Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/235863
factory tour PHOTOS: SUSAN SEGREST Kristina Brouhard and George Vukasin Jr. Peerless Coffee & Tea Specialty Food Magazine catches up with this Oakland, Calif., specialty coffee company as it celebrates its 90th birthday. BY SUSAN SEGREST T hings can get tricky when a family business transitions from one generation to the next. But the Vukasins, owners of Peerless Coffee & Tea, have twice done it successfully through a combination of commitment to the business and respect for one another and their customers and crew. Today, the third generation of the family serves several thousand customers primarily in California, including supplying Pebble Beach Resorts' full line of organic coffee, from employee dining to the company's 13 restaurants. Today's Operation With history that spans nine decades (see The Early Years, p. 110) today the company is in the hands of the third generation, George Vukasin Jr. and sister Kristina Brouhard. As president, George Jr.'s responsibilities include coffee and tea importing, roasting, marketing and sales, and production and distribution. Kristina is vice president, handling finance and administration, customer service, IT, human resources, safety, legal and other aspects of managing 85 full- and part-time employees. "Being third generation is tricky, as I've seen so many other companies where the business just blows up during that transition. We owe it to our parents (George Sr. and Sonja) that it hasn't. They built the company and then allowed us to enter into it and handed over the reins," George Jr. explains of Peerless' careful transition. "In order to be 90 years old, you have to evolve and the company has to evolve, and while we will never be the new hot coffee roaster down the block, we can be contemporary and deliver a state-of-the-art, top-quality product." 108 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com