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David Farber show off his vitamins.
Sweet deals are not always enough
to keep young entrepreneurs
from boredom.
ir
R. J. KING SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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hey are sec-
ond-genera-
tion risk tak-
ers.
Sons and
daughters
working in family busi-
nesses who find sweet-
heart deals and employ-
ment for life are just dif-
ferent ways of spelling
boredom.
Other children of entre-
preneurial parents are
born into wealth and eas-
ily reach management
positions among small
and large firms, but too
often they find them-
selves insulated from the
thrills and perils of call-
ing the shots.
Under the leadership of
others, these risk-hearted
siblings are modern-day
Walter Mittys who dream
of building empires. But
in reality there are no
make-or-break decisions,
rather a simple monotony
of orders and paychecks.
When the entrepre-
neurial spirit can no
longer be suppressed,
these born-anew enter-
prisers strike out on their
own using money from
personal savings, buy-
outs or trust funds as
calling cards to uncer-
tainty and adventure.
"I always wanted to do
my own thing, and I
wanted to prove I could
get by without family
support," said David
Farber, 33, president and
owner of Vital Foods, Inc.,
a Livonia-based chain of
eight nutrition centers he
bought out of near bank-
ruptcy three years ago.
"I had worked at my
father's company since I
was 16, and when it was
sold (in 1988) the man-
agement team offered me
a sweetheart deal.
Anyone would have taken
the money and stayed on.
Not me. I had to leave
and buy my own compa-
ny."
After spending 14 years
working for his father,
William, who owned
Michigan Pharmacal, a
pharmaceutical company
based in Auburn Hills,
the young Mr. Farber
sank an undisclosed sum
into Vital Foods, a 43-
year-old firm which oper-
ated as if it were running
in post- World War II
days.
"When I bought Vital
Foods, there were no fax
machines, no copy
machines and no packag-
ing equipment," Mr.
Farber said. "The electri-
cian I hired to modernize
our electric system said it
was like working in a
time warp."
Soon after buying the
company, Mr. Farber
began a modernization
program which included
remodeling seven stores,
moving the firm's head-
quarters from downtown
Detroit to Livonia and
closing a store in Sterling
Heights that wasn't prof-
itable.
The result? In 1991, the
first full year Mr. Farber
ran the company, rev-
enues were $3.5 million.
Last year, earnings
jumped to $4.3 million
and Farber projects 1993
revenues will reach $5
million.
"Don't get me wrong. I
liked working for my
father, but when the
opportunity came to
strike out on my own, I
took it," said Mr. Farber,
during a tour of his
12,000 square-foot ware-
house in Livonia which
stocks 3,500 different
products, from high-
potency vitamins to
wheat germ oil.
"Now I know what it's
like to build a company. I
used to wonder at my old
job whether I could do it.
But you have to be dedi-
cated to work 60 to 70
RISK TAKERS page 36
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4
0 0 NI F. I I_. E
T
he recently formed
Southfield City Centre
Advisory Board, which
aims to help city officials
move forward plans to cre-
ate a "downtown" in the
Civic Center/Evergreen
area, is getting a bit of
input from two local devel-
opers.
DOUG ETKIN of Etkin
Properties is chairing the
board and Redico Executive
Vice President JASON
HORTON is serving on the
board of directors.
ith the recent birth of
their daughter
W
B 'Y
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Hannah, CHERYL and
ARNIE BERLIN, both
computer analysts for
EDS, have joined the
ranks of the millions of
Americans who are work-
ing parents.
Cheryl, who last month
went back to work part
time, is anxious to boost
awareness about work-
family issues. So much so
that she has mustered a
forceful committee of
working women from the
National Council of Jewish
Women to plan an evening
educational seminar in
L. I IF "I- O I'%1
late August for employees
and small business associ-
ates.
It's all part of NCJW's
massive public service
campaign that will culmi-
nate on Sept. 9 with the
Day of the Working
Parent.
National corporate spon-
sors are the Marriott and
Xerox corporations. Local
NCJW members are search-
ing for Detroit area corpo-
rate sponsors to help under-
write costs of two programs
highlighting the special
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