Lyman Orchards, now entering its 10th generation of family ownership, this year celebrates 275 years of progressive stewardship of the agribusiness founded by John Lyman and his wife, Hope, in 1741. Today, the 37-acre parcel the founders purchased in the heart of Connecticut has grown to 1,100 acres, and the enterprise is one of America’s oldest family companies. The property supports a diverse range of businesses guided by a progressive hybrid family/non-family management structure.
“Protect the land” is the Lyman family’s mantra. To understand how the land shapes their family business, it helps to drive through the Middlefield, Conn., property, located midway between Hartford and New Haven. You’ll pass forested hillsides and rolling meadows, well-tended apple orchards and strawberry fields, expansive golf courses designed by two of the biggest names in the game, often-photographed corn and sunflower mazes, the Apple Barrel market and the historic Gothic-Revival Lyman Homestead, built as the family home in 1863 on the foundation of the original house that was constructed in 1785. Look closely as you drive through and you’ll see the wholesale fruit operation that distributes to 27 states and the bakery that produces award-winning Hi-Top Apple Pies. It’s a bucolic, peaceful setting that buzzes with activity.
According to Lyman president and CEO Steve Ciskowski, that activity generates about $15 million in annual revenue split fairly evenly among four sources: retail operations, golf, orchards and wholesale pies. The business is highly seasonal; the employee count ranges from 55 in the winter to 250 in the peak season of August through October. Some 600,000 guests visit the farm each year, with about 250,000 of them there to pick their own fruit. The golf courses host 81,000 rounds annually.
At the official 275th anniversary celebration in June, John Lyman III, executive vice president and the eighth-generation leader of the family ownership group, explained why the business has survived since George Washington was 9 years old. “The ability to keep a family business going is contingent on economic viability. Adaptation to changing market conditions is essential,” Lyman said. “I believe that the tradition that follows a family through eight generations is extremely powerful, quite tangible and very relevant. The secret is to not let your tradition unreasonably burden you. Rather, let that tradition give you confidence and be your guide as you continually search for new and exciting opportunities.”
Family and non-family management
Like his father, Jack Lyman, and his grandfather, John Lyman Sr., John, 59, grew up on the family farm. Today, he’s the only Lyman currently in senior management. Between college and joining the family business full-time (in 1980), he worked on an orchard in Holland. Today, he oversees the company’s orchard and commercial pie operation and serves as secretary and treasurer of the corporation. He also serves as an articulate and unassuming spokesman for the company. His brother, Jim, left the family firm to start an insurance business. His youngest sister, Faith, worked for the company for a little over a year in marketing until she went back to school. Two other sisters, Betsy and Patricia, worked summers at the farm as many family members did, but pursued other paths as well.
In addition to being willing to explore diverse opportunities, the Lyman family hasn’t hesitated to turn to non-family management at the highest levels. John was 40 when his father retired as CEO in 1997. At the time, the company was struggling somewhat under debt incurred from the construction of the golf courses, expansion of the retail operation and creation of the wholesale pie business. The board hired Dave Wilson, a family friend and the retired CEO of retailer Bob’s Stores, to step in. “I was there to be a mentor to the kids and to bring an objective perspective to the situation,” Wilson says. He was succeeded by Donald Richards, who served until Ciskowski was promoted from COO in 2003. Ciskowski had joined the company in 1993 as controller, the first senior management position not filled by a family member since the company’s incorporation in 1949.
As executive vice president, John Lyman reports to Ciskowski. “What’s rare about what we’ve accomplished is we’ve found a way to make it work,” Ciskowski says. “John has a significant role in the company. We don’t let our egos get in the way of what’s best for the business.”
Their relationship is solid but didn’t develop overnight, Lyman says. “Being a shareholder, a board member and part of the senior management team, I had to sort out the lines of delegation,” he says. “Steve is able to be a little detached from family issues, which is essential.”
Lyman says there’s another big reason to hire outside the family: “The core of our management is non-family, and we want to be sure to not dis-incentivize them by bringing in family members who haven’t necessarily earned their stripes.”
Many facets of the Lyman operation involve partnerships with other organizations. The golf courses, for example, are managed under contract by Billy Casper Golf, which owns and/or operates 150 golf properties in 28 states. Other partner companies run catering operations and some other specialized functions like carriage rides and hayrides. Some food products are also outsourced. While Lyman’s Hi-Top apple pies are baked entirely in-house, pumpkin pies and apple cider are produced by other companies for the Lyman enterprise.
Many shareholders; professional governance
Company governance has been professionalized, as well. The original board of directors, formed in 1949, consisted of John Lyman Sr. and his five siblings. The corporate bylaws were soon amended, however, to specify a majority of non-family directors. Today, five of the 11 directors are family members: John Lyman III, two cousins and two in-laws of cousins. “The longer-term members basically succeeded their parents on the board,” Lyman explains. “The most recent family member, though, came through an application and interview process among family members.”
Steve Ciskowski is one of the six non-family directors. The others are the president of the local Chamber of Commerce, executives from the hospitality and insurance industries, a CPA and another apple grower in the state. The first non-family chairman of the board, Herbert Patterson, was elected in 1976 when John Lyman Sr., retired. That post has been held by non-family members ever since with one exception, Whitey Heist, who was Jack Lyman’s brother-in-law and served from 1992 to 1999.
John Lyman firmly believes in the concept. “In many family businesses, the outside director may defer to the family to some degree, but that may not be the best thing,” he says. “The board members should be independent enough to fully express their opinions.” The non-family majority on the board somewhat insulates decisions from family influences, he says.
For example, Lyman says, the family was not unanimously in favor of the decision to build the Golf Center learning facility, which includes a nine-hole course, a driving range and a short-game practice area. “The board structure makes decisions a little less family-sensitive,” Lyman says, “as long as you make them on business-based facts.”
That’s not to say family members aren’t involved. There are a lot of them, too. A 10-generation family tree created for the 275th anniversary stretches across 30 feet—and the names are printed in a very small typeface! Today, there are some 200 total shareholders. The majority of shares, according to Lyman, are held by about 40 of them, concentrated in his grandfather’s branch of the family. “At the time, there was the farm and the gun sight company,” he explains. “My grandfather’s brothers sold the gun sight company but were never really engaged in the farm.” The majority of the stock went to Jack Lyman and his three sisters.
Shareholder communication is key
Lyman acknowledges that it’s challenging to keep 200 shareholders informed. “Misunderstandings happen when there’s not enough information,” he explains.
About 10 years ago, the company began distributing a monthly shareholder update; it’s sent quarterly via email now. There’s also an annual shareholder meeting. “We try to project enthusiasm for the business,” he adds, “but we don’t want to be unrealistic about what’s really happening. It’s a balance.”
Shareholder communication is key to moving the company forward, Ciskowski says. “Since 2008, we’ve put over $10 million back into the business,” he says. “For a company our size, that’s a lot. You’re not able to do these things without a very patient shareholder group.” The company is nearly debt-free, he says, and hasn’t paid any dividends for many years. “That’s one reason communication is so important.”
A family council doesn’t exist now, although the possibility remains open. The company is a member of the Family Business Center at the University of New Haven.
Another very real issue concerns the level of family employment at Lyman Farm Inc. and brings to mind a World War I-era song, “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm. . .” John Lyman is the only member of the eighth generation currently working for the company. Out of 91 members of the ninth generation, two work with him. Part of the reason is simple math, of course—the company has only 55 full-time, year-round employees in total. Plenty of family members work summers during high school, then move on.
“We’re faced with competitive forces as well,” Ciskowski says, “especially in terms of compensation. People have lifestyles they want to support, and we may not be competitive there. The farther they go in their careers, the harder it becomes for them to come back to the farm.”
But, Lyman adds, “It’s a dangerous place to go if we start creating positions for family members.” Now, family members are allowed to apply for existing openings only. The flip side, he says, is that “you discourage them from getting into the business because they feel it’s too big a hurdle. Those who are really interested will figure out a way.”
G9 takes its place
Jack Bascom, 24, is one of the G9 family members who found his way into the family business two years ago when he graduated from the University of Connecticut. Today he is a manager in the packinghouse. “I take a lot of pride working here,” he says. “I worked in the orchards during summers from the time I was 15. I am working the same facility my great-grandfather built and standing on the same loading dock as he did 80 years ago. That’s extremely cool.” His older sister, Maggie, has a local wedding planning business but works at Lyman during harvest rush, since her business slows down around that time.
“Employment is not guaranteed if you’re a family member,” says Luke Patterson, 31, the other G9 working for the company. “There has to be a position available, then it’s an equal playing field among all the applicants. When I asked about a position here, the only job available was in the orchard, pruning peach trees. I did various jobs in the orchard, then moved to the packinghouse in wholesale operations. When my current position became available, I applied.” He’s now an information systems administrator.
“It’s humbling to be part of something like this,” Patterson says. “The goal of every generation is to leave it a little better than before.”
Last year, Bascom and Patterson participated in the first Ninth Generation Shareholder Conference, which drew 16 participants. “We took them through the business from the financials to marketing,” says marketing director Tim Burt. “They actually went to the orchard and picked peaches—with the challenge that they had to pick ones we could sell to Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. They were astonished when only 55% of the crop was salable.”
A main benefit of the G9 conference, Burt points out, was that “They got to meet each other again—not as somebody’s kid, but as adults and shareholders. It was a real learning experience.” While the conference included a few history lessons, he says, “We did a lot of brainstorming with them about what the future could be.”
Another participant in the conference was John’s son, Adam Lyman, 29, an engineer for a national adhesive company who may choose to join the family company some day in the distant future. “We have a lot of talented individuals in the ninth generation,” he Adam says. “They had a lot of great ideas.”
The future, even for a 275-year-old business, requires taking a long view while not hesitating to embrace change and opportunity. “We’re working on a plan for replanting and renovation looking ahead for the next 15 years,” John Lyman says. “I’m not sure what that next big thing will be for us, but I’m sure it will take advantage of the brand.”
“Unless something unforeseen happens,” Ciskowski says, “the family will always own this land.”
Dave Donelson is a business writer in West Harrison, N.Y., and the author of the Dynamic Manager Guides and Handbooks.
Diversification Through Nine Generations
The Lyman family’s willingness to adapt and seek out new opportunities didn’t start with the current family leader, John Lyman III. The original John Lyman practiced subsistence farming but saved enough after feeding his nine children to acquire more land. His son, David, who inherited the farm, continued the practice throughout the Revolutionary War period, eventually building the total to 690 acres by 1790, including property in New York and Vermont.
David’s son, William, was an outspoken abolitionist (as was second cousin Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin) and an activist in the Underground Railroad. William’s son, David Lyman II, passed away in 1871 after establishing the Metropolitan Washing Machine Company and beginning construction of the Air Line Railroad, which passed through Middlefield on its route from New Haven to Willimantic.
One of David II’s sons, Charles Elihu Lyman, took over the family farm while another, William Lyman, founded the Lyman Gun Sight Company. Charles increased the size of the farm to 1,500 acres and introduced lambs, dairy cattle and peaches to the operation while taking advantage of the railroad to ship fresh produce throughout the Northeast.
In a watershed moment in the farm’s history, a devastating winter freeze in 1917 killed the peach trees and the family switched to apples, although it would be 10 years before the first plantings bore fruit. Sale of the land outside Connecticut and profits from the gun sight company, which prospered during World War I, carried the family through the transition. In 1921, Charles’s youngest son, John Lyman Sr. (John III’s grandfather), took over management of the farm, which was left to him and his brothers and sisters when their father died in 1923. The farm was incorporated in 1949.
In 1957, Jack Lyman (son of John Lyman Sr.) assumed management of the farm, a position he was to hold for 30 years of major diversification. The dairy herd was phased out, a retail salesroom was added to the wholesale packinghouse, and pick-your-own agri-tourism was introduced to the orchards. In 1969, the first golf course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the most successful golf architect of his day, opened on the property. A second course, designed by golf legend Gary Player, opened in 1994. In the meantime, the Apple Barrel retail space and bakery opened, and in 1996 the wholesale pie business began.
After Jack Lyman retired in 1997, he was succeeded by the first of three non-family CEOs. Diversification continued with the opening of the first annual Corn Maze, the creation of an additional nine-hole golf course and learning center, and conversion of the Lyman Homestead to a catering and event space. Today, the Lyman family is considering numerous possibilities, including online retailing, solar farming and development of a hard cider brand. — D.D.
Copyright 2016 by Family Business Magazine. This article may not be posted online or reproduced in any form, including photocopy, without permission from the publisher. For reprint information, contact bwenger@familybusinessmagazine.com.