Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / How to Reinvent a Legacy Business with Rich Trotter

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How to Reinvent a Legacy Business with Rich Trotter · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Now what I'd like to do is bring my guest, Rich Trotter, to the stage.
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  Rich is the CEO of Rosati Ice, and his business is over 100 years old.
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  And what is so amazing about Rich, he is the oldest of 13 kids.
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  He's a natural born leader.
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  I'm the oldest kid, so I know about that.
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  He is a West Point graduate and an army veteran.
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  After leaving his military, Rich returned home and began working with his father in his soft
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  pretzel business.
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  And then twenty five years ago, he and a partner brought Rosati Ice, which is not only
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  America's First, but the world's best Italian ice.
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  Now in Philadelphia, we call it water ice, which is a whole other thing I'll get into in a
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  moment.
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  But the awesome thing about Rosetti Ice is that his cups are offered in schools across the
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  country because they meet nutrition lunch program guidelines.
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  His opinion and advice and guidance are highly sought after and Rich lives according to this
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  mantra, do the right thing, the right way for the right reason.
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  Rich Trotter, welcome to the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  Melinda, how are doing?
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  Thank you for having
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  Oh, man.
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  I'm so happy to have you on the show.
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  Tell me about how you got into business.
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  You came back home, you joined your dad's business, then eventually you got into business
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  for yourself.
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  Tell us your story.
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  Well, August 13, went to West Point.
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  That was a wake up call.
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  My father was a corporal in Korea and he went around and bragged to all his friends that I
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  was his revenge on the army.
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  And so I I spent five years in the military, went a lot about working with people, working
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  with budgets, and being a mission oriented person.
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  Got out after five years, met my bride, Deb, of forty three years while I was in Oklahoma and
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  eventually moved back to Pennsylvania when my dad started up a soft pretzel business.
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  He's a salesperson, his dad's a salesperson, I'm a salesperson.
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  My my son's a salesperson.
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  And my 10 year old grandson I can vouch for is a salesperson as well.
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  My dad, started Baker's Best Soft pretzels back in 1989.
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  One of our customers was Rosati Ice, and we sold them soft pretzels in addition to the
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  Italian ice water ice that they were making.
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  And when my dad was made an offer that he couldn't refuse to sell his business in 1996, I
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  began conversations with the owners of Rosati Ice.
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  Who at that time were in the early sixties.
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  It was the daughter and son-in-law of Sam Rosati.
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  And we were able to work out a deal and myself and their son-in-law became partners in Rosati
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  Ice.
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  And that was in 1997 and here I am.
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  So you're a fourth generation entrepreneur.
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  What is that like?
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  I mean, almost like it was in your blood.
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  Like you had a minor detour to the army, but your family has always been in business and
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  entrepreneurship is part of like your family mantra because people who sell are in business.
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  So what has that been like, like, you know, being a fourth generation entrepreneur?
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  Well, it's like when people ask me what it's like to be one of 13 kids, you know, growing
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  up, it's like that was our normal.
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  So our our normal environment growing up was watching my dad be in business, knowing that
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  his father was was insane, and it was something I always wanted to do.
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  I I enjoyed being in the military but I really wanted I'd rather be a I guess what would would
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  be.
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  I'd rather be Robin Hood and have my band of married people around me and go go pursue my
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  dream than be cog no matter how important it was in a in a big corporate machine, a
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  corporate world.
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  Mhmm.
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  And I still feel that way.
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  So tell me, you know, you are a a food based product business.
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  What is the most interesting thing about running a food business?
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  It's staying ahead of the curve.
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  We're small business.
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  And so this might appeal to your audience.
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  But we look at ourselves as a century old startup.
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  We're always looking for the next idea.
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  What can we do that's gonna gravitate towards our customers, make us bring more value to our
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  customers in the dollars of sales that that that we do business with and represent.
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  And the latest idea for us right now is we see the winds of change and we were taking our
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  product line from now into next year and converting it completely over to a natural
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  color, natural flavor, no high fructose corn syrup, very nut and gluten free with one caveat
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  that it still has to be the bold taste of America's and the world's best Italian ice
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  water ice.
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  In addition to having a smooth texture and a vibrant color.
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  We can't compromise on that.
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  But in that, now what we do is we can we can go out to channels to sales that perhaps before we
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  weren't open to because we had artificial dyes, because we had high fructose corn syrup.
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  And so now it's a brand brave new world, big world out there.
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  Myself and my band of married people are out knocking on doors, growing the business right
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  now, as we speak.
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  So that's a major shift.
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  You're completely reinventing your core product?
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  Yes.
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  Wow, wow.
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  So how long did it take you from the idea that you realized you had to do this to actually
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  having the execution of it?
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  Like are you guys still in the lab trying to get the flavors right, trying to get the color
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  right?
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  Like, you know, are you guys working with food scientists?
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  Like, how are you guys doing it?
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  We have half about 70% of twenty twenty four's revenue is already in the can.
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  We already have the packaging made and we're just now starting to produce natural flavor,
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  natural color, no five foot those points are soliciting new business with the rest of the
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  2024 sales SPs that represents.
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  That'll be converted over over the next six months.
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  Wow.
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  Wow.
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  So
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  We wanna ahead of the curve because we're we're like the proverbial rabbit in the greyhound
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  race, where bigger companies, a lot bigger than us, almost look at us as part of their R and D
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  department, their marketing department.
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  And when they see that we have an idea and we latch on to it and it's getting traction,
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  that's when they turn on the switch and then they try to replicate what we have.
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  And our job is is to get us run as hard as we can, as deep as we can, as quickly as we can to
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  establish that base be the first one in because the first one in wins.
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  And then from that point, we're looking to the next idea.
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  What can we do to build on this?
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  Because by the time our competition thinks they have it figured out and tries to replicate it,
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  we're on to the next thing so that they're always behind us when it comes to innovation.
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  Now can you talk to me about, you know, a hard time in your business that sort of like brought
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  about this innovation?
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  It's always been there.
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  Since I've had the business, we've been the first to do a lot of different things in our
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  small universe.
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  However, the most difficult time I've experienced in my life and in the company's
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  history was the pandemic.
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  You had mentioned earlier that we had developed a product that met the half cup fruit lunch
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  requirement for K-twelve schools.
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  So when the pandemic hit, 70% of our revenue was tied to that.
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  And with no history, nothing to plan or budget for, you know, with that to say, okay, we
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  expect this to to to pass to pass by within three months, four months.
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  It ended up being anywhere between two and three years before things actually came back to
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  a normal state.
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  And at that point, during that period of time, we learned a lot about ourselves, the
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  resiliency of the great people that we have on our team.
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  And this quick story on that is 12/20/2020.
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  The bank that we've been doing business with wanted to shut us down.
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  And I had a meeting with the bank at 11AM and one of the things they wanted to see was they
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  wanted to see some layoffs.
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  They wanted to see me see me bleed, I guess, or the business bleed.
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  And and we only have 25 to 30 folks working with us.
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  And I called the meeting at 10:00 that that morning, and and I laid all of us off,
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  including myself, not knowing what the future would bring.
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  And at the meeting with the bank, they gave us another sixty days before they would come back
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  and put more pressure on us.
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  But the amazing thing with my people was without any solicitation on my part, The next
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  day, half the folks showed back up because they realized that if the company stayed in comatose
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  for any extended period of time, that it wouldn't stick around.
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  And we're talking about a century plus business.
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  These people are are true just jewels and gems of people inside and out.
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  And and we we have all those people today.
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  So you know, I may be the face of the business, but the guts of the business for all of them.
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  And without them, the business wouldn't be in business.
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  Well, that's a great way for us to kind of segment.
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  Rich, tell me, what is the best business advice you have ever received?
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  Do the right thing the right way for the right reason, period.
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  That's it.
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  And when you do that, you don't compromise on that.
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  You sleep better at night.
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  You you're more mission focused and getting to where you need to be.
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  Don't cut corners.
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  Do the right thing.
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  Wow.
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  Thank you so much.
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  I I really appreciate you.
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  You are a friend of mine, but I'm so excited that I had the ability to help other people
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  learn about you and learn about your your business.
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  And, you know, everybody, you gotta get this Rosati ice.
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  You're not from Philly.
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  You don't know about it, but it's amazing.
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  Okay?
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  So it'll to me, Melinda.
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  Thank you so much.
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  Oh, gosh.
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  Listen.
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  We're gonna we're gonna make sure that it it gets into to stores nationwide so everybody can
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  know what we know about in Philadelphia.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
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  more fantastic information and interviews.
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  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.