BUSINESS PULSE : SMALL BUSINESS IN ORANGE COUNTY : SMALL BUSINESSES, BIG DREAMS : Fleeing the Corporate World : Dana Karcher, Refugee From Big Firm, Builds His Own Enterprise
Dana Karcher, 36-year-old scion of one of Orange County’s best-known family businesses, is a corporate refugee.
Karcher is the son of Donald Karcher, president of the Carl’s Jr. fast-food chain. Despite the obvious opportunities at Carl Karcher Enterprises in Anaheim, he decided at an early age he wanted to make it on his own.
So he became a certified public accountant and joined an Orange County accounting firm. But it didn’t provide the fulfillment he was seeking.
“I wanted to get out and get involved in the decision making and the operations,” he said. “I wasn’t being stimulated by looking at what others were doing. I wanted a hands-on career, and I figured it would take me 10 to 15 years to get there staying with CPA firms.”
Karcher thought he could accelerate the process by leaving the world of accounting for the world of private business. He jumped when a fellow named Frank Feitz called his accounting firm and asked if anyone knew of a candidate to become chief financial officer of a small but growing company.
Karcher joined Feitz’ company, American Businessphones Inc., as vice president for finance in December, 1983. At the time, the Irvine business telephone systems firm had 100 employees and annual sales of $9 million. When he left in late 1987, it had 315 employees and was well on its way to posting sales of $30 million.
Still Wasn’t Satisfying
Karcher jumped ship because being on the financial side of a company still wasn’t satisfying his desire for hands-on management and decision-making ability.
So he cashed in his stock and options and went shopping for a business to buy.
“I wanted something service-oriented,” he said, “something that would satisfy my need to be able to build a business and look at it and say, ‘I did that.’ ”
About the only thing he ruled out was a fast-food restaurant. Karcher has nothing against that business, but he had intentionally passed up Karcher Enterprises. “I didn’t want people to say that I was trading on family and connections,” he said. “I wanted to do it on my own.”
A business broker brought him the deal that he and his wife, Jeanne, finally signed: a 6-year-old stationery and copy shop in Irvine in need of a little care and attention.
Like many small-business owners--especially those fleeing the corporate world--the kind of business wasn’t all that important to Karcher. He sees himself as a versatile manager, and what counts is the opportunity to build and operate a successful organization.
“In the stationery and office supply business, like most businesses, what you’re really selling is service and convenience,” he said. “The big office clubs and warehouses compete on price, but we can offer personalized service that they can’t.”
In the year since buying the store, the Karchers have seen revenue increase about 50%, he said. They are thinking about acquiring a second location.
Karcher said his biggest mistake since going into business for himself was to push too hard to diversify.
Eight months ago, the Karchers purchased a small office supplies distributorship, also in Irvine. The distributorship is losing money and sucking up a sizable portion of the profits from the stationery and copying business.
“I didn’t look at it hard enough.” he said. “The price was right, so we closed the deal.”
It turned out the price was right because the business was suffering, and Karcher hasn’t been able to turn it around in the ensuing 8 months. But he’s confident he will.
The bottom line, he said, is that he and his wife want to create something that will enable them and their four children to live a comfortable life, something that “will reflect well” on the Karcher name.
“We don’t want to make millions, and we have no plans to grow huge.” he said. “We just want to do it ourselves.”
