Company: K Feeders
Owners: Paul and Jordan Blasbalg
Location: 1485 South County Trail, East Greenwich
Employees: 57
Year founded: 1975
Annual Revenues: WND
A MAN AND HIS PRODUCT: Paul Blasbalg and one of the bird feeders his company, K Feeders.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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If you ask Paul Blasbalg if he likes running the family business – he will answer an astounding yes and without missing a beat he will tell you his favorite company slogans.
“K Feeder Quality it’s not just for the birds.”
“K Feeders where nature and quality meet.”
Though he has been a part of the day-to-day operations of K Feeders in East Greenwich for more than a decade, he and his brother began running the entire operation after the death of their father Morton last year.
“It’s still hard,” Blasbalg said. “I really respected my father and everything that he did.”
Since he was in high school, Blasbalg can remember watching his father, then owner of an appliance business, put together metal birdhouses in the garage of their Warwick home. But the start of K Feeders happened almost by accident.
“My mother told my father she wanted a birdhouse,” Blasbalg said. “And when he went down to the store to buy one he was shocked at the $25 price tag. He told her he would make her one. And soon after she hung it in the yard, neighbors and family members began calling to find out if they could have one.”
In the 1970s when the Navy left Quonset Point, Blasbalg said his father lost a lot of his appliance store business and decided it was a good time to try something new. Blasbalg said his father would drive around the state with samples of birdhouses in his car stopping at all of the Hay and Grain Stores and soon, the manufacturing plant had moved from the family garage to the basement of the house.
”He was always a tinkerer,” Blasbalg said. “He kept a number of tools in the garage, and was always working. This business is basically a product of the American Dream.”
In the 25 years since it was incorporated, the company has seen quite a few changes. What started out as a business with only two main products now has more than 50; and what used to be only available in Rhode Island is now found in stores in all 50 states and some European countries.
”We have found that you make money by being fair, honest, and creative,” Blasbalg said.
The walls of the East Greenwich manufacturing plant are a tribute to the work of K Feeders, with nine patent plaques adorning the walls of the conference room, and citations and awards from the industry and the state lining the main office area.
Blasbalg said the industry itself has grown since K Feeders’ beginning, becoming more recognized and allowing the family business to flourish.
”You walk into a Home Depot, where we sell our products, and you will find a fishing section, an electronics section, and now a birdfeeders section,” he said. “It has really become an industry.”
Still Blasbalg admits this fairy tale story didn’t come without some setbacks. Over the years, the company has faced financial problems, and has fallen from its number one ranking in the industry among competing companies.
”It’s feast or famine in this business, and we need to be loyal to our workforce,” he said. “We refuse to compromise. We are 100 percent American-made, and we believe in quality. We have faced formidable and sizable uphill battles. But what is number-one really? We feel good about what we do, and have felt good since we were working in the garage.”
Keeping up with the needs of the market is among the company’s greatest challenges, including the production of a squirrel-resistant birdfeeder. Finding new and unique designs and materials to create its signature products is something Blasbalg said is constantly on his mind.
”New ideas come by watching the birds and watching your competitors,” he said. “When you run a company like this you are always thinking about it. You constantly wake up in the night with ‘I got its’ and can’t wait to get back to the office.”
The company also keeps its customers informed of changes through a quarterly newsletter called the Goldfinch Gazette.
Blasbalg said though he enjoys being the president of the small, private-company, he can’t guarantee what the future will hold.
“I can clearly see the broadening of our product base,” he said. “But I don’t think that is going to happen without us getting involved with a larger company, or merging.”
