When it opened in 1955, Gordyโs Lakefront Marine Inc. was a small family operation in Fontana that rented boats and gave boat rides to vacationers on Geneva Lake. Since then, Gordyโs has grown into a remarkably diverse collection of companies, including a ski school; a high-end watercraft sales, storage and service business; a charter boat; a clothing line; a restaurant and sandwich shop; a travel agency; a land holding company; and more.
Suffice to say that the children of Gordon โGordyโ Whowell are serial entrepreneurs.
Gordyโs has become a destination, an identifiable brand and an icon within the Lake Geneva area.
Gordyโs Marine is run by the Whowell family and had about 17 percent sales growth in 2006. The company projects 12 to 14 percent annual sales growth for the next three years.
Whowell opened a boat ride and rental company after moving his family to the Lake Geneva area in the late 1940s. Gordy died in 1988, but his spirit of customer service, creating a fun and family-friendly destination and his giving nature has been deeply ingrained into his son, Tom W. Whowell, and Tomโs children who run the company today.
โMy grandpa was a visionary,โ said Rallee Chupich, Tomโs eldest daughter. โHe had a lot of contacts with business people who owned top businesses, and he was a great friend who would bend over backwards for them.โ
Gordyโs focus on customer service was evident from the companyโs start, Tom said, when it was one of the first marinas in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois that rented power boats.
โFamilies would line up to rent our boats,โ Tom said. โIn the early years, Gordyโs philosophy was that you could rent day or night. Heโd turn on Christmas lights at night so people could navigate back to our dock. He thought if a customer was here, you should take advantage of that.โ
One of the core competencies that has led to the success of Gordyโs is the constant communication to staff members that quality customer service is the most important part of their job, according to Jeff Koepke, director of human resources and business strategy for Gordyโs.
โThe family is saying to their employees, โExceptional customer service is our hedgehog concept,'โ Koepke said.
Tom took over day-to-day operations in 1968, and Gordyโs expanded several times in the 1960s and 70s, purchasing a bait shop that has been turned into a sandwich and snack shop, and a former drive-in restaurant that has evolved from an antique store to a swim shop, and now a pro shop that stocks swim, waterskiing, wakeboard, clothing and water accessories.
The company also expanded its water-based offerings, opening its marina, service department, off-season boat storage, water ski school and fuel stations.
Tom W. has four children involved in the Gordyโs business โ Chupich, Tom G Whowell, Steele Whowell and Tigrr Workman. All four have worked there since they were children and have learned just about every position in the business.
Gordyโs Marina has 39 full-time employees, which increases to more than 200 in the summer months.
In 1997, the family also bought a former bar and grill adjacent to the dock, where they opened Gordyโs Boat House Restaurant. The Whowell family also agreed to become a dealer of Cobalt Boats, a brand of high-end recreational watercraft.
โWe were seasonal until that point,โ Chupich said. โWhen we added the bar and restaurant and sales for Cobalt, we created a year-round enthusiasm for Lake Geneva.โ
The company sold more than $1 million worth of boats in 1998, its first year of sales. Sales have increased an average of 16 percent each year since then.
The family began construction of Cobalt Farms, a 35-acre parcel that houses its service and storage facilities, in 1997. Cobalt Farms, just a few miles from Gordyโs Marina, opened in 2001.
โItโs like a spa for your boats,โ Chupich said.
Much of Cobalt Farms is devoted to land conservancy, Tom W. said. It currently has three buildings for boat storage. A fourth storage building will be constructed this year, and one of the existing buildings will be converted for boat service.
The Whowell family recently purchased another 70-arce parcel a short distance from the current Cobalt Farms, where it plans to develop sales and service buildings for Cobalt Yachts, a new boat line that Gordyโs Marina is carrying this year.
This will be the first year Cobalt Yachts will be available, and Gordyโs will be one of 10 dealerships in the nation.
Leveraging the response to Gordyโs Boat House Restaurant, the family will launch a new catering service this year. Many Lake Geneva area residents host private parties during the summer months, and several family members have received requests for catering, Tom W. said.
โWe know and understand the society weโre serving,โ he said. โWe have a built-in clientele, and itโs another way to give them an opportunity to do business with us.โ
Small- to medium-sized businesses have expanded quickly in the Lake Geneva area in the last several years, Steele said, and will give the family more opportunities for catering business.
Those same businesses will be able to take advantage of the third new business line that Gordyโs is launching this year โ a human resources and business strategy consulting division. That division will be led by Koepke.
โMy background is with a few Fortune 100 companies,โ Koepke said. โIโve worked with the family on a few projects over the last seven years. Their business growth allowed them to make me a full time employee, and this is being done to capitalize on my background, with a separate branch to specialize as a boutique consulting firm.โ
Both Koepke and Whowell family members say a natural clientele will be other marinas around the country seeking to expand their businesses.
โI think Gordyโs has a nice story to tell that could help any other marina,โ Koepke said.
The expansion into year-round operations has deepened the connection that Lake Geneva-area residents and visitors feel with Gordyโs Marina and the Whowell family, Chupich said.
โThereโs a huge family touch,โ she said. โ(In the summer) we see Mom, Dad and the kids when theyโre getting gas for the boat. Now at the restaurant, we see them over and over. They get to know us and we get to know them.โ
Gordyโs Lakefront Marine Inc.
Address: 320 Lake St., Fontana.
Industry: Boating sales, service and rentals, hospitality and related businesses.
Leadership: Tom W. Whowell and children, Rallee Chupich, Tom G. Whowell, Steele Whowell and Tigrr Workman.
Employees: 39 full-time, more than 200 during summer
Web site: www.gordysboats.com
Vital Factors:
โข Use the distinctions of the Lake Geneva area and the companyโs history to create a valued brand โ including a clothing line, restaurant and several new business ventures that are being launched this year.
โข Develop the next generation of family members to bring into the business. Younger family members have driven growth by bringing new ideas for additional business ventures. In turn, those new ventures have created new revenue streams and additional ways to serve existing customers.
โข Create lasting customer relationships by providing outstanding service. Gordyโs is now serving several third-generation customers.