COS Business Products & Interiors
In 1941, Henry H. Ireland Sr. founded Chattanooga Office Supply. After more than 69 years, the company has evolved into COS Business Products & Interiors, a leading provider of office furnishings and supplies in the area. Skip Ireland serves as company president, and his brother Jim serves as vice president of operations. Together they represent the third generation of the Ireland family to run the company. Recently, the Ireland family business merged with another well-known local firm, Cooper’s Office Supply, which was founded by George Cooper Jr. in 1931.
“We have been in operation for 69 years,” remarks Skip Ireland. “After working for a competitor, our grandfather decided to start his own business with a small stationery store upstairs at 720 ½ Cherry Street. After my dad, Hudson, bought the business, we moved to 2622 Broad Street, and then in the early 1970s we bought land and built a building on Creekside Road. In 1983, my brother and I bought the business, and in 2002 we moved to our current location at 1548 Riverside Drive.”
For 30 years, the company functioned as an office supply store. Then, in the early 1970s, commercial furniture was added to its offerings. “Work stations and systems furniture were coming into prevalence,” comments Skip, “and that continued to grow over the years. In the early 90s, we added Office Furniture USA, and COS was a founding member of that organization with a mid-market furniture strategy with a wide variety of aggressively priced products.”
Skip cites a commitment to do what is right for the client, rather than what is easiest or most expedient for the company, as a key element in the business’s long-term success. “This strategy lets us customize our business solutions for individual customers, which is often something the ‘big guys’ can’t or don’t want to do,” he says.
Joseph Decosimo and Company
With a diverse client base of closely held companies and partnerships, as well as middle-market companies with revenues in the multi-billion dollar range operating in nearly every state, Joseph Decosimo and Company is recognized as one of the leading public accounting firms in the nation. Founded in 1971 by Joe Decosimo, Jerry Adams, and Marion Fryar, the firm maintains offices in Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, and the Cayman Islands and provides a broad range of technical expertise in virtually every industry.
While Joe has retired from the firm, his children Nick, Fred, Tom and daughter Rose are active as principals, while nephew Julien Decosimo is a senior auditor. Several children, nieces and nephews have worked in the firm while also attending college.
“In 1971, my father was working for another firm in Chattanooga and considering moving to Pennsylvania where he had been named president of National Liberty Corporation,” says Nick, who serves as managing partner. “At the last second, he decided to stay in Chattanooga and joined with two of his young associates, Marion Fryar and Jerry Adams, to form Joseph Decosimo and Company CPA firm. Blue Cross was just completing its new gold building, and that was where the firm set up its offices. The firm grew quickly as my father brought in clients, and Jerry and Marion made sure they were taken
care of.”
The firm, which will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2011, has held true to its mission statement: “Decosimo supports the success of our clients, employees and the communities we serve. Our core values are integrity, respect and teamwork, innovation, accountability, and professional and personal development.”
The Decosimo firm remains committed to outstanding service and lasting relationships. “We were blessed with excellent leadership from the beginning,” asserts Nick. “Jerry managed the firm for the first three decades, making sure that the clients that my father and the other leaders of the firm brought in were taken care of exceedingly well. We have always had excellent people who adopted my father’s philosophy of providing great service to our clients. Great clients beget great clients.”
Fowler Brothers Co.
One of the oldest businesses in Tennessee, Fowler Brothers Co. celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2010. Five generations of the Fowler family have been involved in the operation since James Sterchi entered the retail trade in 1885 and William and John Calvin Sterchi opened a furniture store in Knoxville in 1886. A few years later, John Calvin’s son-in-law, John O. Fowler, joined the business, opening a store in downtown Chattanooga. Richard C. Fowler Jr. serves as company president today, while his son Carter and daughter Chappell are involved in daily operations.
“Our company has always been primarily Fowler Brothers Co., but we have done business as Fowler’s Furniture, Richard Fowler’s Galleries and in other names,” explains Carter, who serves as general manager and whose three-year-old daughter Laney and six-month-old son Dawson may well follow in the family business in the future. “Today, we have two brands – The Furniture Shoppe and the Patio Shop.”
According to Carter, the Fowlers’ approach to business has always been toward customer service and outstanding selection. “The first thing is a true focus on quality at the most reasonable price available today and taking care of our customers,” he relates. “Our service is something we pride ourselves on, and quality, service and value are three key elements in our success. We are also a Christian company so integrity is very important to us.”
Managing inventory levels and controlling overhead have allowed the Fowlers to offer some of the most recognized names in the furniture industry, such as Stickley and Baker at the Furniture Shoppe and Lloyd Flanders, Woodard and Summer Classics at the Patio Shop. “We know how to showcase these brands and help customers understand the quality as we walk them through the store,” says Carter. “We also believe in our history and our legacy of value.”
While maintaining sound business sense, the Fowler family has been recognized through the years as focused on value along with providing the customer the best experience possible. “Our staff of 30 employees is absolutely vital,” concludes Carter. “Our emphasis is on educating and teaching the customer about what is available so that they will want to come back.”
Rock City Gardens
Rock City Gardens, with the Swing-a-Long Bridge, Mother Goose Village, Lover’s Leap and Fat Man’s Squeeze, is an icon of travel and tourism around the world. During the 1920s, Garnet and Frieda Carter began to develop land on a promontory of Lookout Mountain, including a residential area with a golf course, taking full advantage of the panoramic vistas in the area. While Garnet labored to open the golf course and concurrently opened the first miniature golf course in the U.S., Frieda cultivated her love for European folklore, marking trails and placing gnomes and elves among the rocks.
On May 21, 1932, Rock City opened to the public. The attraction was the product of Freida’s love for nature and fairytales along with Garnet’s uncanny ability to recognize a great marketing opportunity. “Garnet was my grandmother’s oldest brother, so my dad, E.Y. Chapin III, went to work for his uncle after World War II and bought the business in the early 1950s,” comments Bill Chapin, who acquired Rock City from his father in 1985 and is the third generation of the Carter/Chapin family to lead the company. Bill’s son-in-law, Andrew Kean, currently serves as president.
Beginning in the mid-1930s, Rock City was promoted with a unique advertising campaign. Barn roofs far and wide were painted with “See Rock City,” and word of the amazing attraction atop Lookout Mountain spread. In recent years, Rock City has expanded its offerings with the Enchanted Garden of Lights during the holidays and other special events throughout the year, including a popular autumn corn maze located in Chattanooga Valley. In 1987, the Carter/Chapin family purchased the Battles For Chattanooga attraction, an educational experience which details local Civil War history.
“I think it is our hospitality,” says Chapin of the secret to Rock City’s longevity. “We look at advertising as more of an invitation than anything. So, when we ask people to come to Rock City, we are inviting them to experience what Frieda and her husband, and my dad and other partners in Rock City, have been working on for generations. Then, once a person comes to visit, we treat them as a guest rather than a customer. Rock City was Frieda’s attraction, and Garnet promoted it.”
Stein Construction
From the German word “stein,” meaning stone, the Stein family actually took its name centuries ago. The Steins came to Chattanooga with their skills as “tailors of stone,” and ultimately built a lasting name as Stein Construction Co. Family lore says that the Steins had been building with stone “since they were handing out last names.”
After moving to Chattanooga to manage the Chickamauga Limestone and Construction Company in 1889, John Adam Stein started his own company in 1912, when he was injured on the job and laid off during an economic crisis. Today, F. Douglass “Doug” Stein is the fourth generation of the family to head the company and the only member of the family still active in the business.
“Stein has an unlimited general contractor’s license,” Doug explains. “Over our history we have built bridges, roads, underground utilities, industrial plants, municipal infrastructure, concrete foundations, commercial buildings and even houses. In recent decades, we have pursued mostly highly demanding civil, industrial or equipment intensive projects. Recently, however, we have added environmentally engineered projects as well – including the largest green roof in Chattanooga and many erosion control and water quality projects with our sister company, Earthscapes.”
Doug Stein, who serves as company president and treasurer, acknowledges the great legacy and reputation built by previous generations of the family. “At the bottom of Stein’s letterhead is the phrase, ‘Service beyond the Contract,’” comments Doug. “The company prides itself on delivering value to its customers, not only through the expertise of its labor force, but in its commitment to ensuring its customers get the best solution to their needs. As a young man around the dinner table, I was taught, as were all of the Steins, that ‘doing what you say you will do’ is critically important.”
Stein Construction carries one of the oldest and most recognized names in the Southeast’s construction industry. “Through the history of the company, the emphasis has been upon doing business with skill, integrity and competence,” concludes Doug. “Part of this means continuing to learn and develop our skills. When markets, economies or technologies change, we have been able to adapt.”
Title Guaranty and Trust Company of Chattanooga
“We are the oldest title company south of the Mason Dixon Line,” says Charles O. “Charlie” Hon III, chairman and chief executive of Title Guaranty and Trust Company of Chattanooga. “My grandfather, Charles O. Hon, married Henry Clay Beck’s daughter Mary and went to work in the company Mr. Beck had founded in 1887. My father, Charles Hon Jr. started immediately after World War II and was with the company until he died in 1982.”
Today, Charlie represents the fifth generation of his family to guide Title Guaranty, while Brian Kopet is president and the first non-member of the family to hold that title.
“The customer comes first, definitely,” says Charlie of the commitment to service and satisfaction at Title Guaranty. “We try to give the quickest and best service. I have told our closing agents that when we have a buyer and seller come into our office and we are closing the deal, it might be one of eight or ten on the schedule for that day. It might even be a small deal. But think about it! It is generally the largest financial transaction these people have ever had. We need to treat them that way.”
With a firm belief in helping clients to understand the nature of title insurance and the steps necessary to gain a clear title to real estate, Charlie stresses maintaining a high level of trust.
“I don’t want anybody to think we ever took advantage of them,” he says. “We don’t just take money and hand over a commitment. We always go over what needs to be done to clean up a title so we can insure it. We appreciate the customer’s business, and we are going to do the best we can for them. Occasionally, we may make an error, but we will always accept responsibility.”
Top Flight, Inc.
More than 90 years ago, Harry Robinson and three partners founded the Atlas Paper Box Co., primarily to provide containers for the products of local hosiery mills. His sons Harry Jr. “Wig” and E. Montgomery “Monk” Robinson followed in the management of the company from the 1950s through the 1990s. Manufacturing school and office supplies, Top Flight is a primary supplier of notebooks, tablets, loose leaf paper and envelopes to major retailers and college bookstores.
During the late 1990s, management of the company passed to the sons of Wig and Monk Robinson —Monk’s son George is chief executive officer; Wig’s sons Curt and Mike serve as vice presidents of sales and marketing; and Harry III, well-known as “Wejun,” serves as general manager.
The business philosophy at Top Flight has been simple and straightforward through the years. “We have managed to stay around by being conservative and still trying to apply the golden rule,” says Wejun. “We want to treat you like you would want to be treated. There really is no secret to how long we have been in business. If there was a secret, then we would sell it and make money!”
Each of the Robinsons has worked in various capacities at Top Flight, learning the operation from several perspectives. “We have all insulated offices, cleaned the dust off the windows and jumped up and down on dumpsters to make more room,” says George. “We picked orders, received merchandise and migrated into other areas with guys that had been there for years. Wejun and Curt worked on the floor as supervisors. We have a background that has taught us to respect the skills and knowledge of the people on the floor, and we have all put in a hard day’s work from 7 in the morning until 5 in 95-degree heat in the summer, not sitting in an air conditioned office.”
Among the basic tenets which continue to guide Top Flight are: respect for the work of their fathers and grandfather; respect for and loyalty to their co-workers; loyalty to their co-workers who have in turn returned that loyalty with hard, smart work over the years; respect for customers regardless of their size and volume; and maintaining an emotional investment in the company’s success and profitable growth.
TPC Printing and Packaging
In 1924, Joseph A. Schmissrauter Sr. founded Textile Printing Company (TPC) with a $250 investment in equipment. In the late 1950s, his son Joseph A. Schmissrauter Jr. expanded the operation from commercial printing into package printing. In turn, TPC became one of the oldest independent folding carton companies in the South. TPC now produces high quality folding carton packaging as its core business, servicing the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, liquor, tobacco, hosiery, apparel and specialty food industry segments. In addition, the company produces specialty and promotional packaging, set-up style boxes and also provides fulfillment and contract packaging services.
Today, the third generation management of TPC includes brothers Joseph A. “Joey” Schmissrauter III, who serves as president, along with brothers Mark and Kurt and sister Hilda Murray, who are executive vice presidents.
The business philosophy of TPC is captured in the company’s mission statement, which reads, “TPC is an established family-owned, quick response, total quality printing and packaging provider. We are committed to serving exceptional customers seeking the highest level of excellence in their printing and packaging needs.”
Joseph Sr. was known as “Smitty,” and he established the company’s perspective on its client base with the straightforward assessment, “The customer is at the top of the organizational chart.” To date, the family has maintained that attitude.
“We have been blessed with great dedicated people who have entrenched themselves into this business and made it happen,” says Kurt. “TPC has grown and prospered over the past 85 years by remaining flexible and developing new and unique services that have been demanded by our world-class customer base. Implementation of the strategy has been successful through the efforts of our highly skilled and experienced work force. Finally, we would not be where we are today without the network of suppliers and business partners that have supported the company for many, many years.”
Joey adds, “Without good customers, there are no sales. Without good suppliers, there is no material. Without good associates, there is no production. Without any of these three, there is no business.”
U.S. Xpress Enterprises, Inc.
Max Fuller and Pat Quinn, co-chairmen of U.S. Xpress, one of the nation’s premier trucking companies, can trace their enterprise’s origin to Clyde Fuller, Max’s father and founder of Southwest Motor Freight. Max and stepbrother David Parker worked at Southwest for a number of years, and Pat joined the company as general counsel in 1977.
In 1984, Clyde sold Southwest Motor Freight, and Max, David and Pat eventually ventured out on their own. As the three discussed their future, David formed his own company, Covenant Transport, and Max and Pat embarked on their new enterprise, U.S. Xpress. Each had exited Southwest with 25 trucks, which represented their respective ownership interest in Southwest.
“Max and I had worked together for the better part of six years,” says Pat. “Our offices were so close together that we could practically hear each other’s conversations. Clyde taught all three of us a great deal about this industry. We were at the dawn of deregulation for trucking, and Max and I believed that we could partner together and develop transportation services that offered customers innovations and real value for their dollar.”
“From the very beginning, we developed a strong concept for U.S. Xpress that still remains at the core of how we operate our business today,” says Max. “We have always believed that if you find the best people and give them the best technology available, they will use those tools to give our customers a competitive advantage. That is how we have grown the company over the years.”
The children of the Fuller and Quinn families are active in U.S. Xpress today. Pat’s daughter Lisa Pate currently serves as general counsel and executive vice president, while son Brian Quinn is vice president and general manager of International Freight Services at U.S. Xpress, an operation that is a joint venture with the company’s Mexican partner carrier, Xpress International. Max’s oldest son Eric Fuller is president of Xpress Consolidated, a division of the company that focuses on being a network agent and working with smaller fleets. His youngest son Christopher Fuller is a lead manager in the dedicated contract carriage division of U.S. Xpress.
While U.S. Xpress has reached annual revenues of nearly $2 billion, the company maintains the culture of a small, family-owned venture. “In business and in life, you always try to put people in the best position to succeed,” relates Pat.
“Obviously we have tried to do that with our own family members. What makes us proud as parents is to see the way each of our kids has made the most of the opportunities.”