Building a Family Business Legacy with Bill Sarris

What does it take to build a family business that lasts for generations without losing what made it successful in the first place? Bill Sarris, President and CEO of Sarris Candies, has spent decades growing one of Western Pennsylvania's most beloved brands. But building a lasting legacy means more than increasing sales. It requires making difficult leadership decisions, protecting company culture, and knowing when to embrace change. In this episode of The Champion Forum Podcast, Bill shares the lessons he's learned from growing the family business, leading through a devastating fire, and preparing the next generation to take the reins. Whether you're leading a family business or building a legacy of your own, you'll discover what it takes to grow without losing what matters most.

About Bill Sarris:

Bill Sarris is the President and CEO of Sarris Candies, a family-owned chocolate company based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Founded by his father, Frank Sarris, in 1960, the company has grown from a small basement candy operation into one of Western Pennsylvania's most recognizable brands, with products sold in more than 1,200 retail locations across 17 states.

Bill grew up working alongside his father in the family business. After attending Washington & Jefferson College, he chose to pursue the candy business rather than his original plan to attend medical school. He helped expand Sarris Candies through fundraising, retail distribution, and strategic growth while maintaining the company's commitment to quality and community. Today, Bill continues to lead Sarris Candies as it expands into a new generation, including the opening of a state-of-the-art production facility in 2024. His leadership emphasizes building a strong brand, investing in employees, and preparing future generations to carry on the family legacy.

Q: When you walk through this building and think about the journey from being five years old, going to work and learning how to make chocolate, what makes you so proud as you reflect on that journey?

I'm proud of all the people and the effort they put in to get us to where we are. Getting the right people in the right positions to do what they need to do and trusting them to do that. And trusting yourself that if that isn't the person, then maybe it's time to part ways. That's the most difficult thing in the world to do.

As the next generations come in, their ideas, whether good or bad, you still need to bring them to the table. I did that with my dad. When I was in college, my goal was to go to medical school. I had an opportunity to go, and I came home one day and said, "Dad, I'm not going to go there. I'm going to come into the candy business with you." Every Greek immigrant or parent wants their kid to be a doctor or a lawyer. He said, "Don't come into the business with me. We got a little candy store. What are you going to do?" I said, "We're going to go into the fundraising business." He said, "We don't have equipment for fundraising." Well, yes, we do, because I had just talked to these people in Germany.

I went over, and Mr. Bloom was the guy. Those machines ran about $300,000 each. He wanted to get into the U.S. market. He said, "Bring me $75,000 in cash, and we'll give you the machines." So I did. My dad didn't know this, you've got to remember that. I went to the bank, got the $75,000, put it in a little brown box, and took it over. We brought those machines back, started in the fundraising business, and started hiring people. The people we hired were my aunt and my cousin. The more people we brought in as we grew, we treated them like family.

Now we have a third generation in here. He brought a lot to the table, but he has a lot to learn. And the bad statement, because I said it today, was, "But this is how we've done it." She looked at me and laughed. "Did you really say that?" I said, "But I didn't mean it. Go ahead. Do what you've got to do."

Q: As the brand has grown, along with the staff, revenue, profit, and distribution, how have you safeguarded the strategy and culture that made Sarris Candies special in the first place? How do you protect that through employees and business decisions?

You just said the word: brand. You have to build the brand. As the brand is building, we've tied into the community across the tri-state area. A lot of that stems from my dad's family and him having a transplant and wanting to give back. But building the brand is key, and trying to maintain that, especially when you're going into an area where people don't know you.

We're doing that now. We're pushing down with Kroger into the Columbus area. People don't know us. Some of the packaging and products we do don't push the brand. They push the product, and the little brand name is on there as well. You're building the product, then building the brand. So it's a fine balance. How do you build your brand? That's tough. You have to do that with the people you have internally, the marketing people, yourselves. If there's two people in the business, both of you are building that brand. Each person has something very important to say.

Q: When you look back on your leadership journey, were there any really difficult decisions you had to make to safeguard the company's culture and public perception?

Again, I talked about moving people out who aren't following that brand building. We have a lot of people out there dealing with customers every day. Our reps are out there on their own. They represent you when they go out, what they dress like, what they look like, how they speak. The bigger we get, what drives me a little crazy is the paperwork, procedures, and things that we assume are just common. You start trying to write that stuff down. That's where training comes in. You train people so they will represent you in the manner that you want them to. And it's not one-time training. It's communication. Internal communication is huge, especially when you have 500 employees across the board.

Q: In 2012, Sarris Candies experienced a devastating fire. As you were driving up and seeing all your hard work threatened by a crisis you never planned for, what did that experience teach you about leadership under pressure?

Number one, we made sure that everybody was accounted for. That was key. After we made sure everybody was there, the plan was to let people know what was going on. You could see on social media, "It's on fire! I'm not going to get my candy. What am I going to do? Can I help?"

Thank goodness for the TV people who come and stick the mics in your face. I couldn't wait to get that mic in my face because I wanted to let people know, "Hey, we make the candy here, but it's all shipped out, and it's in our warehouse facility where we distribute all the candy. So you're going to be fine.

"There's no problem with people getting candy." Getting that message across was important.

And all the employees we had, we paid them like they were working. They didn't have to worry. It wasn't their fault that they'd have to go sit somewhere. Boy, that mic in your face, I couldn't wait. And I wanted more because that message was important. Get that opportunity. Get that message out there, whatever you want that message to be.

Q: When you think about the next 20 or 30 years of Sarris Candies, what are you trying to protect, what are you trying to change, and what do you hope the next generation does better than your generation?

The opportunity is there for the next generation. The third generation and the fourth generation, it's there. The goal is not to sell, but to build to sell. The important thing is to make sure that's always in your mind, to say, "What's going to happen down the road?" I don't know. I'm not going to be here. It's up to them to do what they want to do to continue on.

The third generation and the fourth generation understand the name on the building, but they don't understand the culture that happened initially. They have their own mindset and how they're going to run the business. I can't control that.

I know they need to start scrubbing floors. You can't teach somebody to scrub if you don't know how to scrub yourself. You can't teach somebody to cook until you've cooked yourself and cleaned the machines and fixed the machines and gotten dirty. My grandson has been getting dirty in the summertime between college, and it's important. You can't just walk in and get an office job. You've got to know how to fix mistakes. Nobody can learn until something screws up, right? 

Application Activity:

What would it look like for you to be prepared to sell your business? How would it change the way you do business? Take some time and write down the top three things you would look for in a business you were looking to buy. Then write down what habits or practices a business has if they want to have those qualities. Finally, compare them against your current culture and practices. What practices are you using? Which ones are you not using? Have you made those expectations clear, or are you avoiding holding your leaders accountable to them? Take your list and find one habit or expectation that would help your business and your culture improve if it was implemented across the board. Make a plan for setting the expectation with your team and the consequences for failure. As you do, show your team the vision. Show them the kind of healthy, productive business you want to be and why this new process will help you reach that goal.