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Business Profile: Hempler’s watch. The kids were with me on this, my wife was with me. “I knew we didn’t have the personnel to take us to the next level, and the next, and the next. We were doing great at the level we were, but I was getting older, I was 68 then.” That year, 2005, Richard sought out Stephen Bates, who’d previously worked for Hempler’s in the early ‘80s as sales and general manager, and then had been employed 20 years at Fletcher’s Fine Foods, a subsidiary of the conglomerate Premium Brands. Hempler recounted the move: “I said to Steve, ‘Why not come help me?’ He called back and said, ‘How serious are you?’ I said, ‘Get your tail up here.’” Bates came back to Hempler’s in 2005, and Premium Brands became a slight majority business partner with Hempler Foods Group LLC the next year. Business skyrocketed “They’re a large company,” Hempler said. “They were able to help finance and grow us into the future. Steve orchestrated this (and the new Ferndale facility). It was monumental. A food processing plant is very expensive to build.” Bates said, “This is a great place for making ham, bacon, and sausage. We know that if your products are successful, the financials pay off.” In need of yet more space, last year Hempler’s moved its assembling and warehousing to a coldstorage facility in Blaine, and now contracts 20,000 square feet there. Hempler, vibrant and active at 76, is moving the responsibility for guiding the family business to his daughter, Kestin, and her husband, Marc Liberato, the production superintendent. In 2010, Hempler joined a distinguished list of Whatcom County business icons when he was honored with the Whatcom County lifetime business achievement award by Business Pulse Magazine and the Whatcom Business Alliance. The 28th Kestin Hempler Liberato, sales representative, and her father Richard Hempler, chairman stand next to a framed photo of founder Hans Hempler with his business partner in the 1940s. (Photo by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy) awards celebration takes place this March 26. “We put our personal guarantee on our product,” Kestin Hempler Liberato said. Kestin’s signature graces Hempler’s line of natural, preservative-free products. “Our meats have a very short ingredient list, ingredients you’d have in your own kitchen.” Richard Hempler’s signature appears on other products that boast a heritage tracing to original recipes from the family kitchen in Germany. The keys to the company’s success, according to Hempler: “Be honest. Take care of your customers. Take care of your employees. Know what it costs to produce and sell the product, you gotta know that. Never give up. Don’t quit. Workers at Hempler’s process the hams that constitute the company’s second-fastest selling product next to bacon. (Photo courtesy of Hempler’s) 18 | BUSINESSPULSE.COM
Don’t ask anybody to do a job you wouldn’t do yourself – though you should hire people to do things you’re not as good at.” He also values the advice that his immigrant father instilled: “Never go anywhere with empty hands. If you’re going toward the cooler, and there’s something that needs to go in, take it with you.” Bates credited Hempler’s 80 employees with keeping Hempler’s products “best in class.” Several employees bought homes in 2013. “It’s neat to see the employees fulfill their hopes and dreams. too. Our business success is built on really good products and really good employees.” Hempler’s products can be purchased in more than 2,000 stores and hundreds of restaurants across the country, plus on e-commerce sites such as AmazonFresh.com. Stephen Bates (left), the company president, joins sales rep Kestin Hempler Liberato and chairman Richard Hempler outside their new facility standing next to a 1940s sausagestuffer from the original plant. (Photo by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy) Business Box Score Hempler Foods Group LLC • Ownership partners: Richard Hempler, chairman; Stephen Bates, president, with premium brands (Canada) as 51 percent majority holder. • Start-up: 1934 (family bought an existing business that began in 1896). • Annual sales revenue: more than $30 million. • Growth indicators: a 22 percent increase in sales year-over-year the last eight years. Company has grown 10 times its size of eight years ago. • Employees in 1934: 15. • Employees now: 80, all in Whatcom County. WHATCOMBUSINESSALLIANCE.COM | 19
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