In this podcast episode, Dan interviews Evan Reiman, a fourth-generation family member of the Kraus group. Evan emphasizes the importance of communication, recognition of one's place in the company, and building a strong rapport with his team. He gives advice on best practices for families working together in a business. The podcast is produced by the University of Northern Iowa Family Business Center and provides information on membership and events.

Transcription

Katie: You're listening to Never Go Against the Family, a podcast by the University of Northern Iowa Family Business Center. In this episode, Dan interviews Evan Reiman, a married family member of Krauss group and its subsidiaries Kum N' Go. Plus Evan shares the process he went through to join the business and how he's truly seen how he adds value and perspective. Keep listening to hear more about Evan and his positive experiences working as a married in, in the family business.

Dan: Hey, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the Never Go Against the Family Podcast. Here I am today, joined by Evan Reiman, who is with the Kraus Family business. you might know them better as you Kum N' Go. I will let Evan talk a little bit more about that, but I just first want to thank everybody for joining, for listening. And, if you've got ideas for topics or subject matter or interviewees, you'd like to see us cover this podcast. Please know, we appreciate having you on Evan. Thank you so much for taking a little time here as we are getting close to the holidays. Hopefully you've, wrapped up some of your Christmas shopping and, maybe you could talk to us a little bit about where you fit into the generations of your family business and how, and where you're at generationally, what kinds of work you do there and, how quickly they want to get rid of you because I understand you're a married in. So you're kind of always working on that, I hope.

Evan: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for having me, Dan, pleasure to be here. yeah, like Dan said, Evan Reiman, I am a married fourth generation cross family member. so I married my wife. I have been with the cross group businesses for almost four years now, started with Come and Go, did the real estate store development side. So I was on the team that was in charge of finding store locations mainly on the real estate acquisition side of things. I did that for about three years and then, just earlier this year, moved over to the noncom and got into the real estate division called Cross Plus. So, Cross Group is the parent company. and Kum N' Go would be one of those businesses underneath that. and Cross Plus would be another one as well. Ok.

Dan: So could you give us like, maybe just a 30 second history on because I think it's a really cool story on how you guys came to be as the business you are today. I know it didn't start out looking like that. 

Evan: Yeah. So, my wife's great grandfather and grandfather, started, now knows, Kum N' Go, but it was a Hampton oil Company in 1959. So, obviously started in Hampton, Iowa. They started and Bill Kraus, probably one of the most well known individuals in the state of Iowa, led the business till about 2004. In 2004, my wife's father started as CEO, so he had been running it until about 2020. and in 2020 Tanner Kraus, my brother-in-law, took the reins as CEO of Kum N' Go. Kyle still is involved with the business. He's the CEO of Kraus group. So he oversees all of our, all of our businesses. Whereas Tanner is just leading, the Kum N' Go side of things.

Dan: So, like for you, your wife's great grandfather and grandfather, they had this small local oil, sales company and whatever, you know, I'm thinking of in my mind, a truck and a, maybe a storefront somewhere. But at some point they started selling gas and then they started thinking, hey, let's sell gas in a neighboring town.

Evan: I mean, how did they get to that kind of, and, and it really started to, I think the most, I wasn't around, I, I never got to meet Bill. Actually, he passed away about 10 years ago now. but what I've heard is he was really kind of the pioneer of the convenience aspect. You know, I think everybody likes to say gas stations. We are, as a family and just as a company, we like to, you know, a convenience store, you know, we offer more than just, you know, gasoline. We also, you know, offer fresh food inside, you know, and, and all sorts of different products. So, Bill was kind of the really the pioneer of the convenience aspect of it, you know, very early on, it was milk and eggs and bread, you know, the staples. and, and that grew and grew over time. But yeah, they, they, they, they were slow and steady for a long time. and then Bill started to purchase other, kind of not well run stores across the Midwest area. And that's really when we started to grow very, very rapidly.

Dan: Ok. So he was kind of a pioneer in this whole sea store concept of how things are whatever is delivered that way. That's really cool. Ok. I feel like, you know, every founder has a story type of thing and, and it's usually very interesting. So, that's cool to hear. so now you've been involved with the business as a married in a value ad as, as they like to say, right. for a few years as an employee, I mean, how did you make the switch from working, not in the family business to working in the family business and, and maybe advice you give others that are looking at that from the kind of shoes that you wear there as far as the marriage aspect.

Evan: Yeah. So I, you know, it was a very long process, just I think, emotionally, and just a lot of conversation with my wife about it. You know, I think it's probably well known to most that listening to this podcast that working in the family business in and of itself is risky. you know, you expose yourself to a lot, that probably won't happen and if you work for, you know, another company that is not your family. so there was a lot of, a lot of pause on, do I wanna do this? Does my wife want me to do this? My wife does not work in the business so it was a little bit easier for us to decide. Well, if one of the two is working there, you know, that's, that's, that's probably good. So, I, I think for me being married was kind of the, it sealed the deal. I, I think at the time, you know, I always considered myself, oh, the married in the nuisance, you know, here, here, here he comes. but as I've been with the business longer and have met a lot of our associates and, and, and tried to add the most value to the enterprise. I've noticed that married ends have a very unique position and unique perspective on pretty much everything. I like to come into no matter if it's a family related, you know, family, business related matter or just, you know, working in the business, I'm able to detach a lot of emotion I would say from a lot of conversations, you know, my wife and, and all of her siblings and then all the other you know, other family members, you know, they just, they have 28 to however old they are years working, either working in the business of being a family. Whereas me, I can take a more global approach to it. I can look at it from, you know, how I was raised. You know, how I view the world. My sister in law is very similar and she's able to, you know, her and I had very similar upbringings, you know, working family, you know, taught us, you know, hard work and, you know, we're very generous with giving us a great education. so I've, I've really, it, it definitely I buy into the value ad now than I used to. So I would hear that and like, yeah. Right. They're just making me feel good. But, it, it has, it, it's really opened my eyes and it's taken me a while to kind of figure my place and, and when is it appropriate time for, you know, me to speak up, what are the subject areas? Maybe that I should, you know, be a bystander for a while and collect more information and then speak. but as, as my wife had my wife and I have, you know, grown in our marriage and, and, and just grown as a couple, you know, with that comes, you know, growing with her family. And, I definitely found my place in a lot of those conversations.

Dan: I think that's a great point. I mean, I appreciate you making it. I'm thinking now about how, you know, obviously family has emotional ties as part of the decision making process, you know, some of those emotional ties that they have by being around them so much. And then when you approach it with a more of an outsider lens, you can still kind of commingle the two things in your own mind as you're potentially thinking through what your advice or your opinion is on something or your question or, or something we should be thinking about type of thing is, is allowed to happen. That's really, that's really cool. I appreciate that Evan. And so, and I appreciate you also saying that you started that off by saying, you know, you talked with your wife.

Evan: It sounds to me like in a very proactive, very detailed lengthy way over the course of time about, you know, is this a pool I wanna jump into type of thing or that we want me to jump into or, or whatever it was a, the, the keyword there is we, you know, I, and my professional background prior to that was I was actually selling, selling airplanes for a company. You know, a lot of my professional career was in the aviation industry. And so for me to jump jump one, not only in the industry I was in, but also to have the family element too, it was a bit of a leap of faith. but, you know, almost four years down here. it has served me well and it definitely, a decision I would, I would do again. All right, great.

Dan: I mean, a couple of the tiebacks I'm hearing for advice, you know, one is certainly, think on it, talk on it, not just in your own head but with your spouse, right? And, and think about ramifications, think about opportunities, think about all the things that you talk through but, but the point is to be in communication and, and not just leap into something. And, you know, another thing that I think I heard you say was to kind of know, feel things out to know, maybe when, when it's my time to speak type of thing and, and, and to know that, you know, that might not be right off the get go, but I might need to feel things out around here first, right? And experience some things and, and see how they do things. That's great advice too. so now, you know, you're four years into your career there, with the family company, are there thoughts that you have about, you know, what you would, other things you might suggest to others that, that are, you know, maybe just in general about being in a family business, things that you wanna, worked well for you guys to, to practice or develop or, or, or whatnot, you know what I mean?

Evan: Yeah. I guess I'll split this into two. I'll do more of a family council advice if you wanna call it that and then I'll do another kind of bucket like working in the family business. you know, for like the fam, you know, sitting in a room. And, you know, I'm sure all of your listeners are gonna be various size businesses here, but just sitting in a room with family members talking only about business. You know, I guess you could classify that as the Family Council. you know, I would say especially the advice to the married ends. I, it's really up to them if they want to be an active part. through these conversations. I, obviously along with my wife, you know, both agree that I see myself and she views me and I think other family members do as well view me as a, as a, a value add. but if you don't want to, you know, be an active part, whether it's working in the business or constantly involved with family council decisions, you know, everybody has their own place and if, and if your place is not part of that, that's perfectly fine. and we have, we have family members that are really engaged and then we have other family members that aren't quite as engaged, but that's fine. and, and I think everybody recognizes that our family office recognizes that. and everybody's different, everybody has different goals in life. And so I, I mean, whether you're married in or, or, you know, your blood, don't feel like you have to, you know, be involved with everything. I think sometimes people get so caught up and I have to do this right. Just take a step back and obviously do what's best for your family, but also do what's best for yourself too. Yeah.

Dan: I mean, we look at that as if we're not involved, then we must be lazy or something or we don't. And the truth is far from that most of the time. Right. It's, I respect boundaries or I just, you know, I'm, that's, that's a great point, I think.

Evan: It, yeah, and it's, I think it's so, you know, some, you know, myself included really. You know, I feel, you know, if I'm idle or if I'm not like communicating, you know, you know, contributing to a cover, I'm like, oh my God, something must be wrong. But, you know, as I've gotten older and just been in the family more or, you know, sometimes being the fly on the wall and just observing, has more value than, than to me actively speaking. And obviously, as I've been the fly on the wall for, for many years, you know, I think it's really paid dividends here as I've gotten older. And now I'm able to, like I said earlier, just collectively view things, you know, and then really think about how I'm gonna respond to something versus just, you know, whether it's blurting something out or, you know, making a rash decision. So, you know, tying back, I would, I would just say do what's best for you and your family and, and, you know, don't, I'm sure, you know, we all feel pressure to do it, you know, I think it's every parent's dream in a family business for their kids to come work for them. So, it's not, I'm not them, my wife and I are not the only ones that experience this, you know, with working in the business, especially, you know, obviously Reiman is not Kraus. so, me being in the business, and especially the size of our business, it, it, it, I approached things and I communicated upfront that I wanted it to be treated like anybody else would. So if you were gonna hire an associate, I wanna be, I wanna go through the hiring process just like everybody else. I want the compensation levels like everybody, you know, just view me as Evan, don't view me as a family member for a second. So I, I kind of went through that. and I really built a really strong report, rapport with, with my team at the time and, you know, slowly but surely people start finding out who you are. but what I was able to do very successfully is people, people viewed me as, you know, being Evan, people didn't view me as being Evan, the family member. and that's really helped and, you know, people respect me for just me and my personality. and then, oh, you're also a family member and that has, you know, I'm able to command a room a little bit better. you know, it's not like, you know, here comes Evan, he's gonna, you know, he's either say something that we have that we have to say yes to or, you know, but no, you know, people feel comfortable to say no around me, people, you know, we all have our own opinions and I always tell people, you know, challenge my opinion, you know, if you don't think it's the right thing, talk to me about it. And, and, and, and vice versa, you know, so it has helped me. And, and just with my career development and leading and leading people, people view me as, you know, just even more of a leader. And then, you know, I guess you could say the cherry on top is a family member. and, and, and people, people that are around me don't view view that as a negative and I would say a lot of of my family members too. They've, you know, my brother-in-law is also, you know, Tanner is in the business. My other brother in law Oliver is also in the business and I think we've all kind of taken similar approaches to really people knowing us as people and not just with the family attached to it. So that's easier said than done with a different last name. But here, you know, I, I guess you could, if you want to call that a perk of being married in, I guess that would be a perk there.

Dan: No, I, I like to take away a half from that, of what you're saying is right off the get go, you're having these conversations with people on your team or your direct supervisors and others that you're gonna be working with that. You know, I want this, this is a meritocracy and, and, and it has nothing to do with what I wanna make sure I'm treated like anyone else is treated paid like anyone else is paid and, and you know, professional development, whatever it might be comes to me, it would to anyone else. I'm sure that bought a ton of credibility for you as you started as you started out.

Evan: Yeah, that was, that was, that was really important for me.

Dan: Ok, sweet. You know.

Evan: Yeah. You know, and I it, over time it, maybe you don't see the benefits right off the bat. You're like, man, maybe I'm overkill. you know, I'd be kidding to myself, you know, there are perks of being a family member. so I'm not, you know, I don't want to say like, you know, I try to, you know, hunker down and not, not be seen by anybody. But just, having people buy into me and people really respect and as you, you know, gain, gain credibility early on, you know, over time that will compound and hopefully as I lead bigger, you know, larger teams over time, that will, that will, that will really, really help.

Dan: No, I, I think, I think you're absolutely right. I think one benefit too, maybe as a married person is you kind of have oftentimes this, you know, switch, flip, switch type of an entry into the company. Whereas if you were, a true blood family member, you know, you're there as a 12 year old kid pushing a broom or delivering and whatever you're doing. Right. And then it's sort of like, that there isn't just this easy, simple flip of a switch where you become an employee type of thing where for yourself, you kind of have that, that ability to then be proactive with what, what you're doing at that time and, and you're not a 12 year old kid when you're doing it. So, you know, to do some of these more proactive things about talking to people about who I am and what I, how I want to be treated and that kind of thing. Yeah.

Evan: All of all of my wife's siblings, including my wife. You know, they work in some business, you know, starting at a really young age, you know, whatever the legal age is for a family business. And, you know, my wife, there was a little coffee shop that they owned that you should, she worked in at a very young age but most of her brothers all worked, you know, they were sweeping floors at Kum N' Goes. So, they, they, they all started, pretty young but, you know, to Kyle's credit, you know, teaching hard work and, you know, hey. Oh, yeah, you don't get everything, without putting in a little sweat equity.

Dan: Absolutely. No, that's a great point too. I mean, a great best practice for other families, which I think you shared a lot of good ones here with us today. I mean, I really, I greatly appreciate your time doing this, taking the time to do this and kind of share your perspective as, as someone who's married in, I think sometimes at our center and, and just with our, with programming in general, sometimes you forget about the fact that there are some differences or, albeit maybe sometimes subtle, but there are differences between those who are directly, you know, on the family tree and those who are kind of attached into the family tree and that kind of a thing. And so appreciate you sharing your perspective, Evan, and it's always great to hear from you and we wish you all the best there, with your businesses and everything that you've got going on. So, thanks again for taking the time to be with us. I'm with Evan Reiman, who's with the Kraus Family businesses with Kraus Plus. And, he's in charge of a new real estate development there. So, thank you so much, Evan. Awesome.

Evan: Thank you Dan.

Katie: Thanks for listening to this episode of Never Go Against The Family, a podcast produced by the University of Northern Iowa Family Business Center. You can find more information about the center membership and upcoming events at https://unifamilybusinesscenter.com. As Vito Corleone advises, never go against the family.