With new president and CEO, Quality Dairy Company is trying out fresh ideas

LANSING — Although Thomas Buschert just wrapped his first year as Quality Dairy Company's CEO, he's still a bit of an outsider. 

He isn't from Lansing. And his last name isn't Martin.

Quality Dairy co-owner and President Ken Martin, the son of one of the company's founders, sees that as a good thing. 

A little more than a year into his position as CEO, Buschert is leading plans to renovate and upgrade the company's 30 stores, the newest of which was built in 1999.

He's restructured the company's board by adding two members to the now six-member group and has started gleaning feedback from customers through surveys. 

Martin sees bringing in a leader such as Buschert and expanding the board as ways for Quality Dairy to combine fresh ideas from outside with long-term expertise and knowledge of the family business.

“This was a simple realization that the business that we’re in is a very intense business, and it requires a terrific amount of energy," Martin said. “It would be good for us to take what we know and have learned over the years and share it." 

Martin has worked for Quality Dairy for nearly 50 years. He started out washing milk bottles and doing janitorial work, eventually serving as the dairy operations manager. He was named Quality Dairy's president late last year.  

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Buschert, an accountant by training, held several positions with Amway in the 1990s, including CFO of Amway Korea, before joining other Amway executives in starting the health and wellness company IdeaSphere Inc. In 2004, he moved to other companies, including one started by former Amway executives, Zanco LLC., formed to sell products backed by actress Suzanne Somers. He has owned his own consulting business for about a decade.

He started doing consulting work for Quality Dairy in 2014 and became CFO of the business in September 2015. He was named CEO in November 2016.

Martin's parents, Greg and Pauline, originally moved from the Westphalia-Fowler area to Lansing because of the promise of factory jobs. Greg Martin quickly found that the work wasn't stable enough to raise a family and started looking for other opportunities.

In 1936, Greg Martin founded Quality Dairy Company along with accountant Harvey Mack. The first Quality Dairy store was located at 1406 South Washington Avenue. A few years later, the company started making and selling ice cream. 

When Quality Dairy opened, most people had milk delivered to their home. Quality Dairy's method focused on convenience, Ken Martin said. 

“People leaving downtown could swing right in and get a fresh quart of milk, still cold," Martin said. "The motto was 'Today’s milk, today.'"

One way or another, all seven Martin children took part in the family business when they were growing up. 

“There were no babysitters back then,” Ken Martin said. “You simply went down to the dairy.”

Martin and his brothers took over the business from their father in the 1960s, bringing in new energy. 

"We were young enough to try new ideas," Martin said. “We had this business, and we said we have to be something more than just a dairy." 

Between the mid-1960s and the '80s, the company added stores and products and expanded manufacturing operations, putting money toward commissary, bakery, dairy and blow-molding facilities for milk and juice containers. 

“We are poised to take on all kinds of growth from a manufacturing standpoint, and that’s because we invested in it," Martin said.  

Today, Buschert and Martin are refocusing attention onto the retail side of the business by renovating and upgrading stores. 

“It won’t be overnight," Buschert said. "But the image will start to change.”

Late last year, an electrical fire caused extensive smoke damage to Quality Dairy's Holt store. When the renovated store opens in late spring or early summer, it will be the company's first "new concept" store. 

“Once we have that store open, I think people will have some idea of what we’re hoping to do in the future," Buschert said. 

Updated technology and a wider selection of fresh take-away options are all part of the plans, Buschert said. 

Buschert said he wants to balance revamping the company and its stores with paying respect to Quality Dairy's legacy. 

“The biggest thing is obviously improving the image of the store and the company without harming the iconic brand we’ve built up over the years.” Buschert said.  “We don’t need to change it. We just need to make it better and improve it.”

Customer loyalty to the brand has been big part of Quality Dairy's success and longevity, said Tim Daman, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce president and chief executive officer.

“For the most part, they have remained that market leader,” Daman said. “And these other national convenience store, c-store chains haven't been able to grab any footing here in our market, and I think there’s something to be said about that.”

While Quality Dairy's stores are concentrated in and around Lansing, Martin said, long term, he could see the company expanding to other areas. 

“What we have could and should be duplicated and could do really well," Martin said. 

There are a handful of third-generation members of the Martin family who are interested in taking on leadership roles with the company, Martin said. 

“It’s incumbent on any family business to make sure you have family members in key roles," Martin said. 

After decades working in the family business, Martin said, he's happy to see new leaders like Buschert take on the business while making room for the next generation.

“You can work on the business or you can work in the business," Martin said. "I see my role now as working more on the business."

Contact reporter Haley Hansen at (517) 267-1344 or hhansen@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @halehansen.