FOXcast Skippering the Family Enterprise with Purpose and Foresight with Ted Rich
Today, I'm especially honored to welcome Ted Rich, Chief Growth Officer for Rich Products, a family-owned food company with annual sales of over $6B and a market-leader in a number of food categories, including cakes, icings, pizza, appetizers, and specialty toppings. In this position, Ted leads companywide demand-creation strategies to accelerate growth and expansion in priority markets and segments across the globe. He is also a member of Rich's Executive Team and Board of Directors where he serves on the Finance and Audit Committee.
In 2020, Ted established the Rich Family Council for the family-owned business where he serves as the council head. Since joining Rich's in 1995, Ted has held various associate and customer-facing roles, including Executive Vice President of Organizational Excellence, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience and Europe/Middle East region leader, Regional Sales Manager of Foodservice; Strategic Sourcing Leader of Procurement; and Vice President of Toppings and Icings in North America, to name just a few.
Before joining Rich's, Ted worked for the Seattle Supersonics NBA team as a sales manager and also held positions with North West Parent Publishing in Seattle and Travers-Schutte & Company Advertising in Buffalo, NY. He currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Education Policy Committee on the Culinary Institute of America's Board of Directors and supports the Institute's mission to provide the world's best professional culinary education. Ted and his family are family office members of FOX, and we are thrilled to have them as valued members of our FOX community.
We start with the amazing journey of the Rich family and the iconic company Ted's family has now owned and operated for 80 years. Ted shares the story and path of the family business and the broader family enterprise over the past 8 decades.
Governance is an evergreen topic among family enterprises and family offices, and certainly a frequent topic for families and advisors within the FOX community. Ted talks about his family's governance evolution, highlighting when formal governance became a necessity and how the family went about establishing these structures, both for the business and for the broader family enterprise.
One practical tool Ted recommends to fellow families and their multigenerational enterprises is planning forward. He describes the multi-year planning process and discipline his family has employed throughout their shared journey and outlines some of the specific steps, methods, and tools they have relied on to always have a long-term, forward-looking view of where the family enterprise is going.
The Rich family leadership has embraced the principle of inclusivity. Ted talks about how they have operationalized this belief in inclusivity and describes the various processes and structures that have been instrumental to bringing more family members into the journey and ensuring strong engagement with the rising generations.
Do not miss this exclusive and highly educational conversation with a distinguished family principal and leader of one of the most storied and successful family enterprises in America.