Vassilaros: Family, Business, and 100 Years in a Cup
Posted by estiator at 7 May, at 04 : 42 AM Print
COVER STORY
By Constantine Kolitsas
Estiator stops and smells the coffee with Alexandra Vassilaros and CEO John Moore.
Estiator last visited Vassilaros & Sons two years ago, as the venerable New York coffee company was celebrating its centennial. At the time, the organization was fresh from the loss of its leader, John Vassilaros, the third generation of Vassilaros men to helm the company that brews the coffee most New Yorkers know by the blue-and-white cup. At the time, Alexandra Vassilaros, John’s wife, had rallied the family and staff around John Moore, a highly regarded coffee industry insider who was hired to take the company reins as CEO, and the first non-family member to take this position.
Estiator sat down with both Alexandra Vassilaros and her company’s CEO, John Moore, to discuss family, business and what lies ahead for one of New York’s favorite coffee companies.
John Moore has been with you as CEO for about three years at this point, being the first non-family member to run the business in its 100+ year history. What has this meant for Vassilaros?
AV: It has certainly been a dynamic period of transition, but his leadership, integrity, and depth of knowledge in our industry has meant that our family business has a renewed and refreshing path forward.
Is it fair to say that the company is transitioning away from a family business to a more professionally run business? Of course, this is not to say that the company was not well run prior to his arrival, but, at the same time, companies run by professional managers instead of people who have grown up in the business have different ways of doing things, and sometimes different goals.
John Moore brings the perspective and insight of someone who has seen how both family and nonfamily coffee businesses operate. His relevance in the global coffee community, from green coffee sourcing to his deep knowledge of coffee roasting, as well as his relationships with coffee farmers and industry-leading equipment manufacturers, is invaluable. He works alongside and in tandem with family, and there’s is no question that this is a more team-oriented collaborative approach to decision-making.
To what extent are John’s methods and philosophies aligned with those he found when he arrived, and to what extent has he changed the company’s methods and philosophies?
AV: When coming into a business that has been very successful for 100 years, one has to assume that they have done a number of things well for a very long time. In many ways, there was an alignment in core values and philosophies, or I don’t think the transition would have been possible for either of us.
JM: At Vassilaros Coffee there has always been a commitment to hard work, authenticity, coffee quality, customer service, and the people who make it all happen. Unless we aligned on those values, the relationship would never have worked. In addition to these absolutes, I looked to put a greater emphasis on communication, teamwork, entrepreneurship, and accountability in the entire organization. This became manifest in new roles and responsibilities, performance-driven pay structures, annual employee reviews, improved working conditions, and new sales and marketing initiatives.
Can you explain how John has navigated through the land mines of being inserted into a business that has been family-run for so long?
AV: Everyone who is involved with a family business knows the challenges that come with this complex territory. I watched my husband navigate the challenges and obligations he felt as president of Vassilaros Coffee for nearly 25 years. It’s difficult for all family businesses to accommodate the needs, expectations, and capabilities of family members who wish to participate. Conflict is a guarantee. Misunderstandings are guarantees, especially following the loss of my husband, John Vassilaros. But it is how these conflicts and interruptions are resolved that is important, and of course, consequential to everyone. It takes a while for any company to digest and assimilate new leadership, but in a family business it’s particularly challenging. A kind of balancing act is required for the outsider, and John Moore was willing to assume that very particular challenge. He showed a lot of respect for the perspectives and personalities that come with any family business. He carefully assessed what was working, what wasn’t working, and what could work better, and gradually and specifically identified the ways we could improve our business and grow. He was methodical and fair-minded, and he has shown thoughtful consideration and dynamic care for the company and all its employees.
JM: Navigating a few of the land mines was a matter of balancing reverence for the past with a healthy willingness to look forward and embrace change. On the one hand, I have a tremendous respect and admiration for the people who worked to build this business over the past century. We often use the phrase “We stand on the shoulders of giants,” and in this case, that couldn’t be more accurate. On the other hand, we need to remember that each of the previous three generations enacted significant changes to the company in order to push it forward, and if we fall into the trap of getting too nostalgic, we actually do their legacy a disservice.
I was also very fortunate to have the support and help of our president, Alexandra Vassilaros; our CFO, Robert Stockel; and our board to help navigate the challenges we’ve faced over the past few years.
Keep in mind that the roots of the company and those of many customers are still very strongly tied to Greece. Many of our customers and employees are first-generation Greek immigrants to this day. We have employees who have been here for decades whose parents worked here when first arriving from Greece to the United States. Alexandra’s own family is from Ikaria in Greece, as was the Vassilaros family. Her uniquely Greek-American perspective has been extremely important in working through many of the specific issues we face day to day.
Her engagement has been vital to keeping our company and brand in line with our heritage, especially as a 100% family- and woman-owned business. Alexandra feels a great respect for the Vassilaros legacy. Vassilaros & Sons, the name brandished on all our products, is particularly meaningful. It is more than a name; it’s an identity, one she shared with her late husband and shares vibrantly and proudly with her three sons, Andonis, Lukas, and Stefanos.
What aspects of a family business has John and the team maintained? In what ways is he leveraging those attributes to the advantage of the company and its customers?
AV: I believe the best family-run businesses have a special way of engaging the employees and customers alike in a distinctly familial relationship.
JM: Although there may be more formal reporting structures, performance appraisal metrics, and data analytics, at the end of the day, the rapport with others inside and outside the organization is empathetic, respectful, and deeply personal. In larger corporate environments, employees and even customers can feel like bar-code-labeled cogs in a machine. In contrast, any person interacting with Vassilaros & Sons Coffee will always feel like part of the family.
Customers of Vassilaros know that we appreciate the grit, determination, and intelligence it takes to run their respective operations. We respect their hard work as independent business owners. We will be there for them when machines break on a weekend or when they need coffee delivered that same day due to an emergency. We know that they count on the quality and consistency of our coffees, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that the coffees taste as good today as it did each and every day over the past century.
Our customers are very proud of their coffee. They have a personal relationship with the coffee and what it brings to mind. Many have been drinking and serving our coffee for decades. This large group of advocates has been critical to our traditional wholesale business in that we have never done any marketing or advertising. Now that we are looking to push forward into new e-commerce, B2C, and B2B distribution channels, this advocacy within our traditional customer base is a tremendous foundation for our company.
Your late husband’s grandfather, who started the business, had a very particular way of growing the business—by helping his customers get into business in the first place, and by developing true bonds with both his customers and their employees. But that was 100 years ago, and companies have cycles (non-linear and depending on the nature of the industry in which they work): start-up, organic growth, expansion into new markets, vertical integration, etc. What “phase” is Vassilaros in at the moment, and how is it different from the course that the company was on previously?
AV: I think the idea of developing true bonds with both customers and employees remains a cornerstone of our company culture, especially as we continue to feel the consequences of the pandemic.
JM: In the traditional food-and-beverage wholesale distribution segment, there is no question that we have an extremely mature business. But…there are many days here that feel like we are working in a century-old start-up. COVID-19 necessitated and enabled radical changes in our corporate structures and how we do business that will, ironically, propel us into the next century.
Prior to March 1, 2020, our company was roasting and manufacturing all products in an adequate but antiquated facility. Today our coffees are produced in a modern SQF Certified and FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) compliant roastery. SQF (Safe Quality Food) Certification is verified by independent thirdparty auditing agencies and is critical to working with larger national and international grocery outlets. Now we are able to produce Fair Trade Certified, Organic Certified, and Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees in addition to traditional conventional coffees.
These certifications would not be critical in our traditional wholesale business, but today they are essential as we branch out into B2C grocery, B2C e-commerce, private-label projects, and diversified distributor channels. Our new retail bag presentation launched in February of 2019, and sales have grown impressively over the past year during the COVID crisis. We have launched this product line both on our own e-commerce platform and that of The Chef’s Warehouse, one of the leading quality food distributors in North America. It can also be found in regional grocery outlets throughout the NYC area.
Our new distribution warehouse, machine repair department ,and admin office hub in Astoria, Queens, is bright, immaculate, and perfect for all our needs. In making the move, we were able to improve quality, reduce costs, and set ourselves up for success despite overwhelming odds during the challenges COVID has thrown us all. We are ideally situated to continue in our current model but also to expand into new channels, and work with new distributor partners.
When we last visited Vassilaros, there was talk of building the brand, something the company only began to focus on over the past five or ten years. In what ways is the anonymous and ubiquitous coffee in the blue cup starting to build consumer recognition, and how do you see the strategy developing in the near future?
JM: Without question, one of the most important initiatives of the years to come will be the development of the Vassilaros & Sons Coffee brand. When I joined the organization, I found the authenticity and relevance of the brand story to be absolutely compelling. It was shocking to me just how little was known about the company outside of the core customer base.
AV: For me, the Vassilaros Coffee story is an example of a hardworking immigrant dream-come-true story, and we are discovering how much our history resonates throughout the U.S. market. We are seeing a great deal of interest and potential working with grocery chains and distributors that feel the same way about introducing the brand to coffee consumers nationally. We are also proud to be WMBE certified, which enables us to partner with government agencies and corporations with mandates to work with women- and minority-owned businesses.
COVID decimated the diners in the Greater New York area, which has traditionally been your primary market. What things did the company do to maintain its viability?
AV: COVID, ironically, brought our industry together in many ways. We had open conversations with companies that were our pre-COVID competitors in hopes of finding new and creative ways to bridge to a brighter post-COVID future. This does not mean that business is back to normal, of course. There have been closures, and some of our customers remain in a painful struggle to remain open. Still, the toughness and resourcefulness of these incredible entrepreneurs has never been more in evidence than during the past year.
JM: Some operators are even talking about business recovering and improving given how much they have had to pivot into delivery and outreach through social media. We remain there as a stalwart partner for them, as always.
Enter the Fourth Generation
Alexandra Vassilaros recently announced that her son, Andonis (Tonio) Vassilaros, will be taking a key position with the company as chief digital officer. Estiator spoke with him to understand his role and his place in the company first established by his great-grandfather.
What is a chief digital officer’s role, and how has your career trajectory brought you to this place?
TJV: The chief digital officer is a relatively new role that has emerged as the world moves toward a digital economy. The responsibility of the CDO is to drive digital innovation and transformation across their business to achieve growth and create value. CDOs leverage smart use of digital tools, platforms, technologies, and data to address issues such as customer loyalty, brand experience, business strategy, and the creation of new business models.
Fortunately, my latest experience as a data scientist at Persado has given me a firsthand look at the responsibilities and skill sets of CDOs at an array of Fortune 500 companies. Persado’s platform leverages AI and natural language processing to optimize brand engagement and revenue performance. At Persado, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with some of the largest companies in the U.S. and partner with them to leverage Persado’s technology to integrate with their digital initiatives and processes.
One of the great success stories to come out of the pandemic has been direct-to-consumer sales via electronic platforms. What is your strategy for Vassilaros Coffee in light of the opportunities created during the pandemic? Does e-commerce represent a new revenue stream for Vassilaros? How will you leverage your experience to grow this stream?
Modernizing Vassilaros Coffee is vital for the growth of the business. In fact, the digitalization of the company was urgent even prior to the pandemic, but now we will be accelerating our efforts in building a vigorous e-commerce revenue stream. Its importance, of course, has grown with the recent shock to the restaurant industry and the resultant increase of consumers making purchases remotely. It’s the future of Vassilaros, and an initiative I am excited to lead. My work experience at Persado coupled with my engineering degree from Vanderbilt University affords me comprehensive knowledge of the digital space as well the technical skills necessary to reenergize and monetize this platform, almost from the ground up. It’s those experiences I mentioned— closely partnering with some of the largest e-commerce companies in the U.S. and learning from their approach and operations for digital transformation— that are inspiring the model l envision for Vassilaros. I believe the key differentiator will be curating a brand experience that embodies Vassilaros coffee’s rich history and the hardworking community it serves.
What are the reasons you are currently interested in working at Vassilaros & Sons? Why now?
Working to continue and grow a legacy that was built by my family has always been a goal of mine. The Vassilaros legacy is core to my identity. I’m incredibly thankful to my father, his father, and my great-grandfather for the life and opportunities their work building Vassilaros & Sons provided me. Their example has made me feel indebted to do the same and continue the legacy for future Vassilaros generations. However, I never seriously considered working for the family business until now. I didn’t want to lean on the business to earn a livelihood. I only wanted to work for Vassilaros if I saw an opportunity to add value and continue the legacy.
What is your best memory of the coffee company, and the Vassilaros legacy?
Some of the best memories were at the factory: the smell of the roasting coffee, of course; all the friendly faces over so many years that felt part of my extended family. The worn-out desk and chair that my dad, his father, and his father before him all sat in. I also have great memories of when I used to go with my dad to meetings with customers. We’d meet at their diners and be welcomed with smiles and embraces and lots of food. I became accustomed to hearing “I knew your father when he was your age” or “I use to run around with your grandfather.” And there was just so much admiration for the opportunities and goodwill my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather offered them. It was always about relationships for my dad. They would share stories and laughs and part ways only after arguing over who’d pay for the check. I think this gives me a great feeling of deep appreciation for the loyal customers we built our brand with and, of course, for my family.
