Sidney I. Goldman, president
Sidney Goldman’s family has owned and operated Greylawn Foods for 120 years. He is the fourth generation family member to operate the company. Greylawn is a warehouse distributor of refrigerated food and occupies approximately 55,000 square feet of a 97,000 square foot complex on Pontiac Avenue in Cranston. The company stores and transports products for manufacturers and about 95 percent of the major grocery chains in the northeast. It is one of the last less-than-full truckload transportation companies in New England with its own refrigerated warehouse. Greylawn trucks also transport products to Chicago and North Carolina. The company is presently negotiating with companies in Canada.
Goldman has worked in the family business since he was a young boy. Back then it was known as Greylawn Farms and Sid’s contribution was plucking the chickens that the company sold.
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Sid was attending Bryant College in 1968 and was President of the Officer Candidate School class. He was also a member of the 107th Signal Company of the Rhode Island Army National Guard. The unit was activated and sent to Viet Nam.
Goldman served as a Supply Sergeant stationed in Long Binh outside of Saigon. During his eleven-month tour of duty he led several re-supply convoys to the Mekong Delta.
After returning from Viet Nam, Goldman returned to Bryant College and received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a major in Management. He then returned to the family business. The business had fallen on hard financial times and Goldman wanted to rescue the company. With counseling from SCORE and a SBA-backed loan through Bank Boston, Goldman was able to save the family business. The company remained a lease tenant at the Cranston location.
When the state’s banking crisis struck in 1990, the property ended up in receivership. Sid saw an opportunity. He approached BankBoston about financing to purchase the property from the federal government. BankBoston together with the Ocean State Business Development Authority, packaged a SBA 504 loan that enabled Goldman to purchase the complex.
Goldman owes much of the company’s success to his management team. Every manager makes the decisions about the company’s operation. The management team has been with the company an average of 18 years. Sid believes in promoting from within and treats his employees like family.
Sid believes strongly in giving back to the community. He has done much to assist the small business community in particular by helping to develop programs to lower the costs of workers compensation and health care.
In 1991 he became the Vice President of the Business Industry Risk Management Association. The group was formed as a self-insured workers compensation company. It had a 127-company membership and was the largest non-homogenous business group in the state. The association negotiated discounts for workers compensation coverage for its members by 50 percent.
Goldman is President of The Employees Managed Health Association, a 325-company group formed in 1994 to develop the best possible health plan at the most reasonable cost.
The plan was a forerunner of today’s plans. Sid believes so poignantly in the importance of quality health care that Greylawn pays the entire cost of healthcare and dental insurance for its employees.
Sid is a member of the Smaller Business Association of New England, and Vice President of the Lincoln Park, the state’s largest Jewish cemetery located in Warwick. He has also served on the board of directors of Temple Am David in Warwick.
Goldman’s son David is involved in the business and Sid is already thinking ahead to when the fifth generation of the family assumes control of the company. In the meantime, Greylawn Foods continues to enjoy success as a leader in refrigerated shipping and storage.
