Business Spotlight
This month's spotlight is focused on Countertop Trends, which is located in downtown Gridley at 406 Main Street.
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Owners: Countertop Supply & Manufacturing, Inc., Kara Beyer & Ted Liebig, Jr.
Operating Hours: Monday through Friday; 8am to 4pm
Phone: 620-836-2311
Years of operation: 28 years as Countertop Trends, LLC and 62 years for Countertop Supply
Number of employees: 35
What was the initial motivation to start your business? In 1962, community leaders wanted to provide local employment, so the community invested in the business.
What is the number one thing you want people to know about your business?
Countertop Trends provides solid surface and laminate countertops to home centers, home builders, multi-unit apartments, institutional projects, schools and medical facilities. We produce commercial cabinets as well.
A little more history about Countertop Trends from owner Kara Beyer...
"Countertop Trends has deep roots in Kansas and particularly in Gridley. Gridley is a rural community of 350 very dedicated and hard working people. Countertops were first manufactured in Gridley in 1963. The company was originally founded as Garrett Cabinet and Supply by Tom Garrett. The company became a very important part of the community creating local jobs. In 1974 a group of local business men and investors took over ownership and my father, Harold Mudge, was elected President and General Manager and a new company was formed as Countertop Supply, Inc. Those investors remained caring and active in the Company for many years. Willis Beyer, Glen Beyer, John Kraft and Ron Birk attended meetings and lent great support.
The Mudge family had always operated the local grocery store. One of the first customers that my father obtained for Countertop Supply would point out Harold knew more about post toasties than post formed countertops! That did not remain the case for long. Countertop Supply grew to become a vendor of countertops to the major cabinet companies in the Midwest.
As you can imagine, I grew up in the countertop business as did my brother and sisters. My first experience was answering the phone after school with my older sister and taking each order by phone on a steno pad. We were not limited to the office. We learned to apply end caps, produce end splashes and we may have served a brief stint one summer on the “shaper” production equipment. My brother operated the saw and made deliveries. All three of us attended college and the experience we had in the business served us well.
I returned to Gridley and joined Countertop Supply in 1985. My father took the lead on Sales while I became the General Manager. Once again the community of Gridley supported the business with a Community Block Grant through the State of Kansas. The money was a grant from the State to be paid back to the City of Gridley and then re-loaned to other businesses. A new warehouse was constructed as a result of the loan and fifteen jobs were added as well. Many local farmers worked at the factory to make ends meet.
In 1987 the family part of the business grew as well. I married Gary Beyer who was working at Countertop Supply. Gary’s brother, Raymond was also working at the plant. I was known for keeping a very close eye on the budget and a new fork lift had been on the wish list for quite some time. The opportunity to purchase came when I was on my honeymoon. The guys in the plant lobbied Harold for the fork lift and it was a great decision. It was one of the larger wedding gifts I received!
Many changes took place in 1995 with the birth of my son and a major change in the business. Countertop Supply had grown rapidly in the 90’s and was pushing capacity when a fire broke out during morning production in September of 1995. The production plant and offices were quickly engulfed in flames. There were 30 employees at the time that were evacuated and then proceeded to help put the flames out. The fire was quite large and was not under control until late afternoon. I will never forget the first truck on the scene was our long time Gridley City Clerk, Dorene Metzger! She rolled up and hoped out, dress and all. Once again, the City of Gridley with the help of every Coffey County volunteer fire fighter came to the aid of Countertop Supply. Our customers were amazing with the support as well and really made it possible to envision a new beginning.
In the days that followed the fire, my father and I were contacted by Ted Liebig, Sr., who had a similar operation in St. Louis, Trend Manufacturing Company, Inc. Trend was founded in 1970 by Ted’s father. In 1975, Ted joined Trend and in 1976 became its President. Trend was also a family business. Countertop Supply had purchased a piece of equipment from Ted in the early 90’s and Harold, Gary and Raymond had traveled to St. Louis to pick the machine up. Shortly after that transaction, the flood of ’93 struck St. Louis, completely engulfing Trend’s facility. Ted had taken a boat out of the plant when he finally evacuated. (I actually saw countertops floating in the CNN footage which led me to call Ted offering any help we could offer!) The Trend facility had just been rebuilt when our fire struck and Ted knew exactly what it would take to get our facility operational. Ironically, this call from Ted offering assistance was not the first time Ted and I had visited about a partnership. As Ted and I visited we realized Ted had actually contacted me in the late 80’s proposing a joint venture! This time was different. A partnership was formed in 1996 with Trend and the new company was COUNTERTOP TRENDS.
The joint venture allowed the Company to build a new facility in Gridley with proceeds from Certificates of Participation issued by Coffey County. Countertop Trends had been relocated to Harold’s family room and new life for the company took shape with command central in his home! My mom was a saint to have lived with our offices in her home for more than a year. Harold continued to be the Sales team and I took on the role of President.
Countertop Trends has grown dramatically since September 1996, when the Company officially began doing business. Sales in 1997 were $1.5 million with 18 employees. Sales were $3 million by the end of 1998 with 34 employees. Those first 3 years were a blur!
In 1998, my little sister, Johannah Snovelle, joined the team. Countertop Trends had become a vendor for two up and coming Home Centers, Lowe’s and Home Depot, and Johannah had the retail background to transition the company from a manufacturer to a service company. Again, the family business took on another member! Johannah served as office manager, accounting and contractor sales.
By 2003 I had a new baby and a new production line at Countertop Trends. New babies and new equipment are always fun! The new equipment allowed us to streamline production. Countertop Trends added home delivery and installation to the services provided. The quality of the product has been perfected over the years, but that new line was key to producing a great product.
Sadly, in 2008 my husband Gary lost a battle with cancer. The support from my family, my countertop family and our many customers was overwhelming. It is in trying times that you realize how fortunate you really are and that was certainly true in my case.
Harold continued in Sales and then slowly retired although none of us know when that last official day of work really was. I found out he was great at hauling my kids around as well as making emergency countertop trips. For several years Harold would sneak in on the weekends and clean up after all of us.
In 2014 the main line underwent a major rebuild and the factory had an electrical update. Computer systems were added for our field representatives as well to improve the speed of service and communication with our customer. Production of a commercial cabinet was added to our product line.
As my boys grew up, so did Countertop Trends. Both of my sons have loaded trucks and worked summer hours at the plant. Both joined in full time in 2021. Preston is in charge of delivery and Carson the solid surface production. Johannah’s children have also joined the team. RJ is production quality control and Reed is in accounting and breaking into sales.
In 2023 a major change was made to our company. We added a new cabinet production CNC and software. The countertop manufacturing line was removed to add space for countertop fabrication and cabinet production. The countertop production has been streamlined providing a much needed increase in sales.
Countertop Tends has continued to be a dominant player in the countertop industry in the Midwest. Sales have been driven by obtaining commercial contracts and national home builders as well as expanding our product line to the national home centers. Countertop Trends has a broad base serving the states of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nebraska and Minnesota.
But what really makes our company great is the dedication of our community, our employees, our customers and our family."