Coppersmith retires from Festival Foods
By John Faucher
Photo Courtesy of Festival Foods
Mike and Ted Coppersmith, founders of New London Festival Foods, spent over 44 years together working their way up in the industry.
The two brothers were born and raised in New London.
Ted, the younger of the two, is known for his hardy laughs and outgoing personality, although he would be the first to tell someone he is not exactly a well polished public speaker.
Mike on the other hand, is a bit more refined and adapt to speaking for a formal audience.
Between the two of them, Mike is usually the one elected to do the talking when career day rolls around at New London High School.
That could change this year.
Ted might just ask to go and talk to the students about how it feels to finally retire, ahead of his older brother.
Ted and his wife Beth of 39 years officially retired from their lifelong careers in the grocery business on Dec. 30.
An early start
Both Mike and Ted began at Ron and Lloyd’s Red Owl Foods in the early 1970s at the age of 14. Their first job was cleaning the meat department.
“Back in them days, that was the worst possible job you could ever have,” Ted said. “They used saw dust on the floor to soak up all the blood, and then you had to scrape it clean and just keep washing it.
“They’d shut you down for that today,” he said, laughing.
Mike recalls the old grocer’s price stamps that imprinted the ink right on the product with no stickers at all.
That was when all grocery stores still had their own butcher shop.
In those early years, Mike and Ted’s parents, Lloyd and Dianne, and then business partner Ron Braush, operated the New London Red Owl store at 416 W. North Water St., before moving into the newly built Wolf River Plaza in 1979.
Mike became a well known butcher and eventually ran the meat departments for several stores. Ted went to school to receive his CDL and became a truck driver for the business.
He hauled groceries from distributors to the five satellite stores for 14 years before going back to work in the store as a dairy manager.
“He was probably one of the best dairy managers in the business,” said his brother Mike.
“We each had our own specialty, that’s probably why we always got along so well and never really fought about things,” explained Ted.
Ted also worked a side job as a Waupaca County sheriff reserve deputy and at one time had plans to attend school and become a full-time police officer.
Plans changed when his father Lloyd announced he would retire and approached the brothers about buying the store.
Purchasing Red Owl Foods
In 1997, Mike and Ted took the plunge and purchased Ron and Lloyd’s Red Owl Foods even though national statistics show second generation businesses only have a 30% survival rate.
Shortly after, they renamed the business Coppersmith Foods.
In 1999, they took an even bigger gamble and built Festival Foods at its present downtown location. It remains the only independently owned Festival Foods grocery store in Wisconsin.
Mike and Ted have seen tremendous changes in the grocery industry throughout their 40-plus years, but none so much as in the past 23 years owning the business together.
They saw the rise and fall of one-hour photo labs, in-store movie rentals, the advent of new electronic inventory tracking, labeling and even self check-out aisles.
They have undergone extensive remodeling projects, expansions and upgrades to their 21-year old building.
“Through all of that we’re still just two local boys working hard as a smaller independent grocer,” said Mike.
In today’s market there are no monopolies on grocery goods.
Far from the days of having just a few neighborhood grocery stores in New London, there are now more than 15 retail outlets or convenience stores that sell food and items that 20 years ago were typically still only found at grocery stores.
Travel is easier and people are more mobile and have the means to drive out of town for more of their goods.
Amazon and other online shopping alternatives are also competing with grocers large and small.
“No matter what business you are in, people are shopping differently,” explained Ted.
“Just think about how many small businesses there used to be in town,” he said.
Big box stores are only one form of competition in today’s world.
“Grocery is a very fast-paced fast-moving business,” Ted said. “Mondays are hectic. When you get home on a Monday, you feel like you worked your whole week in one day.
“Although Mondays are big, every day is just as important if you’re going to succeed as a small business. You have to be there for your customers. Bottom line it comes down to service.
In retail. you absolutely have to work on weekends and holidays,” said Ted.
He and his brother are often seen out on the floor working alongside their employees, pushing carts, stocking shelves and taking time to assist customers.
Both say the friendships they have made with generations of customers, families and their employees have been the best part of their jobs.
Earlier this summer, Mike picked up a piece of paper from the grocery aisle floor. It was a grocery list with several stops and items scribbled on it. The items on the last stop were still under the header “Red Owl.”
Mike looked at a simple shelf in his office that contained a few relics of the old days and smiled.
“It’s been 21 years in this building, and it kind of makes me feel good there are still people that will always see us as Red Owl,” Mike said.
Surviving the odds
Despite the sometimes grim national statistics on the failure rates of family-owned partnerships, the Coppersmiths have been able to weather the odds.
Mike and Ted report they never argued over business through the years.
“We are completely different people, but sometimes opposites are good. It certainly was in our case,” said Mike.
“We always had an unwritten rule, if we both didn’t agree on something we didn’t do it.
We respected each other. We never let our differences divide us, we just tried to understand them,” said Coppersmith.
“It’s not that one’s right and one’s wrong, they’re just different,” he said.
“It’s becoming somewhat of a trend nationally but, hating someone because of their differences? That’s just not right,” said Coppersmith.
New chapter
On Dec. 30, Ted and Beth officially turned in their aprons.
Mike and his wife Georgette have purchased full ownership of the store.
“People who have retired always told me, ‘You’ll know when you’re ready to retire’,” said Mike. “Well I knew. It was time.”
On Monday, Jan. 4, just three days into the couple’s retirement, he reported it was finally starting to sink in.
“I’ve been so busy, but I got to do everything today that I enjoy doing. I’ve never had that on a Monday,” explained Coppersmith.
The couple plans on taking their retirement slow at first and simply enjoying more time doing what they like to do most, like spending time with grandchildren.
Ted and Beth have two children Bobbi and Brandon, five grandchildren and a sixth on the way.
Ted plans to stay active on the New London Fire Department where he has served for 16 years, and he plans to remain a member of the New London Utility Commission.
Ted is also an avid outdoorsman and says he is looking forward to doing a lot more hunting and fishing in his retirement.