Jack Goldberg, founder and president of supplier Mid-Nite Snax, stands proudly in the warehouse of the company he started more than 22 years ago. In April, the company moved into a new, 75,000-square-foot office space.
If you think a business owner must be hurried, stressed and uptight in order to be successful, then you haven’t met Jack Goldberg, CAS.
As president of Bethpage, New York-based supplier Mid-Nite Snax® (UPIC: midnite), Goldberg clearly takes his work seriously, but after enduring the stress of closing the first company he owned more than 22 years ago, he’s learned to take the day-to-day challenges of owning a business in stride.
Goldberg says he knows what it’s like to have heart palpitations from job-related worries, and the experience led him to realize “there’s a lot more to life,” he says. As a result, he’s built an office culture that he describes as “an easy place, not a stern place” for him and his staff to work.
Mid-Nite Snax was honored in 2013 as one of PPB’s Greatest Companies To Work For. The employees who nominated it for the honor said the company fosters a friendly, family-focused atmosphere in which the owners care about employees’ well-being. “We’re very flexible,” Goldberg says. “If an employee needs two hours off, no one’s docking their pay. We don’t ask people to stay late. If they stay late, it is because they want to finish what has to be done before they go home instead of leaving it for the next day.”
Being a confections company that sells branded chocolates, mints, popcorn, cookies and other sweet treats, Mid-Nite Snax makes candy a part of its employee recognition program, too. Employees receive Kudos® candy bars from fellow employees for stepping up and helping out without being asked. At year’s end, those with the most “kudos” receive a grand prize, such as a flat-screen TV.
The policy at Mid-Nite Snax is to also make it easy on customers by guaranteeing orders arrive on time and correctly. When hiccups happen, Goldberg says he takes care of them right away, at his company’s expense.
“Part of what we feel is that when an order is placed, the distributor doesn’t have to worry about the order or follow it every day to make sure it’s going out and everything is right,” he says.
This commitment to customer service hasn’t gone unrewarded. In the past nine years, Mid-Nite Snax has won three PPAI Supplier Star Awards, in which distributors vote for winners based on excellence in service, decoration, problem resolution and product quality, and three PPAI Supplier Star Awards of Merit.
Learning From The Past
Goldberg’s first business sold branded snack packages to hotels and others in the hospitality industry. After economic activity in this sector slowed, Goldberg closed the business, which earned almost $1 million in revenue at its height, and began working alone.
A short time later, he learned of the promotional products industry through an acquaintance that had previously worked on the supplier and distributor sides. It was clear he could sell virtually the same products to distributors in the promotional products industry, and the idea for Mid-Nite Snax as it’s now known was born.
In the meantime, another one of Goldberg’s friends provided him with 300 square feet of office space and enough room for one pallet of goods in his 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. When his friend’s employees clocked out at 4 pm, two of them would step over and begin second jobs working to help Goldberg package orders for Mid-Nite Snax.
“I had no idea this [industry] really existed,” Goldberg recalls. “Then I learned more and more about it. Slowly but surely, the company grew.”
Though Goldberg says he’s not a salesperson by nature, he always wanted to be in business of some kind. “I like to make things happen,” he says. His first few jobs were working for small manufacturing companies, where he was typically in the No. 2 leadership position. “I always felt that I could run my own company,” he says. “You know how you always think you can do better than the person you’re working for? I took the shot.”
Success Story
In the beginning, Goldberg started Mid-Nite Snax as a one-man show. He added employees over time, including his daughter, Lara, who works as the company’s sales manager. Son-in-law Craig Fraum joined the business 13 years ago and handles the company’s operations. “More people know him than me now,” Goldberg says, laughing. “I don’t mind that. I don’t mind being in the back.”
Goldberg’s behind-the-scenes work includes overseeing the company’s finances and vendor relations. “It’s easy for me,” he says. Mid-Nite Snax also recently took on a partner, David Katz, who handles human relations and customer service.
When business challenges arise, Goldberg tries to keep everything in perspective. “There are certain things you cannot do anything about,” he says. When the company was younger and small, he had a nursery for his granddaughter so he could see her every day. “Every time I got stressed out, I would take her and go play with her,” he remembers.
Now that his granddaughter is older, Goldberg uses tennis as a means of escape during a busy workday. He plays at a private club roughly four times a week.
Two months ago, the company moved its 100 year-round employees (During peak times, such as around the holidays, staff number about 140.) into a custom-built, 75,000-square-foot manufacturing and production facility. Goldberg says it was built to spec, with larger offices, two conference rooms and a lunch area.
“Before we were cramped, now everyone has nice big cubicles and wood floors. It’s really a nice place to come to work,” he says.
He wouldn’t have it any other way.
>>A Typical Day For Jack Goldberg, CAS
Jack Goldberg’s day usually starts around 7 am, when he catches up on paperwork at his desk.
At 8:30 – 9 am, the office starts filling up and the phones are ringing. “Now you’re dealing with everyday problems,” he says. “Plus, on top of other things, I’m looking at finances and trying to negotiate better deals.”
Whatever problems arise—and they always arise—Goldberg works to resolve it. “My philosophy is to take care of it right away. I don’t like things to fester,” he says.
Things slow down at 5 pm, and he starts looking at whatever has piled up during the day. “It’s nonstop for me.”