The Journey from Cashier to CEO with Kim Eskew
This week on the podcast to wrap up the CEO Series, Matt sits down with Kim Eskew, Chairman & CEO of Harps Food Stores. Kim has been with Harps for 46 years, working his way up from an entry level position as a cashier and stocker to CEO. During the episode they discuss Kim’s journey through the company and how the grocery landscape has shifted over the years, especially in Northwest Arkansas. They also touch on how Kim made the transition from in-store management to corporate marketing and how the company transitioned from a family owned business to employee owned and what that means for employees at Harps.
Transcript
Because the anticipation is we keep growing,
Kim Eskew:we keep being successful. The value of that ESOP is going to
Kim Eskew:continue to go up, and all of those folks know they're going
Kim Eskew:to benefit from it.
Matt Waller:Excellence, professionalism, innovation, and
Matt Waller:collegiality. These are the values the Sam M. Walton College
Matt Waller:of Business explores in education, business and the
Matt Waller:lives of people we meet every day, I'm Matt Waller, Dean of
Matt Waller:the Walton College and welcome to the Be Epic podcast. For the
Matt Waller:next few episodes, I will share conversations with top CEOs
Matt Waller:about the future of the workplace. The pandemic has
Matt Waller:transformed the way that we work, and we discuss their
Matt Waller:predictions for the future. I have with me today, Kim Eskew,
Matt Waller:who is chairman and CEO at Harps Foods, Inc. He has been with
Matt Waller:Harps for 46 years. He started in an entry level position and
Matt Waller:worked his way up and we're going to talk to him about that.
Matt Waller:He graduated from the University here in 1980. And he is from a
Matt Waller:small town in Northeast Arkansas. Kim, thank you for
Matt Waller:joining me today. I appreciate it.
Kim Eskew:Well, I'm happy to be with you.
Matt Waller:Well, Kim, your your story is really
Matt Waller:interesting. You came from a very small town in Northeast
Matt Waller:Arkansas. As you said, 280 miles from here, hard miles. And you
Matt Waller:needed to work to be able to go to school. And you started while
Matt Waller:you were in school, working for a local grocery store. Would you
Matt Waller:mind telling us a little bit about that?
Kim Eskew:I think first of all, I majored in civil engineering
Kim Eskew:because when I was trying to just decide, well, what do I
Kim Eskew:want to do when I grow up? And you know, when you're in high
Kim Eskew:school, I think some people have a much better idea than others
Kim Eskew:on on what kind of career to pursue. And and I'm really
Kim Eskew:struggling with that, frankly, and and you take some aptitude
Kim Eskew:tests and some things to try to help you determine well, what
Kim Eskew:are my strengths? And and I was really strong and in math and
Kim Eskew:science. And so it kind of steered me toward engineering.
Kim Eskew:Now, I didn't know very much about engineering. But I decided
Kim Eskew:well, that's what I'm going to major in because, you know, a
Kim Eskew:lot of things the potential and career opportunities in that
Kim Eskew:field. I thought were really good. So I entered the
Kim Eskew:University of Arkansas majoring in engineering, but I had to get
Kim Eskew:a job. And I had been working at a grocery store in my hometown
Kim Eskew:of Piggott. And so I had some experience and saw that Harps
Kim Eskew:Food Stores had positions open and I interviewed with them. And
Kim Eskew:they they hired me and I started to work.
Matt Waller:So what were some of your early jobs at Harps?
Kim Eskew:I was a student and as a student, they called me a
Kim Eskew:checker stocker, but you know, I cleaned bathrooms, mopped,
Kim Eskew:floors, carried out groceries, did basically anything and
Kim Eskew:everything at the store, nearly everyone was my boss. Because,
Kim Eskew:you know, I was at the very lowest level, as far as the
Kim Eskew:employees in the grocery store.
Matt Waller:What a great place to start where you are seeing
Matt Waller:the details of how things operate and you learn how to
Matt Waller:deal with people. And you you deal with all kinds of people in
Matt Waller:those kinds of jobs. Was coming from a small town, Piggott, I'm
Matt Waller:sure you got exposed to things you had never been exposed to
Matt Waller:before working at Harps.
Kim Eskew:Well at the time I left Piggott, I think our
Kim Eskew:population was just under 3000 people. I graduated in a class
Kim Eskew:of 73. And coming to Northwest Arkansas even then seemed like
Kim Eskew:oh this is a big place. And you know, you go back to 1977,
Kim Eskew:Northwest Arkansas was a lot smaller than it is today.
Kim Eskew:Springdale I want to say had maybe 16,000 people something
Kim Eskew:like that and I guess we're close to 90,000 today so it
Kim Eskew:didn't look nearly as large as it does today. But it looked
Kim Eskew:really big to me and and I had worked in a supermarket that was
Kim Eskew:about 6,000 square feet in Piggott, and the one I worked at
Kim Eskew:in Springdale was 25,000 square feet. So it it was four times
Kim Eskew:the size and was much busier. And so it was vastly different.
Kim Eskew:But the basics, you know, where the saying, my nature has been
Kim Eskew:pretty much to enjoy every job I've ever done, it seems like
Kim Eskew:there's been an occasional boss that I didn't enjoy. But for the
Kim Eskew:most part, I've always enjoyed working, and I enjoyed working
Kim Eskew:for Harps and, and that's the thing that really caused me to
Kim Eskew:begin to consider it as a possible career.
Matt Waller:That experience that you had early on and
Matt Waller:enjoying your work is so critical, because if you enjoy
Matt Waller:your work, you actually do better at it than if you don't
Matt Waller:enjoy it. But I also think to your point, you've had good bad
Matt Waller:bosses and bad bosses we all have if we've worked for a
Matt Waller:while. And the good thing about having bad bosses is you can
Matt Waller:learn from them, what not to do. You know, so tell me, then once
Matt Waller:you graduated, what did you start doing at Harps?
Kim Eskew:I just started filling a role as an assistant
Kim Eskew:manager at our store here in Springdale at that time, but was
Kim Eskew:angling to be the number two person in a store for us, we
Kim Eskew:call the grocery manager, and that person is responsible for
Kim Eskew:all of what we consider the grocery department to be in the
Kim Eskew:store, which is everything excluding like meat, produce,
Kim Eskew:and bakery deli. So all of the center store, it falls under the
Kim Eskew:responsibility to grocery manager, and I was looking to
Kim Eskew:get promoted to that position. And shortly after I graduated,
Kim Eskew:that did happen and, and I got promoted to the position of
Kim Eskew:grocery manager in our store in Mountain Home, Arkansas, which
Kim Eskew:was one of our busiest stores, you know, at that time. So so
Kim Eskew:that was a great opportunity for me.
Matt Waller:So being grocery manager in your number one
Matt Waller:store, that must have been a vote of confidence early on that
Matt Waller:you were performing well.
Kim Eskew:I think it was. And you know, and it was really
Kim Eskew:challenging. I tell our folks back then this was, this was pre
Kim Eskew:Walmart, in the grocery world. And so the sales that we were
Kim Eskew:doing in those days, if you translated it into today's
Kim Eskew:dollars was much greater than a typical grocery store will do
Kim Eskew:today. And in terms of sales per square foot. So the the amount
Kim Eskew:of groceries that we checked out and processed through that
Kim Eskew:store, for the most part is much greater than we do through a
Kim Eskew:store today. But it was, I think, a vote of confidence. I
Kim Eskew:haven't made any money in my life at all at that time. And
Kim Eskew:so, so it seemed like and when I when I decided to become a go
Kim Eskew:into the grocery business. You know, I come from a I would say,
Kim Eskew:a desperately poor family, my dad, for most of my dad's life,
Kim Eskew:worked two jobs. And I can really say he worked three jobs.
Kim Eskew:But he worked. He worked at a at a shoe factory in Piggott called
Kim Eskew:the brown shoe company. And then he also worked for a nursery in
Kim Eskew:Piggott called the Piggott nursery. And he would go there
Kim Eskew:after he got off work at the factory and work till dark. And
Kim Eskew:and then he also was the custodian in our church. And
Kim Eskew:even having done all that we were still really poor. So when
Kim Eskew:when I looked at at what I anticipated that you could make
Kim Eskew:as a store manager for Harps, that was four times more money
Kim Eskew:than my dad had ever made working three jobs. Some folks
Kim Eskew:might have looked at that said, well, that's not paying that
Kim Eskew:great. I looked at it and thought, I don't know what I'm
Kim Eskew:going to do with all this money.
Matt Waller:That is great. So how long did you stay at that
Matt Waller:store? In Mountain Home? Was it?
Kim Eskew:Yeah, Mountain Home Arkansas, stayed there for two
Kim Eskew:years. And then we purchased there were there were two Kroger
Kim Eskew:stores in Fort Smith. And we bought those two Kroger stores.
Kim Eskew:And I got chosen to be one of the managers in one of those
Kim Eskew:locations.
Matt Waller:What year would that have been? Roughly?
Kim Eskew:That was 1982.
Matt Waller:82. So but you had had some experience while you
Matt Waller:were working while you were going to school, and then after
Matt Waller:school with Harps. So did you see a lot of differences in how
Matt Waller:they operated, how they merchandise product, et cetera,
Matt Waller:et cetera at the Kroger store you took over?
Kim Eskew:No, I didn't see a lot of differences that, you
Kim Eskew:know, the stores in those days were not nearly as elaborate as
Kim Eskew:they are today. I mean, they were basic stores with
Kim Eskew:generally, you know, you had center store, and then you had a
Kim Eskew:meat department, a produce department and a bakery deli.
Kim Eskew:And virtually everybody had the same departments. And Kroger was
Kim Eskew:was very similar to that.
Matt Waller:Was turnover like it is today? Or was it lower
Matt Waller:back then?
Kim Eskew:It was much lower back then. And, you know, if you
Kim Eskew:looked at an application then and that person had taken a
Kim Eskew:different job every two or three years, you would have thought
Kim Eskew:I'm not going to hire that person, they're not going to be
Kim Eskew:around very long. Today, it seems that changing jobs every
Kim Eskew:two or three years that that person, well, gosh, they hang
Kim Eskew:around for a long time, it is a radical difference today. In
Kim Eskew:those days, that was a real negative, if you change jobs
Kim Eskew:every two or three years.
Matt Waller:All of a sudden, being in charge of the entire
Matt Waller:store. Were there any surprises for you, or challenges in
Matt Waller:running the store?
Kim Eskew:There were always surprises, probably the biggest
Kim Eskew:surprise to me was the amount of theft both from customers and
Kim Eskew:from employees, you know, in, in our business, it's really the
Kim Eskew:employees that typically will get gets you for the most money.
Kim Eskew:You know, the shoplifting that takes place is significant. But
Kim Eskew:it's usually a small amounts at a time. If you get employees
Kim Eskew:stealing from you, they can get you for big, big dollars. And,
Kim Eskew:and it's much more difficult often to detect them.
Matt Waller:Yeah, shrink is a big problem.
Kim Eskew:It's a huge problem.
Matt Waller:Was it, is it bigger today than it was then?
Matt Waller:Or is it about the same?
Kim Eskew:I believe it's larger today. You know, it's, we try
Kim Eskew:we're on retail accounting in our stores. And so we tried to
Kim Eskew:account in definable quantities, what our shrink is in many
Kim Eskew:different areas, so that we know what that is and so the, the
Kim Eskew:when we inventory our stores, and we do about three
Kim Eskew:inventories a year in a store, you know, that helps us to zero
Kim Eskew:in on the unknown loss that's taking place and sometimes can
Kim Eskew:alert us to some real problems that we have in the store, if
Kim Eskew:that is, is continual. If we do a couple of inventories, and
Kim Eskew:they continue to show a lot of shrink, then we know we have
Kim Eskew:some sort of theft issue.
Matt Waller:How long did you manage that store?
Kim Eskew:In total, I was there for four years.
Matt Waller:And what what did you do after that? What was your
Matt Waller:next step?
Kim Eskew:In mountain home we purchased, Walmart, moved out of
Kim Eskew:their old store in Mountain Home and built a new store. And we
Kim Eskew:were on the parking lot at that time of the Walmart. So we're
Kim Eskew:back in those days, it was a good thing to marry a grocery
Kim Eskew:store with a Walmart. And of course, Sam Walton later
Kim Eskew:thought, well, that would be a good thing to have under the
Kim Eskew:same roof. But we purchased that building and actually moved our
Kim Eskew:our business then into the old Walmart store. And, and then I
Kim Eskew:became the manager of that location, which at the time was
Kim Eskew:it was our largest store. That store was 63,000 square feet.
Kim Eskew:And we had around 200 employees in that store. And it was it was
Kim Eskew:our best store.
Matt Waller:And how long did you run that store?
Kim Eskew:For about four years.
Matt Waller:And what was your next move after that?
Kim Eskew:I became a district manager. We were family owned at
Kim Eskew:the time and we had just purchased five additional stores
Kim Eskew:in Oklahoma. And Gerald Harp, who was vice president of
Kim Eskew:operations and one of the owners of the company decided that he
Kim Eskew:couldn't cover all of the stores himself. And so he decided to
Kim Eskew:have a couple of district managers to help with store
Kim Eskew:supervision.
Matt Waller:And how long did you do that?
Kim Eskew:for four years
Matt Waller:Moving from managing a store to managing the
Matt Waller:district, was that a big jump for you? Or was that not a
Matt Waller:problem?
Kim Eskew:It was a jump in that when I managed the store at the
Kim Eskew:at the end of the day, you kind of could go home and know that,
Kim Eskew:hey, everything's good. Or if you had problems, you knew where
Kim Eskew:the problems were, if you had a personnel issue, you knew where
Kim Eskew:the personnel issue was, if you're trying to do that, for
Kim Eskew:12, or 14, or 16, stores, you never go home thinking, I know
Kim Eskew:how everything is going everywhere. I don't know where
Kim Eskew:my problems are for certain. And there's never a day when you go
Kim Eskew:home, and everything is just exactly the way it should be.
Kim Eskew:You feel a little lack of control, when you have multiple
Kim Eskew:locations that you're trying to supervise.
Matt Waller:And was it hard to, you know, manage the managers?
Matt Waller:In other words, were you spending a lot of time mentoring
Matt Waller:them, training them?
Kim Eskew:I was. And, you know, the biggest thing is, is for
Kim Eskew:folks to kind of accept responsibility and
Kim Eskew:accountability for what we've entrusted them with. And I
Kim Eskew:always tell folks that when we allow ourselves to make excuses,
Kim Eskew:then sometimes we're accepting failure. And, and I said, the
Kim Eskew:trick really is bad things happen, a new competitor comes
Kim Eskew:to town, you lose your number two person that was great. And
Kim Eskew:now my job is a lot more different, stuff happens, you
Kim Eskew:know, and the thing we can't allow ourselves to do is to use
Kim Eskew:that as an excuse, to not hit our goals to not hit our
Kim Eskew:budgets, we've got to find a way to be innovative in order to
Kim Eskew:still be successful, even when bad things happen.
Matt Waller:And so what was your next move after that?
Kim Eskew:From district manager, I became the director
Kim Eskew:of marketing for Harps. And I, having spent my whole career
Kim Eskew:really in operations felt like, even by my measurement, that
Kim Eskew:seems a stretch. And I don't think I don't think I was the
Kim Eskew:first choice for the job. We we employed a national search firm,
Kim Eskew:to find talent in order to fill that position. And as I had made
Kim Eskew:known that I was interested as well, I would see these folks
Kim Eskew:come in, and they would be interviewed and, and I would
Kim Eskew:hear well, this guy is doing that job for Winn Dixie or for
Kim Eskew:this, and I would think, oh, man, they're a lot better choice
Kim Eskew:than I am. And so I kind of had low hope that I would be chosen
Kim Eskew:for the position. And I really think I ended up getting the
Kim Eskew:position after another person had turned it down. Maybe they
Kim Eskew:couldn't come to terms. But no matter how I got the position, I
Kim Eskew:thought, well, now it's up to me what I do with it. And then it's
Kim Eskew:one of those feelings you get, you're really happy that you got
Kim Eskew:the job. And now you're thinking, how in the world am I
Kim Eskew:going to do this job?
Matt Waller:That is a big change from operations in many,
Matt Waller:many ways. What did marketing entail?
Kim Eskew:It was, I was responsible for advertising,
Kim Eskew:which was which was largely newspaper and a little bit of
Kim Eskew:television. And, and some radio. I was also responsible for
Kim Eskew:merchandising, which has to do with how every store is set up,
Kim Eskew:the position of every item on the shelf, really everything the
Kim Eskew:customer comes in contact with when they walk into the store,
Kim Eskew:product wise, I was responsible for.
Matt Waller:So you were over really marketing and
Matt Waller:merchandising.
Kim Eskew:Yes,
Matt Waller:right.
Kim Eskew:Yes.
Matt Waller:Okay. That that's a lot of responsibility. Did you
Matt Waller:feel like your experience in operations informed a lot of
Matt Waller:your decision making and planning and strategy?
Kim Eskew:It did. And, you know, when you're a store
Kim Eskew:manager, you think you know a lot more than you know, but you
Kim Eskew:look at it from a certain perspective. And then when
Kim Eskew:you're the guy making the decision, you know, it's easy
Kim Eskew:for the store manager to be critical of the ads, to be
Kim Eskew:critical of the pricing to even be pretty critical of product
Kim Eskew:selection. And then suddenly, you're the person that's, that's
Kim Eskew:making those decisions. And you see, it's not always as clear
Kim Eskew:cut as maybe the store manager thinks it is. And I was blessed
Kim Eskew:that, you know, we had an advertising manager who had had
Kim Eskew:that job for probably 25 years or more at that time. And we had
Kim Eskew:a gentleman that was responsible for the grocery pricing and
Kim Eskew:merchandising that had had that job for a very long time. And so
Kim Eskew:now you got this hotshot college kid that comes in. And and these
Kim Eskew:were all guys that had grown up in the business, but had not
Kim Eskew:been to college. And now you have this young guy that comes
Kim Eskew:in, and I just told them, I said, look, I'm gonna have to
Kim Eskew:learn this from you guys, as we go along. So bear with me. And
Kim Eskew:they really carried me early on in that job.
Matt Waller:So, boy, it's so important to have mentors, isn't
Matt Waller:it?
Kim Eskew:Yes.
Matt Waller:So let me guess, you stayed in that job for four
Matt Waller:years?
Kim Eskew:You know, I'm less. I think it was longer than four
Kim Eskew:years,
Matt Waller:I was just guessing.
Kim Eskew:I moved from director to vice president of marketing.
Kim Eskew:And I held those positions, man it may have been eight years or
Kim Eskew:more that I held that position.
Matt Waller:And what was the difference in your
Matt Waller:responsibility when going from director to Vice President?
Kim Eskew:Really, there was not a difference. It was just a
Kim Eskew:title change.
Matt Waller:During this time, up until you became vice
Matt Waller:president of merchandising and marketing, how much had Harps
Matt Waller:grown since you started when you were a student?
Kim Eskew:You know, in those early years, we hadn't grown a
Kim Eskew:great deal. You know, most of the growth at that time was
Kim Eskew:organic, we were building stores, and we didn't have much
Kim Eskew:turnover in store managers. And and maybe we add a store every
Kim Eskew:two or three years. You're you really know when that store
Kim Eskew:comes up, you want to get it because it might be a couple of
Kim Eskew:years before the next one comes up. So so there was not real
Kim Eskew:rapid growth during that time.
Matt Waller:So after being vice president of merchandising and
Matt Waller:marketing, what was your next role?
Kim Eskew:I became executive vice president in 2001. Gerald
Kim Eskew:Harp, who was the last surviving family member of the brothers,
Kim Eskew:there were three brothers there was of the our founder, Harvard
Kim Eskew:Harp started Harps in 1930, and he had three sons, Don Harp,
Kim Eskew:Reland Harp, and Gerald Harp. And those sons when Harvard died
Kim Eskew:in a car accident in 68, you know, the responsibility for the
Kim Eskew:meaning the CEO fell to his oldest son, Don Harp. And Don,
Kim Eskew:stayed in that position til 1995. And then he retired and
Kim Eskew:Gerald Harp then became the the president and CEO. And then in
Kim Eskew:2001, Gerald decided he was ready to retire and put the
Kim Eskew:company up for sale. It almost sold to a company called
Kim Eskew:Houchins industries, which is located in Bowling Green,
Kim Eskew:Kentucky, but they weren't able to reach a deal. And Houchins
Kim Eskew:happened to be an employee owned company. And so the possibility
Kim Eskew:of selling the Harps company to the employees became what was
Kim Eskew:considered. And that's what Gerald Harp decided to do. And
Kim Eskew:in 2001, we became an ESOP. And Roger Collins became our new CEO
Kim Eskew:and Gerald left the company. And Roger promoted me to executive
Kim Eskew:VP with really, at that time, I was really responsible for
Kim Eskew:running the company. I was over operations and merchandising and
Kim Eskew:marketing at that time. And so it was a we no longer were
Kim Eskew:family owned, so we no longer had a person that we would have
Kim Eskew:to go to, in order to get the blessing to do whatever we
Kim Eskew:wanted to do. And now it was it was on us in order to I try to
Kim Eskew:make the company successful. And if you're familiar with ESOPs,
Kim Eskew:you know, the nature of that is, you go out, and you have to
Kim Eskew:borrow a bunch of money in order to buy the family out, which
Kim Eskew:usually means we had as much debt as we could possibly take
Kim Eskew:on. So we were very highly leveraged, which just increases
Kim Eskew:the pressure all the more when you're trying to grow a company
Kim Eskew:and manage a company. And at the same time, because this happened
Kim Eskew:in 2001, Walmart is building super centers and neighborhood
Kim Eskew:markets at a at a pretty rapid pace. So we've got new
Kim Eskew:competition that's really formidable coming in into our
Kim Eskew:markets on a pretty regular basis. So so those early years
Kim Eskew:as an ESOP, were really scary at times.
Matt Waller:How from your perspective, over operations,
Matt Waller:merchandising, marketing, how did the change in ownership
Matt Waller:structure affect you?
Kim Eskew:Well, I felt like the decisions I made, were really
Kim Eskew:the decisions that were going to go forward. And I was really
Kim Eskew:setting the strategy for what we were doing on pricing
Kim Eskew:advertising and everything there was there was no higher power
Kim Eskew:that had to agree to it. You know, it was, it was pretty much
Kim Eskew:now we did have an executive committee, and it was a
Kim Eskew:collaborative environment. And I was by no means doing this
Kim Eskew:alone. But it felt like there was really a small group of us
Kim Eskew:that are resetting the direction of the company.
Matt Waller:So what was your next role after that?
Kim Eskew:Well, a little later. So well, several years later, I
Kim Eskew:was promoted to President with with really not a responsibility
Kim Eskew:change. And then in, in 2016, I became CEO.
Matt Waller:Was, I suppose with all of your experience, that was
Matt Waller:probably a fairly easy transition.
Kim Eskew:It was, you know, you, I really felt like I was I
Kim Eskew:was prepared for it. And that was the whole experience I'd had
Kim Eskew:of coming from the very lowest parts in the grocery store. And
Kim Eskew:literally nearly doing every job that there is to do really gives
Kim Eskew:you an intimate knowledge with the business that you're
Kim Eskew:running. And to me, it makes making decisions much easier.
Matt Waller:What has been the value of being an ESOP to your
Matt Waller:employees? And also, how much is the value of your firm increased
Matt Waller:since since the ESOP?
Kim Eskew:Well, you know, we didn't know when we became an
Kim Eskew:ESOP. One, we didn't even know what an ESOP was, I didn't. So
Kim Eskew:for most of our folks, they heard more we're going to be
Kim Eskew:That must be gratifying. And you've had a big part in this
Kim Eskew:employee owned, and they had no idea what that meant. I had no
Kim Eskew:idea is this going to be a good thing? Or is it going to matter?
Kim Eskew:And, and the truth is, when we started out, it's almost like
Kim Eskew:your 401K, you know, people tell you, this is going to be a big
Kim Eskew:thing. But you start and you're young, and you think I need
Kim Eskew:every dollar I'm making to survive. So putting 2% or 4%
Kim Eskew:into a 401k. This doesn't seem like that makes good sense to
Kim Eskew:me. And, and so you start off and you get your first
Kim Eskew:allocation, and maybe that first allocation is $500, or
Kim Eskew:something, and you think, well, I don't know what the big deal
Kim Eskew:is about that. I would rather just have the $500. But we
Kim Eskew:started off and our stock was valued at $27.90 a share, and
Kim Eskew:that was in 2001. And and today, that stock is worth $1,410
Kim Eskew:share. And and we have employees who have over a million dollars
Kim Eskew:in their ESOP account. And I like to tell the story, because
Kim Eskew:sometimes I get asked, well, Kim, what what do you like most
Kim Eskew:about about your job and and every year I try to visit
Kim Eskew:personally either with a phone call or in-person with employees
Kim Eskew:who are retiring and who have worked for us at least 20 years.
Kim Eskew:And, you know, right now we've been an ESOP for 21 years. So
Kim Eskew:those employees would have been with us the entire time that
Kim Eskew:we've been an ESOP. And, and the really cool thing, the thing
Kim Eskew:that that makes it all seem more significant and more enjoyable
Kim Eskew:for me is those employees are leaving with about 24 times
Kim Eskew:their annual pay in their ESOP. So so if that person's making
Kim Eskew:$20,000 a year, they've got $480,000, in their ESOP, that
Kim Eskew:we're going to give them and that might just be an I say
Kim Eskew:this, but it might be a cashier. That's got nearly half a million
Kim Eskew:dollars in their ESOP, that cost them nothing. And if you're a
Kim Eskew:the whole way through. But to have a 5,000% increase in 21
Kim Eskew:manager, that you may have a million dollars or more in your
Kim Eskew:ESOP and, and we have some people now that have over $2
Kim Eskew:million in their ESOP, and these are folks who never believed
Kim Eskew:they would have a million dollars. And, and it's all
Kim Eskew:because of, of their hard work of their the reason that they
Kim Eskew:stuck with this job, which is counter culture today that
Kim Eskew:instead of leaving, and going to another job, you know, they
Kim Eskew:stayed with this job. And at the end, you know, we're handing
Kim Eskew:them a check for $500,000 or a million dollars. And that is so
Kim Eskew:gratifying to me, and it makes it seem like this job has really
Kim Eskew:mattered. And you're gonna have a much better retirement,
Kim Eskew:because you chose to stay and work for Harps. And I am
Kim Eskew:overjoyed to to give them that money.
Kim Eskew:years in the value of the firm that that's remarkable, very
Kim Eskew:impressive. Kim, I'm so glad that we had this time to connect
Kim Eskew:and visit and I really do love the story. And you're, you're a
Kim Eskew:great role model for people. So thank you. I know you're very
Kim Eskew:busy. So I appreciate you taking the time and effort to talk to
Kim Eskew:me about Harps and your career. It's been very interesting.
Kim Eskew:Well, thank you. I'm happy to do it. And I'm proud of our company
Kim Eskew:and proud of our people. And happy to share it with the folks
Kim Eskew:that listen to this.
Matt Waller:On behalf of the Sam M. Walton College of
Matt Waller:Business, I want to thank everyone for spending time with
Matt Waller:us for another engaging conversation. You can subscribe
Matt Waller:by going to your favorite podcast service and searching be
