Be Better, Be Different: Meet All Star Services

Nov. 21, 2024
Learn how All Star Services thrives as an independent operator by prioritizing family, team and innovation.

“Be different than what everybody else is doing, and be better than you were yesterday.”

Those words, though spoken by the company’s vice president of sales and marketing, encapsulate the approach that the entire team at All Star Services has embraced to forge a winning path. This third-generation vending, office coffee service and micro markets operator flourishes in Michigan thanks to its familial bonds and collaborative partnerships.

All Star Services is born

All Star got its start in 1963 as the vending division of Coca-Cola Bottling of Port Huron, led by William "Bill" Kreger. The business was successful, but a significant change was coming.

Suzanne, Bill Kreger's daughter, had married an up-and-coming executive with Coca-Cola, whose advancements in the company warranted frequent moves across the country. Their first son Duncan was born in Pittsburgh, and their son Devin was born in Utah. Yet what Suzanne Smith wanted most was to be closer to family and to return to her Michigan roots.

That was made possible when Bill Kreger sold the Coca-Cola bottling rights and invited his son-in-law, Jeff Smith, to run the newly independent vending operation, All Star Services. In 1987, just before Jeff and Suzanne's daughter Caroline was born, the young family returned to Michigan and began to grow All Star Services.

“It was a very small operation, and through a lot of crazy, fun stories, relentless cold calling and some great acquisitions, Jeff was instrumental — with some great team members along the way —in growing All Star,” said Jon Holden, All Star’s vice president of sales and marketing.

Today, although Suzanne Smith, All Star's owner, and Jeff Smith, All Star's CEO, come into the office most days, the third generation is at the helm of day-to-day operations for the All Star team. Duncan Smith joined All Star in 2000 and is the company president. Devin Smith is vice president of technology and oversees the equipment and new technology for All Star. Caroline Holden serves as director of office coffee services and handles procurement. Rounding out the company leadership is Jon Holden, Caroline’s husband, who handles sales and marketing as well as the company’s efforts to support products from Michigan.

Good partners are key to success

The company has evolved steadily since its early days, through both acquisitions and organic growth.

“All Star really grew quickly through the 70s, 80s and early 90s through acquisition,” said company president Duncan Smith. “We made 11 acquisitions in little over 20 years. We haven't made one in well over a decade now, but if the opportunity arose for us to do it, we'd always look at it.”

The primary driver behind All Star’s organic growth is collaborative partnerships — a thread that connects so many aspects of its business.

“We don't look for deals, we look for partnerships — with our clients that we support, and our suppliers that work with us,” Duncan said. “We're not interested in anything short-term. Everything is long-term strategic vision.”

The company’s core values — partnering with the right suppliers and customers, creating a positive work environment by focusing on their employees continuously, and finding ways to do things better — serve as the bedrock upon which the company’s success is based.

“Those three things have been the core that we’ve built on almost a decade now, I don't think we're changing those anytime soon,” Duncan said.

One key partner that All Star points to is its participation with GlobalConnect, a consortium of independent food service companies in North America. As members of GlobalConnect, All Star offers all its customers the USConnectMe Loyalty and Rewards Program via its cashless payment system.

The program allows All Star to offer promotions on snacks, beverages and food in its vending machines and markets. Customers earn points from purchases that can be redeemed for future purchases. In addition, 1.5% of US Connect loyalty sales are donated to the customer’s charity of choice.

Growing from challenges

Any company in the industry for 60 years, as All Star has been, has felt the economic booms and busts. How has the company been able to weather those changes?

“The goal for us is always to have long-term vision — to keep our mission and vision in mind when making decisions. But those decisions are never, always 100% correct,” Duncan said. “One of the reasons why I think we've been able to grow is we're not afraid to say we're wrong and change course. The other is when we adapt, we adapt quickly to the industry changes, whether it's through technology or changes in services, whatever it may be.”

Challenges such as the recent pandemic have only served to underscore their core values and how All Star goes to market. “It made us realize that our economy is not invincible. And when that pandemic hit and our revenue dropped to 30% of what it was yesterday, that was scary. But it made us stronger. I'll tell you why: Because our managers, the people leading this company, never wavered,” he said.

“We gave our team [the confidence that] nothing is going to stop this company from being here in the future, not even a pandemic. That helped drive our message of a positive workforce — a positive work environment, employee morale and putting employees first —through our team. Our team came out stronger, more cohesive than it ever was before.”

A strong team drives success

Speak to any of the company leaders, and you will soon see how each is quick to point out the key role that their team plays in its success.

“We're currently at 80 employees. As we've grown, we've added along the way. We focus on promoting from within and starting that growth to leadership the day that someone walks in the door. We try to identify future leaders in the interview process, whether it's through just natural feeling, or even asking the question. We put them on a track to help them grow to become the next leaders, the next generation of our organization.” Duncan said.

“Right now, we have a really strong group of operational managers that all came up through the ranks and are managing the jobs that they were hired for originally. It's a real collaborative effort. It's helped with our morale and the positive workforce that we've talked about for years, and we've focused on,” Duncan said.

“It's our team — our HR manager and the operations folks — that take that message from us —from Jon, from Caroline, from Devin, from Duncan — that we want to be a positive work environment, and we want to have a place where people want to work.

“They carried it forward, based on the growth they have and the knowledge they have of working with us, and our vision. So, we’re real proud of what they've done and the work environment we've created,” he added.

Having such a strong team also helps insulate All Star from some of the workforce shortages that have plagued other operators. “I wouldn't say lined up at the door, but we have a lot of employee referrals for employment here because it's a good place to work,” Duncan said.

“As you hear of industry struggles — or other industries struggle with employment just in general — we have not had one issue with employment since the pandemic. Whenever we have an opening, we fill it within reason. I firmly believe that's because of the work environment we've created here.”

Sidebar: Partnering with made-in-Michigan creators

One of the unique aspects of All Stars business is its partnerships with Michigan CPG firms. It grew out of the pandemic, when Jon Holden asked himself, “What can I do as a leader of a local Michigan company to help strengthen our local and state economy?”

What has resulted are unique partnerships such as All Stars’ work with emerging brands. “Why wouldn't we be providing as many Michigan-made things as we can [to our customers]? That has put us down a really exciting path. We've always done business with — and always had partnerships — with some of the larger Michigan brands like Faygo beverages and Uncle Ray's potato chips,” said Jon Holden.

“More recently, within the last four or five years, we've started partnering with really small Michigan snack startups. To collaborate and partner with companies that are smaller and emerging in Michigan is awesome — not only for our clients, but for us — because we get to be a small part of that company's growth story.”

In some cases, that has meant All Star has found creative solutions such as when they realized one of its made-in-Michigan partners was located near a coffee client, allowing All Star to add a stop at the Chunk Nibbles facility to pick up products for distribution.

“Now Chunk Nibbles has multiple distribution deals with major partners and has had explosive from going viral on TikTok,” Holden said. “Is just a really great feeling for us because we know how hard it is to be successful as a local family-owned company. And so anytime that we can partner with people to help them grow and to bring an awesome product to all of our clients out there, it's a really cool thing.”

All Star’s partnerships with Michigan makers reflect and reinforce their core values yet help take the company one step further. “One of the things I always try to keep in mind is to be different ­— be different than what everybody else is doing and be better than you were yesterday,” Holden said. “And so, by giving ourselves that point of differentiation with our U.S. Connect rewards program and our made in Michigan…we're providing a different experience to our customers.”

Sidebar: A union shop in Michigan

Being based in Michigan, a labor union stronghold and the birthplace of the U.S. automotive industry means that All Star’s labor mix is unlike other operators.

“A lot of times I'll talk to other operators, and they'll be very shocked about our union shop,” Holden said. All Star has been part of the Teamsters since its inception as a Coca-Cola franchise. All field personnel — service technicians, route drivers, coffee drivers, warehouse staff and utility staff — are unionized.

“We talk about partnerships, and I look at the Teamsters as a partner of ours,” said Duncan Smith.

“I know all family-owned businesses say this, but we really look at our entire team — top to bottom — and every employee as part of the family. We're a company. We're doing cool things together,” Duncan continued.

“Our team are very well compensated for the work that they're doing because they're doing awesome work. Being a family business certainly has its challenges, but continually work together at every level to overcome those challenges,” he concluded.

About the Author

Linda Becker | Editor-in-Chief

Linda Becker is editor-in-chief of Automatic Merchandiser and VendingMarketWatch.com. She has more than 20 years of experience in B2B publishing, writing, editing and producing content for magazines, websites, webinars, podcasts, newsletters and eBooks, primarily for manufacturing and process engineering audiences. Since joining Automatic Merchandiser and VendingMarketWatch.com, Linda has developed a new appreciation for the convenience services industry and the essential role it plays. She is dedicated to serving readers by covering the latest news in the vending, office coffee service and micro market industry. She can be reached at 262-203-9924 or [email protected].

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