It was exciting to walk among the various booths at the recent Specialty Food Show in San Diego, where many eager entrepreneurs shared their new products and stories, hoping for interest in their brands and support for their growth.
By observation, so many of those whose enthusiasm “twinkled” were families, husbands supporting their wives, wives supporting their husbands, children supporting their parents-the cutest being Gina at Stellar’s Snacks, dressed as a snack bag. And there was Len Gonzales sharing his mother’s delicious chocolate recipe at Galleon Chocolate, Nicki Schroeder, successful entrepreneur, and founder of Yax Snacks with the loyal support of her husband, Jeff Spivak and his high school sweetheart by his side serving the absolute best smoked salmon at his Arthhaus BBQ booth, Andrew Sitati and his family sharing their macadamia products from Kenya in their Elgon Nutsbooth, to Audrey and Oxana Zubko with their unique and healthy Australian manuka products under their BioSota brand, mother-daughter team Rebecca and Jolie Brady – creators of the newest SOFI award-winning crackers TopSeedz, and of course farm families like Uhlorn Family Farms and Food Dudes, both in Idaho, knowing their products from field to table.
These families work diligently together, likely for endless hours, sharing the trials and tribulations as well as the glorious satisfaction of their successes, knowing their efforts will benefit those who add their products to their pantries and to their lives.
Throughout history, husband-and-wife teams and family businesses have been the pinnacle of many cultures. From sociological to ecological to economic perspectives, the interrelationship among individuals, their relatives, and their communities has shaped the evolution of culture, the development of business models, and the growth of various industrial sectors. Adam & Eve, possibly the first agricultural partnership, led to the family farms. In America, according to the USDA, family-owned farms accounted for 95% of U.S. farms in 2025, ranging from small farms (85%) to large-scale family farms with sales of $1M or more, which make up less than 4% of the total but produce 51% of ag products.
In America, 27% of businesses are family-owned. The diversity of family businesses and their revenue ranges from Walmart, with sales of $559B and owned by the Walton family, to Tyson Foods, with sales of $43B, to Nike, with sales of $37B. By region, Idaho has the highest concentration of family businesses at 39%, and the lowest is in New York at 20%.
With my admiration of the family businesses I met at the Expo, the consistent qualities I observed were an innate loyalty and trust, the commitment to long term success, the willingness to overcome all odds- as a team, the personal relationships with their customers, the possible goal of the succession of a family legacy and at the end of the day, the intention to persevere.
However, there are challenges too. There’s the 21st-century concept of work-life balance that is challenged when family needs and business lives intertwine. There can be conflict, and one side or the other takes a hit, leading to burnout and stress. Family personal conflicts and emotions can flow into business operations, affecting decision-making and group cohesion. There can be a lack of necessary skills to build and succeed, and an aversion to listening to others.
I prefer to take a step back and recall, with enjoyment, the conversations with each of these family-owned companies. Sure, they faced challenges and envisioned their success with every new contact. But what made this observation the new business rom-com… was their secret sauce: their love.
We are here to help put that secret sauce back into any business and endeavor, and like every good rom-com, there is always a happy ending.
Gillian