Business Spotlight: Kitchenland USA

Owner: Brad Schrock

Founded: 1993

Address: 2001 Michael Lane, Nixa, MO 65714

Phone: (417) 725-0700

Fax: (417) 725-0793

Web: www.kitchenlandusa.com

Email: info@kitchenlandusa.com

Products/Services: Retail, wholesale and install kitchen cabinetry and closets

Employees: 10

Revenues: Did not disclose

Brad Schrock hadn’t considered opening a business when he came to the Ozarks, but his family history in cabinetry was impossible to ignore.

Schrock first served as a youth minister at Amazing Grace church in Springfield, but he decided he needed a better income and opened Kitchenland USA in March 1993 in Nixa.

“I applied at a couple of my current competitors just to get a job and neither one wanted to hire me,” Schrock recalls. “My family has been in the cabinet business since the ’40s, so it just made sense.”

Schrock enlisted the help of his uncle to get started and sign on a loan, and his cousin co-owned Kitchenland until 1996. The business sells and installs kitchen and bathroom cabinets and countertops as well as custom closet cabinets.

Kitchenland’s 10 employees work from 20,000 square feet of space at 2001 Michael Lane in Nixa. A 2,400-square-foot showroom displays the company’s multiple choices, and designers also can work from laptops at customers’ homes.

Well groomed

Schrock says his uncle was installing cabinets when he was 12 years old for Schrock’s grandfather, who owned a cabinetry business until the late 1950s in Arthur, Ill. Schrock’s father and uncle started their own cabinetry business, Schrock Brothers Manufacturing, in 1960. So Schrock’s father started him working for spending money early, too.

“My first job in the cabinet business was oiling drawer guides when I was 8 years old,” Schrock says.

After opening, Schrock says Kitchenland struggled for several years, but by 2000, the company’s revenues doubled from the previous year. Although he declines to share revenues, Schrock says Kitchenland grew 20 percent to 30 percent each year between 2002 and 2006.

“We did several things,” he says of the turnaround. “We changed our marketing. We added some salespeople. For a long time, I didn’t add salespeople like I needed to, and when I quit trying to do everything myself, I think that made a huge difference.”

In 2007 and 2008, Schrock says the company has stumbled due to the housing industry slowdown.

“I’ve been in the cabinet business a long time, so the slowdown was something I was expecting and planning for probably six or seven years,” says Schrock, whose company is a member of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield. “Every 10 years, there’s a building boom and then there’s a remodeling boom.”

Until 2006, 90 percent of Kitchenland’s revenues came from new home construction and 10 percent came from remodeling. In 2007, Schrock says it changed to 70 percent new construction and 30 percent remodeling. He expects a 50-50 split this year.

Jim Fortner, co-owner and president of Mastercraft Custom Homes, has used Kitchenland exclusively for at least nine years for the $500,000 to $1 million homes he builds around Table Rock Lake. Kitchenland installs kitchens and bath consoles as well as master bedroom closets at an average cost of $25,000 to $35,000, not including appliances. Some projects go as high as $100,000.

“They don’t just install; they design the kitchens and help people pick out products,” adds Fortner. “It’s turnkey from the day we lay it all out on the rough all the way down to the granite.”

Custom cabinetry

Kitchenland offers several lines of cabinetry, including Kitchen Kompact, Decora custom cabinets and Schrock cabinets, now owned by Masterbrand Cabinets. Cabinetry makes up 70 percent of Kitchenland’s revenues, with 25 percent from countertops.

Supplier Brad Clark, a vice president with Osage Beach-based H&S Sales, says Kitchenland is one of his largest accounts, buying $1 million of cabinetry a year from him.

“When consumers are buying a kitchen, they don’t always understand what they want. Kitchenland’s knowledge and talent makes the process easier,” Clark says.

Schrock says Kitchenland serves customers with $2,500 budgets on up to $100,000. The average $8,000 kitchen includes cabinets, countertops and design services.

“I’m not getting the ‘me-too’ kitchens anymore,” notes Schrock, who says customers want to be more individual.

He also says the best countertop for the money is still Formica, which now comes in many colors and with beveled edges. If budget was not a concern, however, Schrock would choose a quartz countertop, which he sees replacing granite as the next luxury product.

To stay up on trends, Schrock is a member of the National Kitchen & Bath Association. He predicts colors from the 1970s are coming back within five years.