Welcome to Hal Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Today's guest is Stephanie Stuckey, the CEO of Stuckeyz. This company started in 1937 by Stephanie's grandfather who opened a single store in eastern Georgia. Now, that was one of the country's first roadside retail shops. And at its peak in the 1970s, Stuckeyz had grown to 368 stores and 40 states along pretty much every major interstate, from humble beginnings to a roadside empire. But then things turned for the worst. Stephanie took over the business in 2019 and was faced with challenges in every aspect of the business. So how do you get started? Well, you can't live in the past. You can't be thinking about how it used to be. You have to think about how it has to be today. So she went to work re-imagining the brand, thinking about new possibilities, new ways to make money, new ways to satisfy customers. She's making progress and is getting things done. So whether you're leading a turnaround like Stephanie is or simply need to reim agine the way you get things done in your company or with your team, let me tell you, there's a lot you can learn from today's episode. So here's my conversation with my friend and soon to be yours, Stephanie Stuc key. Stephanie, you've got a huge challenge rebuilding the Stuckey's brand. I know that. And I want to go deep on how you're doing it. But let's start by just having you give us a quick history lesson on Stuckey's. Yes, I'd be delighted. Stuckey started by my grandfather in 1937, literally as a side hustle. It was during the Great Depression and he had to drop out of law school at the University of Georgia to work on the family farm. He was farming cotton and hated it. And so he started selling pecans. It was a bumper crop. Anyone who knows anything about pecans, they have on years and off years in Georgia, the pecan capital of the world, really. And so pecans were plentiful even though jobs were not. And he started buying up pecans from farmers after he worked on the farm all day and then he would sell them to a local shell or mark it up a few pennies. And that's how he made his profit. He built up his capital from there and after a few years of steadily doing that , he opened a roadside store. And that was really the first roadside retail that offered gas, clean restrooms , cold drinks, hot snacks, and we've always sold candy, kitschy souvenirs. And of course, continued to sell the pecans. So from the very humble beginnings at first store in Eastman, Georgia, it grew at its peak in the 1970s. He had a sign company. He had a trucking company. He had a candy company, largely vertically integrated. He sold the company and there was a couple of different corporate owners, some hostile takeover by one of them. And the brand plummeted. External factors as well. My grandfather died in 1977. The road trip declined with the Arab oil embargo. Air travel became affordable. People started flying. So all this stuff happened and the brand just plummeted. We lost hundreds of stores. So my dad got the company back in 1985. He got the company back. It was literally on life support. He got it stabilized. He was running several other businesses. Stuckies was never his main focus because he was making money off of his other businesses. And being his business partners retired in circa 2011 and left Stuckies at that point being run almost on autopilot by a skeleton crew. And since 2015, I've been losing money. And I came in 2019, November 2019. You know, I remember the Stuckies brand when I was a kid. You know, I grew up in sort of small town America and you know, we did a lot of road trips. So, you know, I've protected a lot of Stuckies food in the past. And it was a great experience back then, you know. And so now as I understand it, you've invested your life savings in the Stuck ies business and you bought it from your father. And I understand it that some consultants and advisors told you that they wouldn't touch it with the 10-foot pole. I mean, tell us the state of the brand when you bought it and what you saw in the business that other people didn't see. I did consult with several business advisors and they looked at the financials. And most of them told me not only walk, run from this. This is not a good investment. And it was losing money. We were six figures in debt. But what I bought was a brand. And I knew the value of Stuckies. Like you said, it was an experience. And I thought there's a need for that still in this country. And it was bigger than my family, but certainly I wanted to revive my grandfather's legacy because I knew him and I loved him. But I thought the road trip is something really uniquely American. And it's something that we need to celebrate. We need more of that. We need these special unique curated experiences when we're taking a trip by car. And so I knew that the brand had that magic. And that is not on the financial books. That's what convinced me. Now what I actually bought, the physical assets, was a rented warehouse with inventory, mostly consisting of rubber snakes and ashtray shaped like toilets that say, put your butts here, koonskin caps, like the classic kitschy souvenirs that Stuckies is known for. I bought a ton of P.K. Log rolls in inventory, lots of candy and nuts. That's what I actually bought. We didn't own the candy plant anymore, trucking company, sign company, long gone. We don't own or operate any stores. They're not even a franchise program anymore. It's a licensing program. We only have 20 standalone stores. And then there's 45 co-branded stores within a store concept that is called St uckies Express. In varying degrees of shape, some of them are really great brand forward locations. Some of them need a lot of love. So it's all across the board. So that's what I got. You know, I remember when I was president of KFC, all everybody talked about was Colonel Sanders. The Colonel did this, the Colonel did that. And meanwhile, the brand was very unsuccessful. There's been eight straight years of those sales growth. So we're in a major turnaround situation. And you know, my view was, hey, I love the Colonel. He's great, but we've got to start creating some new memories. You've got to create new memories. How do you balance managing the past and then really stimulating the kind of progress you've got to have to really turn the business around and maximize this brand that you bought? That's such a great question. And I get asked it a lot. And I am constantly reflecting on what's the best way to do it. So it's evolving. But I like to say, I'm looking back while moving forward. I definitely have a strong sense of our roots. And I'm so proud that we are a nostalgic brand. There's something amazing about a brand that has sticking power. And Tucky Fried Chicken is certainly one of them. It's been around 80 plus years Stuckeys has. And we're in it for the long haul. And so I don't shy away from the retro aspect of our brand. But at the same time, I am looking at how to capture a new market share. And part of that is what I reflected on earlier is it's bigger than Stuckeys. It's bigger than selling key-can log rolls and kitschy souvenirs. It's the road trip. And if you think about who we really are trying to attract, it's people who love to road trip. And that defies demographics, that defies age, that defies being in the past. People of all ages and all generations have loved taking to the open road. Now maybe not everyone does, and that's Seth Godin calls them our tribe. But they may not be our tribe, but they don't enjoy getting on the road. But anyone who likes to travel the interstate highway system or the back roads, and that could be pleasure trippers, that could be truckers, that could be traveling salesmen and women, what's left of them. But people who travel for business, that could be baseball teams, minor league baseball teams, that could be rock and roll bands, traveling artists, the whole gamut. And so I think the more we talk about and embrace the road trip, we're going to start being more of a forward brand, but still letting people know we've got sticking power. We've been around 80 years, and I'm not planning on going anywhere. Well, you know, vision and purpose is so important for every business. And how have you been able to simplify and describe the vision you have for the stuckies of the future? We make road trips fun. That's my vision. And that's the direction in which we're heading the brand. And everything that I message and talk about revolves around that. Even if it's talking about the candy, you want people to associate our products with an experience. Because otherwise, we're just another piece of candy. If you have an emotional connection to something, that's what gives it meaning. That's what gives it selling power. That's what really creates a brand. You know, you think about your business and where you can take it. How much of it really requires the physical assets that you've had in the past versus what you can do through digital? I mean, everybody's business has exploded through digital. How about yours? Absolutely. Our online sales went up 550% last year. Of course, we started almost from nowhere. We had a really bare bones website when I bought the company. So we are definitely looking at digital. And then social media has been a huge amplifier for our brand. But I think also it's out of total necessity. Our stores, we don't own them. And so there's so much good about getting a nostalgic brand because you do have all of this brand equity in these memories. And you come with a base of people who like your stores just like you did with Kentucky fried chicken. But you also get the company as is, right? It's not the company you would have built from the ground up if you had to start at zero. And so I have to deal with the lack of physical assets, which is one of those challenges that gets me up at 3 AM that we don't control the stores yet. So how I deal with it is I have a business partner. So we have a short-term strategy, which is like a three-year plan, three to five years. And then beyond that, our longer-term plan is we really will have more physical assets. But I think if you don't embrace digital technology in this day and age, your brand is going to just go by the wayside. Yeah, I was thinking about your particular situation. And you really are a startup with a legacy or heritage brand. You don't have much to build from. So now you're really creating this startup. How do you see yourself? Well, let me tell you how I see the brand. And then I in many ways feel like I am the personification of the brand. It bears my name. So it's hard not to identify really on a emotional, personal level with this brand. I joke that we are an 80-year-old startup. And initially it was really hard for me, but then I decided you need to embrace that startup mentality. And frankly, I think of more CEOs, even those who have totally well-established corporations, and they've got millions or billions in assets, if you grasp onto that startup mentality, that constantly innovating mentality, I think it's what keeps your edge. So I'm in a way really grateful for the fact that we are this scrappy comeback brand. So I see myself as an innovator, as an entrepreneur. And I think that term often gets overused. Sometimes you're not an entrepreneur, you're just a small business. But if you're an entrepreneur, the way I see it, you're constantly having to innovate. You're constantly having to figure out how to move your company forward and your problem-solving night and day. What's the biggest problem you've had to solve in the last few months? Oh, supply chain issues. So we bought a candy plant, my business partner and I, in January of 2021. I'm a big believer in making bold moves, but don't bet the farm, right? So take risk, but do them in a way that are structured that you can afford to fail if it doesn't work out. But this was our bold move. We felt really confident about it. We ran the numbers. We got great partners with our small town community bank and the small business administration. So we bought this candy plant. And I think what's really important to realize, so often we see, especially like on LinkedIn, which I follow every day, you see these big headlines. We've made this great move. We bought this candy plant. Bam. Well, there's a lot of work that gets involved afterwards. It's the, and then what? So you did this. Now you got it. What are you going to do? We're the dog that caught the proverbial fender when we got the capacity to make our own product. So we're having to deal with packaging issues. We're having to deal with getting our machinery up to standards because this is a good problem to have. It's sales or skyrocketing for us. Now, are you selling your candy in the grocery stores or just through your outlets? Both. And sea stores and mom and pop gift shops and hotel chains and corporate gifts and break rooms for large companies. So you really are creating a package goods brand that you want to try to build. So you look at your hard assets as a way to kind of build the brand. But the big idea for you in the future is really package goods and selling the product online. I'm curious about that because how do you bring the road trip idea to a package goods business? That's the long term plan. So the short term plan is I have to drive revenue. You can't have a company if you don't have money and capital. And so we had to make the company profitable. We first had to get out of debt and then we had to make the company profitable. And how I did that was just looking at the books and figuring out what drives our revenue. And I literally put on paper buckets of where we're getting our money. And I realized that our licensing slash what used to be a franchise program, that was a very modest amount of our revenue. The bulk of our revenue was from the sale of our product, which is why we bought the candy plant. And it's also a pecan shelling facility. So we make healthy snacks, pecan snacks as well. We have a full line of snack nuts. We were driving our revenue through the packaged goods. And so that's how we're getting the brand forward is by getting more retailers and also selling online for the product. And we can also control the quality. We can control the margins and we're now able to private label. So if we get in a grocery channel and the grocery store says, well, we'd like to have our public's brand or the whole foods brand and not the Stuckey's brand, well, we can make product for them because we're the manufacturer. How we sell the road trip is by being very brand forward in everything we do and constantly telling the story of the brand. To me, it's bigger than marketing. It's storytelling. So if you follow me on LinkedIn or on other social media posts, you'll see what I post about is road tripping, small town America, exploring this country and the brand is just part of that. But our displays look like little Stuckey stores. So we've got a really great display that's got our traditional sloped teal roof with a Stuckey's logo on the side and you really get the experience of visiting a mini Stuckey store. So we're trying to bring the Stuckey store to other businesses and create that sense of fun that you get from a road trip. And as you think about your licensees and your franchisees, they're kind of the business that you had in the past. And a lot of those outlets, I'm sure, aren't what you really want to have. So how are you rebuilding the brand with them? As I'm sure you've got some assets that need a paint job. We all see those kinds of issues in the restaurant business. How are you dealing with the franchisees or licensees to make that happen? So it's a real challenge. I'll be totally honest. This is my 3 a.m. problem. I'm doing what I can with what I've got for now while constantly trying to get more. So what I'm doing now is we've got a sales team. So we have sales reps who go out and visit the stores and they work with the licensees to help them improve the quality of their stores. We brand and market in a way that promotes the stores to get people excited about them. And we found that as more people start coming to the stores and start talking to the management, they realize that the brand is getting a refresh. It's coming back. So that sort of empowers the franchisees to get more excited about the brand. We're also doing what we can to give them like I referenced before. Display, signage, marketing, as much as we can within our budget. So that's my dealing with what my assets are on hand, my capacity now. What I'm also doing is constantly pitching, trying to get some financial investors and partners who might be interested in the brick and mortar aspect of the business . And I kiss a lot of frogs and I am persistent. I am not easily dissuaded. And a financial investor to me is like a partner. And I've learned so much from frankly kissing frogs that didn't turn into princess because I realized that a lot of the private equity just that's not a good fit for us. We're not a three to five year return on investment, flip the asset type of investment. We are a long term brand. It's the Warren Buffett School of Investment. You buy a company, you stick with it through the ups and downs. I want Warren Buffett as an investor, but I realize that is probably not realistic. But I actually am talking to someone who seems very encouraging, who seems to get the brand who might be interested in partnering with us to create what I have termed internally. And I also talk about it as the Stuckey's Oasis. So I have a plan for what the stores would look like moving forward. And it's a true experience. You would pull over. We would have coin operated amusement machines like Zoltar. By the way, I met the guy who makes Zoltar and I was super excited about that. So you really have a Stuckey store of the future in mind. But you haven't built it yet. So you're trying to get an investor to help you build that store. And then you'll build the rest of your business around that vision. Yes. But in the meantime, we're making it work, we're turning a profit. We went from about when I bought the company, we had less than 10 employees and we are approaching 150. And it hasn't even been two years. We're so different. I listen to your show a lot and you talk to companies that are Fortune 500 and thousands and tens of thousands of employees and billions of assets. And we're the scrappy comeback brand that is definitely punching above our weight. Yeah. Well, you've got a big challenge here. But it sounds like if you can get that store of the future and then you can build the package good side of the equation, you can end up with a real brand and you've made an acquisition that kind of gets you in the better for you arena with the, you call them pec ans. I come from the pecan world, not the pecan world, but it doesn't matter. I love pecans. They're great. So it seems like you got a lot of upside with this brand, but I am curious, you know, you come back into the fray, you buy the business. Now you've got franchisees, licensees to deal with. There's been no one to be found in the previous five, six years. So you jump back into their life. How have the franchisees and licensees embraced you? It's all over the board. We have some that frankly were not serving the brand and it was not a good fit. We've had to debrand a couple. I'm trying not to debrand them. One, just the financial reality. We needed the income. Two, I'm a big believer in trying to work with people and see if you can support them. That's always been my approach to management leadership is to work with people to bring out the best in them and give them the support that they need. And so many of them just need support. We're just working with them and making sure that they understand the direction which we're going. I went on a road trip when I first bought the company. I literally got in my car and of course COVID hit within three months, but I just started driving around the country and started meeting with them one on one. And they really appreciated that I took the time and I'd spent time in the stores. I sat in the stores just like what my grandfather did. I watched people. I watched how they interacted with the stores. I talked to them. I just go up to them and say, why don't you pull over at this store instead of the truck stop across the street? What interested you about Stuckey? What made you pull over? That's interesting because my number one priority was always to get out on the stores, find out what was really happening with the front line and the people that are closest to the customer. What would be the top three insights you picked up by doing that? The number one was that people knew the brand and that was the most encouraging and a little surprising because honestly, we are a dusty brand, but it's just been so rewarding to find out. I think with these nostalgic legacy brands, what you'll see is the people who are loyal to the brand are loyal. Another was, this was something my grandfather always pushed for, was proximity to the interstate. Just ease. People want what's easy and convenient. So if the Stuckeys happen to be located right when you pull over, that makes a difference. And here was something my grandfather did and it played out when I talked to people. They said, well, I saw these other cars out there. My grandfather used to get all the employees to park their cars out front, like way up front. And then he would just ask people, like, can you get your friends to park the cars here? So you're more likely to pull over at a business if their car's out front. And that's what people told me. They're like, yeah, I saw the cars out front. I love that. You know, that's what entrepreneurs do. They watch customers, they see the behavior and then they pull it off by doing exactly that. That's fantastic. You know, I count license plates. You'll see me in the parking lot reading of my competitors. I'll be in the parking lot looking at where they're from, what kind of cars are they? Do they have luggage? I'm real snoopy. I'm looking at them. I'm not a fan of my vacation. It's the family. You want to get a sense for who's stopping at your stores or at your competitor stores and why? You know, you said it up front, Stephanie. Now, you know, the Stucky, that's your name. You're now the leader of a family business. Tell us a little bit about your upbringing. So I would love to say I had this scrappy hard knock life. And I did not. I actually was very privileged. I am the fourth of five children. My dad got elected to Congress when I was a year old. And so we left Eastman, Georgia, our hometown. And I actually grew up in Washington, D.C. and went to an elite private school and grew up with Roosevelt's and Kennedy's and all sorts of politicians, kids. Roosevelt's Kennedy's and Stucky's, you know. So you're like the fourth out of five kids, so you weren't born number one. You're kind of like a middle child. I mean, did that motivate you in any way? Absolutely. Being, I am such a strong proponent for middle children being good leaders because, you know, someone said this to me once and I was offended at first. And then I thought, you know what, it's actually an advantage. She said, you got a bit of a chip on your shoulder. And I was like, no, I don't. And I was like, yeah, actually I kind of do. You feel like pay attention to me. You know, like I'm here. I'm putting my hand up. And so I think middle children sometimes feel like they have to work a little harder because we do. We're also more of consensus builders. And there's a bit of like goal on to get along, but then you also pair that with wanting attention. I think it's just the right mix. But Stucky's was nothing growing up in D.C. It was so nice because if I'd grown up in Eastman, Georgia, I would have had this false sense of being this P.K. Loggerall era is like, I was something bigger than what we are. No one should feel that way. And so I certainly didn't feel that way growing up. John Hines was in my class, you know, the ketchup fortune. Stucky's compared to Hines. Not in the same way. So it was good. But it sounds like you're pretty competitive though. Does that really drive you? I mean, it's like you're around all these big time families. That drive you at all or what drive you most? That or being the fourth of the fifth kid? I think being the fourth of the fifth kid and also seeing what happened to our brand, I think the Stucky story is unique in many ways. But one of the things that's most special about our brand and the only other company I'm aware of that has a similar story is Bell's, the department store, that it fell out of our hands and we had lost it for decades and we got it back. I mean, that is just such a motivating factor for me that we lost this and we 've got a chance to remake it. And I think how many people have a family brand that had a visionary founder and it fell out of the family hands and it lost the magic and they had a chance to bring it back. I get messages every single day, probably 10 a day from people who lost their family business and they say, I am rooting for you. Oh, that's great. We lost it and my grandfather's business was sold, my great grandfather's business was sold, it breaks my heart to see what happened. I want you to make it. That's great. And speaking of grandfathers, you've already talked a little bit about him. You have obviously had a lot of admiration for him and then you bought your business from your father where it sounds like Stucky's was kind of a stepchild, not a really a big deal. So how do you deal with your father today? Well, it's very interesting. So I will say the first six months were really rocky and not to get into too much detail, but I'm a lawyer by training and it really served me well during this period trying to negotiate the sale. The reason I bought the company, usually you're a three-year third generation of a family business, you don't have to pay for it. You inherit the business. But what happened with me is my dad had business partners. He had five business partners. So I initially bought out his business partners. They wanted to sell. My dad hung on to his shares. He had 51%. And those first six months were really hard. Everything I did, he was questioning. He's retired and he would call me from his lazy boy recliner on his FaceTime and just, "Why are you doing this? Why are you doing that?" You know, "Are you watching the bottom line? You've sent me the balance sheets." And I finally sat him down and I said, "I can have a father or I can have a business partner, but I can't have both." And it was really a huge sacrifice for me to take a complete career and life pivot at age 53 to buy this company. I said, "I will pivot back. I'll go back to what I was doing before. I still got my law degree. You have to sell to me." And he thought about it and he came back. And it got a little complicated. This is really where the law degree helped. He only outright owned 2%. The rest was in irrevocable trust. So I had to work with his trustee to make sure that it was a good decision to sell the assets. And at that point, I went to my dad at six months because that's when I turned a profit. And so I proved to him I could make the company profitable. And so from that moment on though, it's like, "I got my dad back." Well, that's great. You're bringing back stockings and you're bringing back your relationship. That's cool. I love that. And thanks for being so honest on that. And you mentioned you were a trial lawyer. How did that prepare you for what you're doing right now? I mean, I know you just mentioned that you got through the irrevocable trust issues. But what did being a trial lawyer do to get you ready to be this startup leader ? So not only was I a trial attorney, but I was actually a public defender for many years. And then I segued into a different area of law. I did environmental law. But both of those areas of law, I was always representing the underdog. I mean, definitely being a public defender, you do criminal defense law and you have to represent people who are often charged with some pretty heinous crimes. And what that experience taught me was in order to do that credibly, and I'm a big believer in being honest and forming an emotional connection, you have to form a connection with a jury if you're a trial lawyer. So in order to do that, I had to find something redeeming about my client. Sometimes that was hard. I had to figure out a way to connect with them. Well, that's the same thing, trying to sell your brand and appeal to customers. You have to learn how to relate to people. And if you buy a company that's in distress, that's in debt, you have to find something redeeming in that. And not only that, you have to be able to stand up and advocate for that zeal ously and passionately. And I learned that trying cases. That makes so much sense. I always felt it's so important when you go into tough situations that you round up and you trust in positive intentions. And you believe that what you have is really something very important. And another thing that I just love about your background is you served as a state representative for over a decade. What did that teach you? The same thing. I was passionate about the environment. And so a lot of my career in the Georgia legislature, 14 years, was advocating for environmental protection, clean air, clean land, water. I did a lot of advocacy work with minority communities. It was really interesting because of redistricting. I went from a district that was 97% white to 63% African American overnight and was drawn into a district where the head of the NAACP for that county was already actively campaigning and running to the seat. So I had to run against the president of the NAACP and a majority African American district. So I learned so much from politics, running those campaigns, just putting yourself out there. That was really, really hard for me. I remember going to black churches. I went as a kid with my dad actually when he was campaigning. And I would go in this church and this mega church in South Dakota, there'd be a thousand people and I would be the only white person. And I went to one and it was that big and the minister said, and we've got sister Stucky here. She wants to be your next state rep. We want her to come on up to the pulpit and say a few words. Talk about having to learn to talk quick on your feet. What I learned from that is getting out of my comfort zone. That was really getting out of my comfort zone. And guess what? I won. I won the election. Six more years after that and then I decided it's time to let someone else try their hand at democracy. I'm a big believer that you should not make politics or public service your career. Well I was wondering, you know, given your background that it makes sense. Now this is kind of maybe a stretch, but I'm getting okay. Stephanie goes out. She takes over Stucky. She brings back this great heritage brand. Now she's got even more visibility. Now she runs for president. No. I am definitely had a very atypical career. Usually you see people going from business to politics. I went from politics to business. I went into politics because I was passionate about the issues. I was passionate about the environment in particular. And I thought that there needed to be more of a voice for the underdog and the Georgia legislature, something I still feel. And I don't see myself going back to that. But I do see as I continue to support friends in politics, I do not mix dukies in politics. I definitely am an independent now. I ran on a partisan ticket, but I have learned when you transition to running a company. Republicans by P.K. Log rolls too. I really try to be fair-minded in my approach to politics now. And even when I was in office, I really viewed myself as the middle child and consensus builder. You know, now you're getting back to the Stuckey's brand. Innovation is the lifeblood of any business. And it's absolutely critical in the retail world that you're in. How do you think about Stuckey's in terms of innovation? And what have you done recently that you're really particularly proud of that's breaking new ground for the brand? It's hard for me to point to a lot of good examples given the short tenure. But I will say innovation-wise, what we're doing is not as customer forward, but as critical as I referenced earlier, sales are skyrocketing. And I'm really a student of brands that I admire. And I see what happens often is you get a visionary founder and they have a great idea. And they may not necessarily know how to scale that idea. And that's where I see entrepreneurs having the biggest challenges is how do you scale? And that's what we're dealing with right now. And in order to scale, I think you need capital, you need financial capital and human capital, but you need innovation. I really think it's like a three-legged stool to scale your brand or your business. And so what we've been doing, more behind the scenes to innovate is we're getting new equipment, we're working on an extruder machine, which is what spits out the n ougat in the center of candy. The amazing thing to me about the candy world is that a lot of equipment hasn't changed since that I love Lucy episode that everyone loves. Like so much of that, we have that same piece of equipment that you see on that episode. That is one of the funniest episodes. That's great. I can remember that one. That was filmed as C's candy, by the way, a Warren Buffett brand. But we're in the process of getting a new extruder and we've gotten some new pe can shelling machines. And these are six bigger machines. So for us to get the working capital to make sure that we can scale the operations pretty critical. So we've done that. And then we're not losing sight that there's still very much a human component to our food and our product. And I know it sounds hokey, but I really do think when there's candy that's made in part by hand, even in an industrial setting, you can taste the difference. And so we did hire, we really don't spend a lot of money on consultants. So when we do, we try to be extremely strategic, but we hired a team to come in and observe our operations and figure out how to make our teams more effective. We're doing some training. So our innovation has been machinery and streamlining efficiencies. That's great. You know, it's such a fascinating thing that you're having to create almost, you know, all this stuff basically from scratch. Now you've gone from three people to 105 people, I think you mentioned. Okay. Almost 150 during peak pecan season. We'll have that. Okay. So how do you think about culture and what kind of work environment are you trying to create with your team that's going to get you the kind of results that you're looking for? So culture is hard when you come into a company that frankly has been experiencing tough times. So not only did I acquire stockies that was experienced hard times, but then my business partner and I bought this pecan shelling and candy company that had been around since 1935 and has had two families own it. The second family's had it for 50 years. So here we come in and who are these people now running our company. And so I've really given culture a lot of thought. And one thing I've been very respectful of is to not come in like guns blazing like, here's our culture, here's my vision. We're going to revive the great road trip and I want you to buy into everything that I think and I've been extremely respectful to really get to know the people, get to understand the existing culture and get to know the people. So I think a lot of culture is just appreciating people having these small winds along the way where people feel like they're part of something. They have an opportunity not just to be the frontline candy worker that's working on the in-rober machine, but they can advance. You know, one of the things I've always found is no involvement leads to no commitment and that if you can get your people to help you define what that culture is in words that they can relate to, that's when you've really found the home run. Absolutely. It's just letting. So initially I am focusing on these small opportunities to build culture, build connection, build a team. So I moved down to Ren's, Georgia, where our candy plant is for a month. I rented a little farmhouse, I stayed out in the country and I've shopped where they shopped. I would see some of our employees at Peggy's Diner. You know, I just got to know the community and what their culture is and then I made sure I knew all the people's names who worked in the candy plant and then we did, this is something so small, but this is where I think there are lessons where you can build culture and not have these big, audacious gestures. I noticed in the shop one day, we have a little retail shop connected to the factory store. So one store we own and operate and we have these Stuckey hoodies and one of the employees was in there during her break and she was buying a hoodie and I said, don't pay for that hoodie. We'll take care of it. And then I thought, wait, if I get her a hoodie, I need to get everyone else a hoodie. So at our next all hands on deck meeting, I said, hey, we're getting everyone a hoodie and then someone standing next to me said, can we get our names on it? I'm like, yeah, and you're getting your names on it. They were so excited. And, you know, it's cold in a food processing facility. They have to crank up the air condition. So you need a hoodie even in South Georgia in the summer. I've got a Blake Shelton voice hoodie that I put on every time I'm playing voice with my grandkids. Yeah. I think that's terrific. I love it. Stephanie, this has been so much fun and I want to have a little bit more by doing a lightning round of Q and A with you. Are you ready for this? I'm ready. Okay. What are three words that best describe you? Persistent. Optimistic. Scrappy. If you could be one person for a day beside yourself, who would it be and why? Oh my gosh, that's so easy. I am a huge Dolly Parton fan. I would love to be Dolly for a day. Well, she's scrappy. She can as scrappy. You found her. There you go. So what's your biggest pet peeve? Oh gosh, that's easy. This drives me crazy. People who come to you with problems or complaining and haven't thought about how to solve it or some other course like, okay, this isn't working. Here's how we can make it work or here. Here's how we can pivot and do this other thing that would be better. But just complainers who don't help problem solve. Tell us something about you that few people would know. I'm fluent in French. Wow. So where would you rather go today? Paris, Texas or Paris, France? I'd rather go to Paris, Texas, but I... Oh, come on. I do. Come on. A small town. You know, it's interesting. I lived in France for a year as a French major in college and I lived in excellent provost. I chose a small town and I learned the language. If you go to Paris, it's like any big city. Oh yes, I love Paris. I've been like 20 times, but it's a big city and you don't really get to connect with the people like you do in a small town. And the south of France, the provost region, the people are so wonderful and warm and the food's amazing. I speak the language and... So you're sticking with road trip to Paris, Texas, because you're a road trip jumping out. Yeah. Now I've road tripped in the south of France too. You just have to learn how to drive those little cars. So what's your favorite highway? Route 66. And what's your favorite roadside stop? The sides of Stuckey's. I'm debating between south of the border. I think I'm going to say south of the border. I was about to say like the world's largest belt buckle because that was pretty fun. That's in Uranus, Missouri and they have like all these attractions there. But I'll go with south of the border because that's run by a third generation family member. Uranus, Missouri. Now that's a new one. So what's your favorite Stuckey's product? Pecan Logroll. That's it. Yes. I eat them. I absolutely love them. You slice them like pate. You can serve them with a little toothpick with the frills on top. It makes a great appetizer. And what would be three bits of advice you'd give to aspiring leaders? Work hard. Always step up to the plate. Can I tell a quick story? I know this is like a pound. Absolutely. I, so because thinking about aspiring leaders and young people, I've been so fortunate to have been mentored but also to have the opportunity to mentor people. And when I was head of sustainability for the city of Atlanta, I had a woman who was entry level project manager and she was always, always volunteering to do stuff . And she came to me one day and she said, why don't we have an intern program? And I said, well, we did, but it was so much work to manage the interns. I don't have the time. We don't have the time. And I didn't feel like it was rewarding to either side. And she said, I want to do that. I want to run the intern program. And I said, okay, you can do it. And I just kind of like said, all right. And that literally forgot about it. And then a month later, I walk into the office and there are like 20 people in the office. I'm like, what is all this? And they're like, it's the intern program. It's the kickoff program. Oh, and the mayor's coming by to get welcoming remarks. I'm like, what? She created this whole program. We had 20 interns. She had a syllabus. She had trips planned. She got sponsors to treat them for lunch once a week for lunch and learns. Suddenly every department head was coming to me saying, how did you do this? And I'm like, her name's Yo Rung G. She's amazing. She's a total superstar. But I love that she not only volunteered. She came to me and said, I want to do this. Can I do this? So just step up to the plate, offer to do stuff. You'd be amazed how often your boss will say, yeah, okay, you know, and not even think about it and realize like she was really onto something. That was the best program. So the third bit of ice, have fun. Don't take yourself too seriously. Whenever I get stressed out, I tell myself, it's just candy. It's candy. That's great. We're selling rubber alligators and kundskikats. Have fun. I love it. And what advice would you give to others on how to make a family business work? Because you've been through the gamut, it seems like. Often family businesses have too much pressure on them to carry on the family lineage. And I think part of what I want to instill because I do talk to a lot of other family businesses. I want to say just relax, sometimes it doesn't have to be a family member who runs a company. So there's ownership and there's management. And I'm already thinking about the next generation. Obviously my son and my daughter may not be the right people to run the company and that's going to be okay. So I would just say, don't get so tied down that it has to be a family member because sometimes that's the worst thing you can do. You want someone who really, really wants it. I really wanted it. And I really wanted it because we lost it. You want it as he's to be giving you a lot of joy. Yes, you have to want it. And if it's just handed to you and it's given to you like an obligation, you're not going to have that joy. And that will permeate in everything you do with the company. Just don't get so tied to the fact that it has to be someone with the last name , Stucky or the last name Hines or the last name Sanders, right? You know, Stucky, I love how you decided to take on this big challenge. And I love how it's energizing you. I really appreciate you taking the time to have this conversation with me. Well, thank you. I'm a big fan. So pleasure is mine. You know, one of the things I've always seen is, you know, you mentioned that I do podcasts with these big huge companies, which I do, right? But I've always learned that, you know, it takes the same kind of thinking, the same kind of diligence to run a small business that is really successful. It's just there aren't as many zeros next to it, you know, but to get to those zeros, you got to do the same things no matter how big the business is. Wow. Thank you. That really made my day to hear that. I think in many ways it's, well, I wouldn't say it's harder. It's just the challenges are different if you're a small scrappy comeback brand because I don't have this big team. Yeah, I was a corporate manager. So I had a team. I had a CFO that I could turn to. You know, I had my skills, but I was surrounded by all kinds of excellence and resources. You know, when you're building this business from scratch like you are, you're turning over problems every single day. And then you got to solve those problems and you don't have an army of people to go to solve them. You got to solve most of them yourself. It's not surprising to me that you've taken this business and made it profitable and now growing it and you got huge upside ahead and I want to congratulate you on all your success and keep it going. We'll be rooting for you. Thank you. I really appreciate it. I'm grateful. Well, that conversation has a lot of insight is so easy to get stuck in the old way of doing things, even if they're not working anymore. But if you believe in what you're doing just like Stephanie does, you will be willing to take on the status quo and try new things. You have to bring new ideas to the table and fight for what you believe in. When you heard Stephanie's story, was there a particular part of your business that came to mind? Something your team or company does that may be broken and needs to be refreshed? What I want you to do this week is to take the first step towards improving that process or that product. Whatever comes to mind. So do you want to know how leaders lead? What we learned today is that great leaders are willing to reimagine their brand or their company and then do something about it. So go do something this week. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of How Leaders Lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be. [BLANK_AUDIO] [ Silence ]