‘A’ players attracting ‘A’ players at Ben B. Schwartz

Ben B. Schwartz & Sons has more than a century worth of experience as a dependable name in the produce industry. Led by owners Jake and Drew Billmeyer, who took over the reins from their father, Chris Billmeyer, the company is a mainstay on the Michigan Produce Terminal in Detroit.

Part of the success is knowing when to bring in new and strong talent, and that’s something Ben B has been exceptional at.

Both Jake and Drew are Ross School of Business grads, so know how to spot and attract A-list talent. For instance, in 2020, they brought on Bill Loupée as COO. He brought a decade of supply chain experience to Ben B., specifically in logistics, technology and building high performing teams. He previously worked at Sonwil Logistics, where he led the company to 400-percent top line growth over four years.

In 2022, the company brought on Jordan Grainger as vice president of sales and business development. He had more than a decade worth of sales and procurement expertise from Castellini Co.

A year later, Ben B. added Ryan Elfline as CFO. With more than 10 years of controller and financial analysis experience, he helped the company immediately with his ideas.

Over the years, the company has made numerous key new hires from Marano, Castellini Co., GXO, Evans Distribution and more.

The new employees are bolstering technological capabilities resulting in best-in-class service and on-time delivery, developing proprietary transportation management system, adding real-time tracking of inbound/outbound product to improve the customer experience, and instituting tablet-based sales order entry.

“Our company has grown over the last year by bringing in the right team members, new customer acquisitions, adding SKUs and increasing our service levels to our current customers,” Grainger said. “We expect to continue our year-over-year growth with the team we have in place now and the future hires we onboard.”

When bringing in new people, company leadership looks for those possessing a good attitude, intellectual maturity, competitive drive and reliably autonomous.

“It excites me to work alongside colleagues who are both tremendously smart and experienced at other companies — both inside and outside of the produce industry,” Loupée said. “Our diverse backgrounds mean everyone can contribute at a high level and push each other to think more strategically about how we’re improving Ben B. Schwartz each day.”

After all, he noted, the team is everything when creating a winning environment.

“We’re much stronger as a collective than we are as individuals,” Loupée said. “We celebrate each other’s successes and support each other on new projects. When our team is solidly aligned and performing at a high level, it results in the best possible experience for our customers.”

Many of the new faces are part of the younger generations, which are important for building a different perspective about the industry.

“They’re not jaded by the way things are or were, or what has or hasn’t worked in the past,” Loupée said. “We’re lucky enough at Ben B. to have a core of relatively early career leadership. We’re willing to try new things, fail fast, and use those micro failures to fuel macro success.”

People are drawn to Ben B. because of its stability as a 115-year-old company and its commitment to success.

“We have people in key positions here who have a thirst for learning and are very unsatisfied with the status quo,” Loupée said. “It makes coming into work every day very fulfilling when we’re consistently discussing new initiatives, innovative ideas how we best serve our customers, and how we create an engaging environment for our staff.”

Photo: Jake Billmeyer and Drew Billmeyer