Growing up, Julie Smolyansky was jealous of Lifeway Foods Inc., the company that consumed her father’s time and attention.
Going to work at Lifeway five years ago, she grew to love the lengthy after-hours discussions with her dad, Michael, about how they wanted to build the Morton Grove-based business.
Now, with her father’s sudden death this month, the 27-year-old Smolyansky is in control, consumed by the company herself.
Succession in family enterprises often is a tricky and treacherous affair, though Smolyansky said her father made it clear to the board that she should take over if he could no longer run the company, which makes a milk-based drink called kefir.
Having a succession plan in place is unusual for family businesses, said Joseph Astrachan, a business professor at Kennesaw State University and editor of the Family Business Review. It’s particularly rare, Astrachan said, in a case like Lifeway Foods, in which Michael Smolyansky was only 55 when he died of a heart attack June 9.
Still, a smooth transition in power does not ensure the business will thrive. Investors showed their concern the day after his death, sending shares of Lifeway Foods down 27 percent, or $1.90, to $5.10. The stock closed Tuesday at $6.
Julie Smolyansky said she’s confident Lifeway Foods, which had revenue of nearly $11 million in the past year, will be able to grow, particularly with the marketplace’s interest in portable and natural foods.
“It seems like the panic sellers have sold, and the stock has rebounded,” she said.
Although the passing of a company’s founder and CEO obviously is disruptive, Astrachan said there are many cases in which the next generation takes the business well beyond what their parents could accomplish. The transition of power often is best for the business because the incoming leader has clear control, he said.
Smolyansky’s immediate challenge, Astrachan said, will be to maintain credibility with customers, investors and suppliers. The latter will be the most challenging.
“They will typically start to try and squeeze her as much as they can,” Astrachan said.
Smolyansky, who was director of sales and marketing, said she will continue trying to stimulate demand for Lifeway’s offerings, particularly since the 55-employee company is producing at only 30 percent to 40 percent of capacity.
“The day of the funeral we were in the office, and trucks went out,” Smolyansky said. “It’s just a haven to come here and be surrounded by everything he created.”
Political points: Republicans posted their highest showing in a recent survey about which party best understands the problems facing small business, though the number of respondents who didn’t answer, know or care also hit a new high.
Of the 412 small business owners in the survey, 43 percent selected Republicans, up from 38.1 percent in 1998. Democrats received 10.7 percent of the vote, up one-tenth of a percent, while 27.2 percent of respondents selected “neither” and 19.2 percent didn’t answer, know or care, according to research firm Cicco and Associates Inc.
“The Republican increase appears to be coming from those who have traditionally believed that `neither’ party understands them,” according to the report.
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Other interesting survey findings include that business owners with companies more than 10 years old strongly favor Republicans (48.3 percent versus 11.7 percent for Democrats), while nearly half of the business owners of firms 10 years old or less didn’t answer, know or care.
Also, women business owners were more supportive of Democrats than male business owners. The Republican-Democrat breakdown was 33.6 percent-19.3 percent among women and 47.8 percent-6.3 percent for men.