Episode 041 - Wendell Christoff
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Wendell Christoff is the co-founder of Litehouse Inc, the number one refrigerated salad dressing brand in the combined US and Canada. He grew up outside Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was involved from the outset in his family’s salad dressing business, where he worked after school to bottle and deliver their product to local stores. After getting a degree in Food Marketing and Business from Western Michigan University, Wendell joined the U.S. Air Force as a pilot during the Vietnam War before rejoining the family business.
Wendell joins me today to discuss why he decided to change his college major from Pre-Med to Food Marketing and the professor who had a significant impact on his path in life. He shares his experience of expanding his father’s small salad dressing business and why he was motivated to grow the business from its humble beginnings and subsequently seek to partner with another company with similar values. Wendell also talks a little about the importance of diversifying in business and what the company learned from seizing unexpected opportunities.
“Anything that you do that’s worth doing takes a lot of work and a lot of elbow grease” - Wendell Christoff
THIS WEEK ON THE WOW FACTOR:
Wendell’s experience of balancing growing a business and bringing up his family
Why it was essential to Wendell to keep growing the business
How he met his wife Helen and her part in supporting the business
The expansion of the product range and why they chose to market to the fancy foods industry
The restaurant chain that gave them their big break
Wendell’s experience in the U.S. Air Force and his love of flying
Why Wendell was open to a partnership and how he knew that the merger was the right way forward
How Litehouse moved from 2 to 2000 products and why products got buried along the way
Changes in the refrigerated salad dressing industry since the 1970s
