Family Business Awards: Fuller's of Auburn

FOCUS: FAMILY BUSINESS AWARDS

Fuller Automotive, Auburn: Cars have changed; the name hasn't

BY TARYN PLUMB
SPECIAL TO THE WORCESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL

Fuller Automotive of Auburn knows cars. Now in its fourth generation, the company has been around for nearly as long as gas-powered vehicles have been.

Family patriarch Willis Fuller started out in the early 20th century doing general repairs on horse-driven buggies. But once the inexpensive and easy-to-drive Model T began to gain in popularity around the time of World War I, he saw a great opportunity.

The business, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2014, has since flourished, and Willis' traits of ingenuity and forethought have been passed down through the generations.

"Success relies on responsibility to each other, whether it's today, 20 years ago, 60 years ago," said Chris Fuller, who runs Fuller Automotive. "Our great-grandfather was a great guy, our grandfather was a great guy, our father is a great guy. We've all been very supportive of the community and the people around us."

Fuller's is split into several entities spread across four buildings on one "campus," as the family likes to call it: Fuller Automotive, run by Chris, encompassing its automotive and tire center and SpeeDee Oil change; Fuller Auto Body and Collision Center, overseen by his brother Josh; and Fuller Auto Sales, handled by a longtime family friend, Dana Stoico. The company also provides towing and rapid auto rental services.

Chris and Josh's sister, Kerri Cunningham, is involved with the family business as well, handling administrative and marketing duties.

And, as Josh explained, their father, Richard Fuller, who ran the business for nearly 30 years, still keeps an eye on things. "He's not active in the day-to-day," he said. "It's more for moral support, guidance and wisdom."

Willis Fuller started out in 1914 — the year when Model T sales passed 250,000, according to the Ford Motor Co. — doing automotive ignition wiring in Worcester before he moved his shop to the family farm on Pakachoag Hill in Auburn. It has since moved to several locations and gone through expansions, finally settling on a 3-acre site at 505 Washington St. in Auburn (Route 20), and employing roughly 50 full and part-time workers.

Chris, a graduate of Assumption College, came to the business in 1996, followed in 2003 by Josh, a Bentley University grad who initially started out working in finance and accounting in Boston.

"I realized that working in the family business was a great opportunity," Josh recalled. "I saw it as more of a challenge, trying to do greater and better things than the contributions before us."

Chris, meanwhile, said he was drawn to the business by a sense of pride, and a fear of working in a cliched workplace.

"The idea of sitting in a cubicle scared me," he said. "I saw (the family business) as my best opportunity to make the life that I wanted for myself."

Offering the spectrum of automotive needs — from repairs to tune-ups to sales to rentals — the company credits its success to its ability to be flexible and down-to-earth with its customers, and to offer personalized service.

"There's no automated step of how things must be handled," said Chris, who loans out his personal truck a few times a week for customers who are in a bind. It's "operating on a level of one human being to another human being. That's how we've earned trust."

Fuller's has experienced some of its most rapid growth in just the last few years; in 2012, the auto body unit finished construction on an 11,000-square-foot expansion, and the following year, the automotive mechanical repair branch added 2,000 square feet. The collision center is also in growth mode, currently adding 7,000 square feet, according to Josh.

"This is a rapidly changing industry that needs to blend customer satisfaction with the needs of the insurance companies, all while working with a shrinking talent pool," said longtime Fuller partner Rick Hutchinson, of Auto Body Supplies and Paint in East Hartford, Conn. "Fuller has been able to excel in all areas, putting them where they are today."

How do they succeed?

"We focus on simplicity: Work hard, be good to people, generate slow, stable growth," Josh said.

As for other plans? In keeping with his grandfather's open-minded mentality, Chris summed it up: "Always be ready for an opportunity."

Knowing their jobs

Keeping family members productive, happy and — most importantly — sane comes down to having clearly defined roles and goals, the brothers agreed.

"It comes down to who we are as people," Chris said. "We both love and respect each other. It's a credit to everybody — there's no shortsightedness, jealousy, anger."

They're a close family; between the four Fuller siblings, there are eight grandkids, so the brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, sons and daughters "all like to hang out together, like to be together," Chris said.

Maintaining a strong local bond has also been tantamount to success. Over the years, Fuller's has donated time and money to numerous sports teams, groups and clubs, including $10,000 for a new scoreboard at Auburn High School, and $10,000 to Pappas recreation complex in Auburn. Customers also have the ability to register for periodic, on-location wellness clinics.

As Chris noted, "There has to be an honest and earned respect and relationship between a business and its community."

Original story link.

Family Business Awards: Knight's Limousine

FOCUS: FAMILY BUSINESS AWARDS

Knight's Airport Limousine, Shrewsbury: Rolling and growing through 3 decades

BY TARYN PLUMB
SPECIAL TO THE WORCESTER BUSINESS JOURNAL

With more than a half-dozen brothers, uncles, nephews and moms working together regularly, Knight's Airport Limousine Service is most definitely a family business. But the Shrewsbury-based company, which has numerous longtime employees, likes to consider the entire business itself one big family.

"From the drivers, to our office personnel, to our dispatchers, we treat people well, we try to do the best we can for them, and they've done that for us in return," general manager Tom Hogan said. "Our commitment has been shown to them, and their commitment to us."

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Knight's started out in Grafton with just three vehicles – and not even enough drivers to staff them.

Three decades later, the family-run company employs more than 135 full- and part-time workers, is equipped with 60-plus vehicles, and does an average of 200 trips a day. With a fleet of town cars, passenger vans and minibuses, it makes trips all over New England, and has added private services.

It started when Tom and his brother, Mike were employed by a similar company, and decided to strike out on their own. Their father, Gene, was instrumental in the company's inception.

"He helped us get the financing, logistics, got us up and running, played referee," said Hogan. "Our father wanted to set up his boys in business."

Along with Tom and Mike, who serves as president, the company employs three generations: their mother, Carole, is a part-time receptionist; uncle Neal is a dispatcher; and their two sons and nephew are drivers, dispatchers and general maintenance/cleaning personnel.

From the get-go, the company stressed family. The business is named for Tom and Mike's mother's maiden name. "We were thinking of a name that was easy to remember, and that also had a family tie," Carole said.

Other honoree "family" members include sales manager Denise Kapulka, who has been with the company for more than 20 years, and office manager Mark Ford, who's been involved since almost the beginning.

"Mark has been a friend of the boys since childhood," Carole said. "(He) is a big part of our team."

Ultimately – and not surprisingly – the company's success, Hogan said, comes down to the service: Getting people where they need to go.

Lynne Haglund, corporate events planner for the rapidly growing Westborough-headquartered electronic health records company eClinicalWorks, has been a loyal customer for 10 years – and she can't say enough good things about them.

"They're on time, reasonable, reliable, honest," she said. "They're very nice people, very professional. … They're the first company I think of. It's just a nice company to work with."

Hogan added: "We have the best drivers out there. The hiring, training and re-training of the drivers (are) a huge part of the organization."

They essentially serve as ambassadors, he said, so the way they look and perform represents the company. "They're the first point of contact with our customers, usually the only point of contact with our customers," said Hogan.

Real-time communication

Aiding them in that respect, all vehicles were recently upgraded with tablets, so all drivers can have "up-to-date, real-time information" about changes to pickups or flights.

A dedication to the greater good is also a conduit to prosperity. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Knight's donated vehicles and drivers to transport doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to New York City; after the Haiti earthquake, they helped get medical workers to airports; they have also donated vehicles to the Active Heroes Carry the Fallen event, which raises awareness of veteran suicide, and Grafton's Memorial Day parade. In addition, Knight's belongs to numerous local chambers of commerce, and family members have participated in various cancer walks.

"Just to be a part of the community, that we have the ability to give something back," said Hogan. "We're very proud to be able to do that."

Knight's gives back in other ways, as well. The company recently converted about 15 of its vehicles to run on propane. The vehicles are fueled by an on-site, 18,000-gallon propane fueling station. And the service itself – transporting multiple people at once – is, in and of itself, eco-friendly.

"Vans take up to three additional vehicles off the road, which leaves a smaller carbon footprint," said Hogan.

As far as keeping the family business running smoothly, division of duties is key. Mike and Tom have separate offices; Tom handles drivers, operations and day-to-day duties, while Mike is the vehicle guy – dealing with buying, selling, insurance, repairs and mechanics.

"To each have your own separate duties to perform each day so that you're not in each other's way – that can go a long way," Hogan said.

Original story link.