Vincent HoSang started a fried chicken fast food business in the Bronx in 1978 that became the largest Jamaican food manufacturer in the world. Transforming a business requires attention to the marketplace and a willingness to take risks, according to business owners slated to speak at the Transformation Conference luncheon presented by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Westfair Communications on May 19.
HoSang, along with Noah Lapine, president of Lapine, a Stamford-based brand performance agency, and Rodica Ceslov, a strategy and transformation expert, will join John D. Bassett III, author and chairman of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co., at the event at the Whitby Castle. The speakers will tell their stories and offer advice to the business community.
Basset, the keynote speaker, will sign copies of his new book, “Making it in America: A 12-point Plan for Growing Your Business and Keeping Jobs at Home” at the event. He started a new furniture business after being pushed out of the family business, Bassett Furniture, and successfully changed an industry practice of pricing exports to the U.S. below the cost of their materials.
Bassett said his prescriptions for management include a winning attitude, a fearless leader, avoiding panic, strong communication and change.
“You”™ve got to be willing to change and improve. Again and again and again.”
HoSang said continuing to innovate and using automated technology to be more efficient has helped him succeed. He also advised those opening a business to have enough capital to last at least a year. He said when he opened his first fried chicken, he did not break even for six months.
“While you”™re trying to introduce the product you still have to pay the bills,” he said.
He also advises owners to know their market. When HoSang”™s business evolved to include Jamaican patties and baked goods, the food was originally targeted to the growing, but still small, Caribbean population. He eventually expanded to the crossover market, which now makes up the majority of his customers. And he invested in creating technology to make his food microwavable, which opened the business up to new clientele.
Lapine, owner of a third-generation family-owned business in Stamford, said companies need to question the status quo and seek strategies to grow. He said it is a red flag if someone does something a certain way because that is how it”™s always been done. Lapine said companies should respect how they got to where they are today but allow room for change and expansion.
“If we can hold on to the idea that we”™re a 50-year-old startup, that”™s the right balance,” he said.
His grandfather started Lapine in 1962 as a regional manufacturer”™s representative firm. It shifted into an agency serving some of the world”™s most recognized consumer brands. The company has continued to evolve over time to meet changing customer needs and adjust to external factors, such as major retailers closing in the 1990s, which resulted in the loss of 13 of their 15 top customers, the financial crisis in 2008 and the rise of social media.
“A willingness to look outside our four walls and listen and change if change was merited has always been a part of us,” Lapine said.
A bronze sponsor of the event is law firm Wilson Elser. To register for the event, visit westfaironline.com/transformation.
