Member Spotlight:听Walt Churchill鈥檚 Markets
The Churchill legend at 100
Running a successful business is hard enough. But running a legend? Well, that raises the enterprise a notch or two on the difficulty scale.
Walt Churchill is up to the challenge that you might call living the legend. After all, he was raised an active participant in the grocery business of his storied family, learning every physical nook and operational cranny of a local institution now in its 100th year.
鈥淢y father was involved in the Marine Corps, politics, and the grocery business,鈥� Walt recalls of the late Walter Churchill Sr. 鈥淚f I wanted to be with him, I had to be involved in those things. And because there were no babysitters, Dad and Mom took us to work with them.鈥�
Today, Walt operates the two remaining brick-and-mortar stores bearing the family name 鈥� , in Perrysburg and Maumee. His roots, though, stretch back almost all the way to the first Churchill鈥檚 market in 1917.
At a very active 90 鈥� he maintains a pace that might shame someone half his age 鈥� he鈥檚 acquired a professional savvy that he combines with a shoot-from-the-hip personal style to produce a simple, direct motto for his customers:听 鈥淚 may be the owner, but you鈥檙e the boss.鈥�
TV monitors in Churchill鈥檚 stores keep customers up to date with the latest food products. Newspaper ads are still used, but as Walt鈥檚 wife Lois notes, the focus is on the quality rather than the price.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing targeted marketing now, rather than scattershot,鈥� she says. Sponsoring special events or programs outside the stores are fine, she adds, 鈥渂ut for the public those become just another place for free food or a T-shirt. They don鈥檛 do anything addressing why Churchill鈥檚 is different.鈥�
What precisely is that difference? Walt points to their most recent newspaper ad. No prices are listed. Rather, the focus is on the friendly, knowledge professionals who make shopping a pleasure 鈥� and on the product quality. The ad reads: 鈥淭he Churchill鈥檚 difference. Quality products, value-priced.鈥�
Both Lois and Walt take special pride in the store鈥檚 beef brisket and their pork sausages, prepared in the Churchill鈥檚 kitchen and its smokehouse.听 Walt says, 鈥淲e have the ingredients for quality. If you鈥檙e looking for cheap, that鈥檚 not us. We鈥檙e value priced for the quality.鈥�
He adds, 鈥淚 read that Costco does not have a marketing department. They do more than $120 million in business and do a good job of taking care of the customer in the stores. Our marketing department has done a lot of work on bringing people into the stores 鈥� but if you live in Sandusky, it鈥檚 not so likely that you鈥檒l make the trip to Maumee or Perrysburg. It is more likely, though, if a satisfied customer tells a friend. That鈥檚 the model we鈥檙e switching to 鈥� word of mouth.鈥�
They鈥檝e also begun investing resources in social media, Lois says. The tastes of 20-and 30-something shoppers are well known: they want organic, and they want the stories behind the products. Social media can provide an immediacy the younger demo craves.
The biggest requirement of word-of-mouth advertising, both Churchills say, is an ongoing customer rapport. As Walt says, 鈥淥ur strategy is that if they point out a problem, we鈥檒l correct it and have a better customer, because they鈥檒l have a better reason to shop with us.鈥�
The approach dovetails with the company鈥檚 plans to become an ESOP (employee stock ownership plan). 鈥淲hen that happens, the employees will carry on the tradition,鈥� Walt says. 鈥淚f they don鈥檛, they probably won鈥檛 work long for the company. Employees who want their stock to improve won鈥檛 want their customers served by other employees who don鈥檛 play by the rules of customer satisfaction.鈥�
Lois adds, 鈥淲e鈥檙e concentrating on keeping customers happy, unlike a lot of grocery stores where it鈥檚 just about price. We鈥檝e always the place where customers are listened to.鈥�
The Churchill family has always listened to the wider community as well, as active participants and supporters. Like his father, Walt is a veteran Rotarian, never missing a meeting in 50 years.听
He draws a comparison with his longtime membership in the UT Family Business Center. 鈥淸The center] is similar to Rotary and to fraternities, with networking and multiple generations. But it鈥檚 unique because of the opportunity to meet other businesspeople outside a single industry; that鈥檚 been a source of fresh ideas.
鈥淵ou establish friends through the center, especially in the small affinity groups of about a dozen members. You might meet farmers up in Michigan, the publisher of a newspaper in Findlay. It鈥檚 a mixed group, so you can hear a lot of different ideas about things like employee benefits and retirement options.
鈥淎nd the university does a lot of things to make the center prosper.鈥�
Prospering is what the Churchills intend to keep doing 鈥� one customer at a time. As one of the aspirational placards in the company鈥檚 conference room reads: 鈥淲e are the artist and the customer is the critic.鈥�