Students with family-owned businesses tell their experiences

Students with family-owned businesses tell their experiences

Isaia Wilcoxen, Editor-in-Chief

You get home from a busy day at school, exhausted. The minute you walk into the house, your parents are telling you to get to work. For some students, this is the norm as they are a part of a family-owned business.

Sophomore Colton Lloyd knows this feeling of exhaustion as his family owns The Pullman Place in Leavenworth, Kansas. The Pullman Place is a railroad-themed restaurant which offers homestyle American meals.

“The name of the business comes from George Pullman, who created the dining car on a train, and that’s where the train theme came from,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd’s family opened the business in 2003.

“It had always been a family business before our family owned it and we continued that,” Lloyd said.

As this is a family effort, Lloyd said he sometimes has to sacrifice his personal time when an employee doesn’t show up.

“It can be really difficult being family-owned, because that’s what everything usually revolves around every day in my life,” Lloyd said. “I often work there, and I’m always on call in case there’s a no-show and they need someone to work.”

Even though family businesses are tiresome, Lloyd said there is much to benefit from them.

“I’ve definitely learned how to work hard and efficiently from working there,” Lloyd said.

Sophomore Allison Henry, whose family owns Henry’s Lawn Care, has similar feelings about working with family members.

“My family started this business to help my grandma out with her bills because she had cancer,” Henry said, later adding, “Family-owned companies are hard because it’s difficult to take money from family members.”

Henry’s uncle started the business with an interest in lawn care, and eventually Henry’s family began working, too.

“I’ve learned that dealing with family is hard, but even on a hard days of work in the end we still have each other’s back,” Henry said.

Similar to Henry, senior Wesley Sosa is a part of a family business which started out with his uncle. His family owns El Torito Supermarket.

“The business started back in 2007 when my father joined my uncle, who had already had a mini grocery store running on the Missouri side,” Sosa said.

As a high school student, juggling school and the family business is hard, but Sosa said he helps out as much as he can.

“What I contribute to the business is just making sure everything is set up financially for the day shift cashiers,” Sosa said. “Most of the entire day it is really busy, especially weekends.”

Although running a business appears to be difficult, the passion behind family business is very prevelant.

“My family started this business because they wanted to pursue a better life,” Sosa said. “My father saw an opportunity and he took it.”