business is always a risk, David said that to him, owning a business with family feels even riskier, but with a higher reward.
“I think everything just feels just like higher stakes,” he said. “We wouldn’t want to fail for any of our employees or our community, but when there’s a family member involved, I feel like the stakes are even higher because you love that person, and you don’t want them to be without an income.” }
anne francis, PHD & jack fitzpatrick, PHD | Family Business Resource Center
family business FAMILY BUSINESS resource center RESOURCE CENTER
Balancing family sentiments and loyalty versus family intelligence and competence can be the biggest issue with family-run businesses said Jack Fitzpatrick, clinically trained family therapist.
Jack and his wife, Anne Francis, have operated the Family Business Resource Center in Topeka for 33 years, offering guidance to family-run businesses.
“Family businesses often have a tendency to employ family members in spite of their lack of competence or intelligence,” Jack said. “That’s a big issue because a lot of families think that the best way to deal with issues among the family is to treat everybody alike. In a business, that doesn’t work very well.”
Family Business Resource Center focuses on family relationships and how they affect the business—either contributing to the success of the company or being responsible for limitations it encounters.
Fitzpatrick said he and his wife work to help family-owned businesses be successful from the beginning and during times of growth, then help them prepare for a transition of leadership and ownership from one generation to the next if that’s their wish.
Both Jack and Anne worked at Menninger in Topeka for several years before starting their business.
They’ve worked with several businesses like Payless, Stormont Vail, Chase Bank, Microsoft, and Home Depot, just to name a few. They also have clients all over the United States and Canada, in locations such as Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.
“I think people would be surprised that a business like ours comes from Topeka, Kansas,” Jack said.
When Jack and Anne provide consulting services, they gather as much information as they can about the way in which the business operates and the dynamics between the family members and executives.
“We try to enhance the relationships among the leadership in the business so they can contribute to its success,” Jack said.
They also provide tips for success, such as developing a good business plan, implementing strategies for executing that plan, and bringing in an outside board of advisors or directors when businesses get large enough.
“A strategic plan is very useful,” he said. “What are internal strengths and weaknesses, and what does the marketplace look like in terms of opportunities for us? The good ol’ SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat) analysis. It’s something a lot of small businesses don’t do.”
In addition to providing consulting services for family businesses, Anne has written a book about women in family businesses called The Daughter Also Rises. TK
