Wisconsin Oven names new building after David Strand

Expanded operations means more jobs

By Tracy Ouellette

Editor

Wisconsin Oven Corporation President David Strand was surprised June 11 when company owner Philippe Blandineres named the new building at its 2675 Main St. site after him.

“I had no idea he was going to do it,” Strand said. “It was very touching. We had been talking about what to name the building and I wanted to name it after the employees and gave him some suggestions but he didn’t tell me what he was planning. I was definitely caught off guard.”

Strand, 48, is a livelong resident of East Troy and lives in the area with his wife Andrea and his two stepchildren. He also has three children grown children from a previous marriage.

An active member of the community, Strand served on the East Troy School Board for eight years and was president of the board for some on his tenure. He is also on the board of directors for the United Way of Walworth County.

Strand owned Wisconsin Oven until 2012, when he sold the company to Blandineres to help raise funds to pay off some existing debt because of the retirement of the founder and former shareholders.

“He approached me to buy the company in 2006 and I refused at the time, but we found we had a lot in common and we became great friends,” Strand said.

“He still wanted to be part of Wisconsin Oven, so he joined our board of directors and I joined his board of directors in France,” Strand said.

The relationship benefitted both parties, said Strand, and when it came to sell, Blandineres was waiting.

In a speech given at the official opening of the new building June 11, Blandineres said Strand represented everything that made the company successful.

He said Strand’s efforts to work his way up from the bottom exemplified what makes the United States a great country and his hard work was a credit to his character.

He said Strand began working with the company 28 years ago in the shop and was made a plant manager six years later, four years after that he was named vice-president of operations and 10 years later president and owner.

“When Dave began his nine-year tenure as president he helped lead this struggling team to a record year and a plant expansion was put on to the standard division in 2008.

“Following the expansion came one of the worst global recessions any of us have ever seen. Under Dave’s leadership he navigated this team through a very difficult time. Many difficult decisions and heartaches took place throughout 2009. With a 50 percent reduction in sales this company was still able to survive.”

Tuesday Strand said 2009 was a difficult year for the company but he wasn’t going to let the recession take his company down.

“I was determined to do whatever it took. I cut all the salaries from 30 to 50 percent depending on the position and I took a large pay cut, too,” he said. “We did some restricting during that time and there were a lot of difficult decisions made and a lot of hard feelings.”

But the strategy paid off. Five years later, the company has experienced record growth in each consecutive year and saw the need to expand operations to keep up with demand.

Strand said they began working on the expansion about this time last year when they realized they couldn’t keep up with the orders with their facility.

“It was critical to keep growing, 75 percent of our business is repeat customers and we can’t turn our back on them,” he said.

Strand said they wanted to bring the operations that were housed in a leased plant in Waukesha to East Troy and building a new facility would enable them to do that.

“The village was very cooperative with us,” Strand said. “There were some height restrictions in the community and they made sure to meet our needs by making some exceptions.”

Ground was broken for the new plant in the midst of one of the harshest winters in recorded history, but it didn’t put construction behind a single day, said Strand.

“I can’t say enough about Anderson Ashton, they worked right through the cold.”

“We’re projecting 2014 to be our largest year ever,” Strand said. “We’re right back to the staffing levels we were in 2008 and we expect to add at least 25 more employees by the end of the year.

Strand, who owned the company until 2012, said the real credit to the company’s comeback need to go to the employees.

“None of this was possible without the championship team that is our employees,” he said. “It’s all about your people and we have the best work ethic in the business and they’ve given us the ability to be a leader in the industry.”

That feeling of community extends further than just the company. Wisconsin Oven is known in the area for being a generous supporter of the United Way of Walworth County and each year Strand puts up $5,000 of his own money and Wisconsin Oven matches it for a $10,000 scholarship to a graduating East Troy High School senior. This year’s recipient was Jeffrey Luttropp.