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FROM A GARAGEThe company has grown substantially from the days Henry Strauss sold products from his station wagon – from 10,000 square feet in Elmsford in 1954 to 75,000 square feet in Port Chester, from a one-man operation to a staff of more than 100.
Net sales rose from $2 million in 1978 to $25 million in 1994. Last year net sales were $33 million; this year's should be in the $35 million range.
Strauss said that 2002 was a challenging year for the company because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A number of its customers such as Morgan Stanley were based in the World Trade Center.
Since the company began, its customer base has shifted from supermarkets and eateries to real estate, hospitality, public schools and hospitals. Sixty percent of its business is industrial, 30 percent is institutional and 10 percent is retail. The Strausses have a number of large clients such as IBM, the Westchester County Airport, and Vornado Realty, and plan to expand into universities, private schools, hotels and manufacturers.
The company's market is Westchester and the tri-state area, but has been expanding into Manhattan in the past five years, adding such clients as the Port Authority Bus Terminal and British Airways at John F. Kennedy Airport.
But growing too quickly could compromise the personal touch the Strausses said gives them an edge over billion-dollar competitors such as Unisource Worldwide Inc. of Berwyn, Pa., and the Xpedex division of International Paper Co. in Stamford, Conn.
Increasingly, the supplier industry is one defined by consolidation, and the Strausses don't want to sell – although they have received offers. Strauss, however, is always on the lookout to acquire companies that can add to the product line.
In 1992, it acquired Trouble Shooter Janitorial Supply Co. in Port Chester, and Automated Maintenance Systems in Buchanan. In 1990, it opened a 25,000-square-foot warehouse (Strauss Warehouse Outlet) carrying party supplies for the retail market.
THE FAMILY TREE
The business is a family affair. Strauss's wife, Jeri, works part time, and the third generation of Strauss children have shown an interest in the business, too. Jonap's 17-year-old son, Hank, spends his summer vacations at the company, and Strauss's 15-year-old son, Josh, spends weekends doing everything from filing to cleaning.
The Strausses want to pass the company down the family tree, but insist they don't want to pressure the next generation, just as their father did not pressure them.
For now, the second generation of Strausses are focused on keeping their customers and employees happy, and keeping their business within the family.
"We never really consider selling because this is our child, it's part of our heritage," Strauss said. "Would you sell your child?"
The chamber's Hall of Fame Awards are pre-sented by HSBC Bank USA and sponsored by the Westchester County Business Journal.
Dad's legacy of honesty and perseverance
In this age of computers, Palm Pilots, and voice mail with automated systems, Joyce Strauss Jonap said that Strauss Paper Company Inc. works hard to keep things personal. Its 1,500 clients receive cell phone numbers for all management, including the company president, Stewart Strauss.
The company doesn't just provide cleaning supplies, but trains its clients on how to use them. Recently, Strauss Paper's sales staff spent five graveyard - shift hours teaching the cleaning crew at New York's Grand Hyatt how to polish marble.
Tom Psomas the maintenance manager for the Katonah-Lewisboro Union School District, said he was most impressed with the company's personal touch. "I had a situation where something wasn't right, and the sales rep put it in his car and drove it out to me the next day," Psomas said. "I can call them today and I'll have it tomorrow. Anybody can take an order, but they are way beyond orders. I get a strategy and plan of attack."
In fact, Strauss Paper works with the majority of school districts in Westchester along with hospitals, nursing homes, and retailers.
The Strausses said their father's legacy drives many of the company's principles today. Henry Strauss never graduated from college and his children do not have MBAs. But Jonap said her father's secret to success could not be taught in the classroom.
"I learned a lot of old fashioned things from my father -- honestly, perseverance, and relationships," she said. "I learned to take care of the employees because they will either make or break your business," Strauss added.
To do so, the company has monthly staff lunches where they share news, set goals and reward successes. There is an annual summer barbeque where Strauss stands behind the grill and serves up hotdogs and hamburgers.
The Strausses said another secret to success is getting involved in the community, joining organizations such as the Kiwanis Club and donating to local organizations.
Providing faster service at lower cost is key to surviving
Jerry Gleeson
The Journal News
"If I dont show it to you, the next guy is going to show it to you," Jonap said.
The level of competition in the industry is contributing to consolodation. Several years ago Strauss acquired TroubleShooter Janitorial Supply. Trister said he has bought two companies, in Middletown and Mount Vernon, in the past four years. Some smaller companies find the pace of the industry difficult to keep up with, Trister said, and he's seen smaller suppliers go under.
"People have not focused on growing their business," said Trister, who has worked in the field for 30 years and expects more than $10 million in sales this year. " In our industry, you have to constantly put on new accounts."
For the Strausses, that means looking ahead several years to see what clients will want. Strauss Paper was founded by their parents who sold paper products from the back of their car in 1943. Today it is updating its computer system with an eye toward improving efficiencies that will allow it to provide same-day delivery service and orders over the internet.
The company expects to top $35 million in sales this year, up from $33 million last year. The Strausses said a motivated work force of 100 is the key contributor to the company's success.
"It's our baby," Stewart Strauss said. "People say to me, 'What's attractive about selling toilet tissue?' I dont know. I just love the business"
Reach Jerry Gleeson
at jgleeson@thejournalnews.com
or 914-694-5026
PORT CHESTER | The business of selling cleaning supplies and equipment doesn't sound as demanding as, say, silicon wafer technology.But consider a recent incident in the life of Joyce Strauss Jonap at Strauss Paper Co. in Port Chester.
Jonap got the call on her cell phone at 7 a.m. at home. A client wanted to know, as soon as possible, how much he had spent in monthly equipment and services for a report he was preparing. Jonap was able to get it to him in two hours, using a $500,000 computer system the company had installed three years ago.
The scene is typical of what's happening in the cleaning supply industry, according to Strauss and others in the business. Competition is growing fiercer as clients such as hospitals, schools, and office management agencies demand faster service at lower costs.
"The world has changed. The people that aren't are really losing their grasp quickly," Jonap said.
The complete lack of glamour in this industry belies its economic strength. The market for paper, chemicals, supplies, power equipment, and other janitorial products is $19.6 billion, according to the International Sanitary Supply Association, a trade group.
"We're one of those hidden industries that's serving every single business, every single day," said Jim Trister, owner of Cleaning Systems Co. of Pelham Manor.
The demands of that kind of service are changing the companies that provide it, Trister and others say.
For example, more clients are asking for quicker delivery of products. That means janitorial suppliers are putting up larger warehouses in order to keep more inventory on hand.
This month Trister signed a lease to add 10,000 square feet of warehouse space. In January, Strauss added 10,000 square feet as well.
Jonap and her brother, company president Stewart Strauss, said the expanded warehouse space helps their company draw business in New York City, an area they're targeting for sales growth. Strauss has convinced city customers that they can save money by abandoning their own warehouses and availing themselves of Strauss' next-day delivery service.
Saving money for customers is key to Strauss' strategy, its owners say. The business retains customer' loyalty by showing them how to perform janitorial janitorial services economically. The company provides demonstrations, in English and Spanish, of new equipment and techniques it believes will save their client's money, even if the new merchandise costs less than other products Strauss could sell.
Chamber inducts family business into Hall of Fame
by Amy Wu
It is 10:30 a.m. on a Wednesday and Stewart Strauss and vice president Joyce Strauss Jonap are chatting with employees in the warehouse of their company, Strauss Paper Company Inc.
Unlike the heads of many companies, the brother and sister can usually be found mingling with staff or customers.
This family-owned business prides itself in treating its staff like family, and wants to create "jobs for life," said Strauss, the fast-talking and energetic company president. The majority of the staff have been on board for more than a decade, one for 50 years. The company boasts that it has never had a layoff.
The "Jobs for Life" motto was passed down from his father, Henry, who started the business in a
White Plains garage on August 17, 1943. Strauss escaped from Nazi Germany in 1936 and started
life in this country working as a salesman for a paper distributor. Strauss's son and daughter recall their father bringing staff home for dinner or family gatherings. "We called them Uncle, they were like family," Jonap said.
Although their father passed away in 1984, the Strausses stress that the business is still family-oriented, family-owned and customer-focused –- and they want to keep it that way.
Jonap, 50, said that the benefits of keeping Strauss Paper in the family outweigh selling it to outsiders. "The benefits are we control our own destiny and there's a lot of pride, too, when it's your business and your own legacy," she said. "I hardly separate work from my private life."
The County Chamber of Commerce will induct Strauss Paper into its second business Hall of Fame, one of five businesses to be inducted. The inductees will be honored at the Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle on April 9.
KEEPING IT PERSONAL
In recent years, keeping Strauss Paper Inc. family oriented and expanding has been a growing challenge. Technology and changing ways of doing business have posed new hurdles for the Strausses. The Strausses know they need to change with the times, recently spending about $700,000 upgrading the computer system.
At the end of this year, they will launch an e-commerce initiative. They are considering launching their own telemarketing service department in the near future, and have automated voice mail and online support and ordering as well. But the focus is still on face-to-face contacts.
Management is constantly fielding cell phone calls from clients, most of them longtime regulars. And customers come in and out of the office, sometimes just to chat. And at age of 82, Henry's widow, Ruth – who worked at the company until she suffered a stroke a few years ago – still comes in twice a week to say hello.
The personal touch has rubbed off on her children. "Hold on, I have to say hello to another customer,"
Strauss said as he greeted a client in the offices that are crammed with Strauss's signature products –
vacuums, carpet extractors and cleaning solutions. Retaining staff is also an important part of the company's policy, spending about $100,000 on staff training this year alone. Next month the company will send employees to Massachusetts for a seminar on how to clean bathroom floors.
