Brother and Sister Determined to Keep Good Company

A brother-sister business has its drawbacks--because too often, the business turns personal, experts say.

Steffani Corri Dolivo, 32, president and owner of Generation Foods, and her salesman brother Scott Corri, 36, acknowledge that their business partnership has sometimes been rocky. But they put up with the squabbling because deep down each one knows the other “will work diligently for you and with you,” said Steffani.

Scott and Steffani said they joined forces three years ago out of genuine admiration for each other’s business skills.

Most siblings have special bonds, but in this case, the bonds may be even stronger because of early hardships.

After their parents split up, the four Corri children were left with their grandparents. But their grandfather died unexpectedly. The family was thrown into chaos, the children were often left unattended, and none finished high school.

Oldest brother Steve, now 41, was the role model for the others. Fifteen years ago, he became the owner of Garvey Nut and Candy, a candy distribution company in city of Commerce--not bad for a guy who started off hawking bee pollen out of his car to natural food stores.

Steve recruited his siblings--Scott, Sterling and Steffani--to work alongside him. After a few years, Sterling, a candy buyer who’s now 34, received a 10% stake in the firm. The company grew from $800,000 in annual sales to an estimated $40 million today.

The siblings say their childhood, as difficult as it was, instilled the qualities that helped them becomes entrepreneurs: independence, an understanding that life is frequently difficult, and a tenacity and will to survive and succeed.

“We all decided we were going to be somebody,” said Scott.

Added Steffani: “Through all the adversity, we’ve taken that energy and channeled it. Our main goal was to make money.”

Now Steffani and Scott are trying to use the Corri spirit to make Encino-based Generation Foods a force in the candy and specialty soft drink business, no small challenge in industries dominated by household brands such as Hershey and Coca-Cola.

Steffani enlisted Scott as her top deputy because she admired his aggressive selling style and knew he would deliver. She also knew she could push him when necessary because of their close bond.

“When he’s here, I ride him pretty hard,” she said.

But the glue that binds them--family--also makes for a free-wheeling environment in which Scott feels comfortable bluntly expressing what’s on his mind, sometimes at high decibels.

Family business expert Craig Aronoff, a professor at Kennesaw State University in Marietta, Ga., and author of “Making Sibling Teams Work,” said one of the characteristics of family businesses are intense emotional connections.

“When it’s working well, that gives you tremendous motivation and commitment,”’ he said. “When it’s not working well, it can lead to horrible conflict.”

In Generation Foods’ early days, for example, Scott and Steffani got into what she now describes as a “major blowout” because of the company’s then four-week lead time for delivery of goods to customers. Too long, in Scott’s opinion. And he complained vociferously to Steffani, trying to pressure her to add workers to speed the process.

“Things just don’t happen that quickly,” said Steffani. “He didn’t understand.”

What would it be like if they weren’t brother and sister? “There wouldn’t be the yelling and screaming,” she said. “That’s the difference.”

Steffani said it’s a struggle not to let business disputes become personal. She knows that from experience.

For 13 years, she worked as a manager at Garvey Nut and Candy--setting up computer systems and overseeing the books, working with Scott and Sterling.

Long-simmering tensions between Steffani and Sterling about the office environment bubbled over one day, resulting in what both described as a physical fight between the two.

Soon afterward, Steffani was out the door and living in the Bay Area. Eventually, she and Scott--who had also left Garvey--decided to build a new business together.

Steve had lured Steffani back to Southern California to oversee J&H; Food and Beverage Co., a small firm he co-founded that made a splash in the early 1990s with an herbal-spiked soft drink line.

It drew press attention with its pop culture-hip names--such as Black Lemonade, Brain Wash and DOA--and wacky graphics. The company also produced specialized soda for rock bands, such as Motley Brue for the band Motley Crue.

Sensing that her brother Steve was growing weary of the business pressure, Steffani offered to buy J&H;’s assets. With a loan from a well-heeled former colleague, Steffani lined up the initial capital to buy its soft drink and candy lines and set up shop.

Initially, wanting to project a hip, counterculture image, Steffani switched the company’s name to Eat Me Now Inc., a play on a line from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” But later, as the company tried to establish itself in the mainstream food industry, Steffani realized she should deep-six the Eat Me Now name for the sedate Generation Foods.

Chiefly through Scott’s salesmanship, Generation Foods has sold its candy line into the 7-Eleven and Circle K convenience stores, big steps for the small firm that had previously sold its goods chiefly at specialty shops.

Steffani and Scott decline to reveal annual sales today, but say it has grown several times since its 1996 level of $300,000. It’s also developed a number of new candy products, such as Jack Black’s Pirate Gold Gum, which turns mouths blue; Crave, a sour powder in a plastic tube; and Melt Down, liquid candy with a gummy worm.

The company has also struck a deal with Hot Rod magazine to make and sell a line of candies and soft drinks bearing the enthusiast magazine’s name.

And siblings who have bitter falling-outs can come together again.

Steffani and Sterling patched up their differences several years ago. Sterling, now the owner of Botanical Habitats, a South Carolina-based maker of gift potpourri, has a deal in which Generation Foods assists the company in building its national distribution network.

“Steffani and I are probably closer now than we ever have been,” he said.

As Generation Foods plots its future, Steffani seems firmly committed to keeping her family in the business, despite the potential pitfalls.

It’s worth it, she feels. “You know when you argue you’re going to be there the next day,” she said.