Andrew Koenig With CITY Furniture

Intro: [00:00:01] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in South Florida. It’s time for South Florida Business Radio now. Here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:14] Lee Kantor here another episode of South Florida Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, DIAZ Trade Law, your customs expert today on South Florida Business Radio, we have Andrew Koenig with City Furniture. Welcome.

Andrew Koenig: [00:00:32] Thanks, Lee. Thanks for having me, man.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:34] Well, I am so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about city furniture, how you saw them, folks.

Andrew Koenig: [00:00:40] Sure. City Furniture is a 51 year old home furnishings retailer here in South Florida and also central Florida. Started as waterbed city retailer in 1971. My father and my uncle were a couple of hippies selling water beds, and it turned into city furniture in 1994 when water beds got uncool and we shifted into full line home furnishings. And we’ve been city furniture ever since.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:04] Now, what was that transition like? Was that were you involved at the time with the organization?

Andrew Koenig: [00:01:10] No, no, I was not here. But I can tell you, we put all of our all of our dough on the line in a bet to transition from water beds to city furniture. And our first store to the right of us was Levitz Furniture, the number one furniture retailer in the country, and a startup called Rooms to Go that we all know is a big retailer throughout the Southeast United States and proud that our little city furniture concept has succeeded since then. And number one in South Florida. So we’re really proud.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:38] How do you what do you attribute that kind of the ability to make that transition and go from a niche business to kind of more of a mass business and still keep a culture and kind of the the work you’re doing in in the community? How do you how do you keep that all going?

Andrew Koenig: [00:01:55] Sure. So my uncle, who was the founder of our business that pulled my dad and he was a natural entrepreneur, he was saved his money as a bellman to open up our first store, sold yo yos on the street corner. Just very entrepreneurial. So what got us through that transition from water beds into a full line home furnishings retailer was just the entrepreneurial spirit that is our number one corporate value at city. I’ve always evolving, always moving towards where the customer wants us to be next, and that’s just who we are. And we’re very blessed that we have a fantastic team that, you know, we take things head on as a city family, we call it, and they did a fantastic job transitioning and clearly they’ve done a great job. And now we’re continuously evolving as every year customers change needs the community change and we evolve with it. So that can’t be difficult for us. That needs to be part of who we are.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:49] So it becomes part of the culture in the DNA of the organization 100%.

Andrew Koenig: [00:02:54] Yeah, that’s, you know, other corporate value that we have is continuous improvement, you know, teamwork, family, spirit, you these are all things that just keep us constantly evolving over time.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:04] Now, how does that work in terms of the employees? How like was there are ways that you can measure that or demonstrate that?

Andrew Koenig: [00:03:12] Sure, we are very data driven, so we have a fairly large data analytics team. So we’re always measuring our associates satisfaction. All the KPIs, whether it’s customer externally related like surveys and brand research studies, but we also measure internal customer satisfaction, you know, how accounting serves, you know, the sales associate or how marketing serve sales. So we have a lot of metrics to measure our performance. We believe in that philosophy of you. You know, you don’t you can’t measure or you can’t manage what you don’t measure. So so we’re we’re a continuous improvement house and we use data to solve problems and improve things. And sometimes that’s culture related. And we have a lot of metrics along those lines.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:56] Now, part of your culture is a giving pledge. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Andrew Koenig: [00:04:01] Yeah, I’m real proud of this one. So my father, my uncle were a couple very religious guys and always believed, you know, as they grew the business and got some success, they wanted to give back to the community. So we’ve been giving back to organizations like Covenant House for 40 plus years. So but the story about the Giving Pledge is about five years ago. I remember looking into our financials and seeing how much donations we were giving. And I remember talking to my dad. I’m like, Dad, we got to tell the story. You know, my generation, I’m an older millennial, needs to be aware of what, you know, the companies that they choose to buy from are doing for the community. And and the story goes that, you know, I pitched them on, hey, let’s brand this as a strategy of 5% giving pledge pledge, and let’s make a public announcement to the community that we’re going to make give back a minimum of 5% of our profits every single year. The five categories we focus on are health. So that could be like American Cancer Society or the American Heart Association.

Andrew Koenig: [00:05:09] Unfortunately, my our founder, my Uncle Kevin, passed away from heart disease. A mom passed away from cancer about seven years ago. So those are really big causes. We also focus on service. So giving back to women and men that serve our communities or serve the US. You name it. And the military. We also support education, know like colleges, junior achievement, South Florida, you name it home, which would example that would be like Habitat for Humanity. And what’s the last one? Health service. Oh, diversity would be another core value where we’re partners with One Pulse Foundation in Orlando and the Heritage Foundation and several others there, Urban League. So we’re trying to get back in areas that we think are in need for the community and that fit within those five pillars. And, you know, as our business continuously improves and grows and our profitability grows. We have a big community team that works really hard to make sure we give back properly and keep keep my Uncle Kevin’s spirit alive and making sure we’re we’re living our purpose, which is to enrich people’s lives and make the world a better place.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:16] Now, when you’re deciding which nonprofit to support, how how do you go about that? Are you listening to your employees, your customers? How does somebody get on one of those lists?

Andrew Koenig: [00:06:27] All the above. But we’re also listening to the community. We’re also reflecting on who we are as a business. What are some of the problems we’ve personally experienced? You know, again, it was it was a very difficult time when we lost my Uncle Kevin. It was very difficult for my father. So you’d imagine heart diseases is it just happens to be the number one killer of Americans even more than COVID. Even during the pandemic, we didn’t see enough work being done there. So we partnered American Heart. Same thing with the American Cancer Society. When my mom passed, I was very devastating time for our culture and our team. She was like the matriarch of our business. And to honor her and what she’s done for us over the last 40 plus years of being the matriarch, we wanted to go all in on the American Cancer Society. So, you know, it’s a bit of who we are. It’s a bit of community needs. It’s a bit of what our associates and customers want. And we do the absolute best we can to spend every single penny as wisely as possible. But we’ll listen to all our organizations and their needs. And, you know, I get on calls with a lot of them, and we do the best we can to serve as much as we possibly can. So I hope that helps.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:30] Now, on top of the Giving Pledge, you also have a promise regarding sustainability. Is that totally separate than the Giving Pledge or that’s in addition?

Andrew Koenig: [00:07:40] Yeah. Yeah, that is separate. Our 5% giving pledge is strictly giving in in charitable aspects. The 2040 Green Promise is our promise, public promise that will be carbon neutral by the year 2040. And we’ve been on a journey to be a very green organization for probably 20 years. We had one of the very first Styrofoam liquified technologies that liquefies and melts and hardens Styrofoam and turn them into I think crocs are chairs and you name it. So 100% recyclable and safe. About ten plus years ago, we we invested in our green fleet. I’m happy to say our entire fleet is 100% renewable, compressed natural gas as well as renewable natural gas. Essentially, the Department of Energy considers that a green energy, and it’s about 67% less emissions than any other truck you’ll see on the road. I’m proud to say 2021, we were the we were ranked the greenest fleet in the entire United States amongst all fleets. I’m talking like police departments, air Force ups, you name it. And that was a really big honor for our business. We only build green buildings, LEED certified leadership, energy, environmental design buildings, or Energy star certified buildings. So we’ve been doing that for over ten years. So we’ve always been very green forward. And, you know, it’s the right thing to do for the planet. It’s the right thing to do to attract customers and make them feel proud of their purchases. It’s also a great business cause a lot of these efforts actually have helped us save a lot of money. To give you an idea, you know our fuel costs members remember this past summer fuel diesel prices went up to like five or six bucks a gallon. You know, we were substantially below that. I’d say the number, but it’s substantially below that. And so, you know, it’s harder work to execute green strategies and go after this, but there’s actually a really solid ROI. Most areas and so we’re on our journey to be carbon neutral and we’re real proud of it.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:54] Now, what was it like kind of being part of a family owned business, a family run business? Is there anything like was it kind of assumed that you would be leading it at some point, or was that something that you decided at some point to to get back involved with the organization?

Andrew Koenig: [00:10:15] Yeah. So so actually, in college I tried to go pro in golf, so I was a big golfer in high school, and I always dreamed of being a professional golfer until I started playing some of the top five schools in our country. And I was like, whoa, You know, I played for like a top 50 school, you know, as a starter. And I remember I remember playing some of those players and I was like, wow, that guy is on another level. And so I remember in college saying, okay, I need to I need to get a real job one day because I don’t think this is gonna work out. So but I was always very competitive and very I’m very you know, once I find something I love, I’m all into it. And actually, in an accounting class in college, I fell in love with business. And I fell in love. I didn’t realize business was as competitive as sports. And I have like, you know, I have a competitive spirit. My dad has a competitive spirit. And I guess my and then I started learning more about business. And that really that really sparked a passion in me, in the business world. And then coming out of college, I really wanted to learn everything I could about City.

Andrew Koenig: [00:11:21] And I really I found I loved our industry, I loved our business, I loved the business my father built. And I see a lot of opportunity to take this business very far into the future and do a lot of really special things. And I also what I also found is I really love our people. Like, you know, my father and my uncle really built a special culture here at City that, you know, it was not it was very hard not to fall in love with. So, you know. So, no, I started in the receiving docks in offloading furniture. I spent several years in the warehouse on the ground floor. The reason there is I never felt like I would earn the respect of our operations team if I didn’t know the work, do the work and be there side by side. So I was a delivery driver for many months. I worked overnight. I remember my my now wife was my girlfriend at the time. She didn’t really think I was going to work at 930 and coming back the next day at 9:00 in the morning. And so she was like, Oh, you must have another girlfriend. But but no, I’ve worked all the tough shifts and worked a lot of different departments in in.

Andrew Koenig: [00:12:27] It’s helped me become a better leader. And my father did not give me anything. I had to work for everything I got. But I’m an ambitious guy and I was fortunate to learn from a lot of great leaders in our organization. That helped make me pretty solid. And, you know, I but but I feel, you know, over the years, I really was a student of the game. And over time, when I felt like I was capable of taking on more, you know, luckily I got those opportunities and it just naturally happened this way. And I’m proud to be where I’m at. And I’m also very proud of BCO because I get to give my dad some time off. He’s worked 51 years and he’s a chairman and, you know, you know, if you work 51 years at City and, you know, building this thing, you deserve some time off. And I love seeing that he’s not working as hard as he used to. And I’m happy to take on that workload for him because, you know, I wouldn’t be here in this situation for my family and my city family if it wasn’t for him. So I’m proud to take on some of this work for him.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:28] When you were growing up, how did you view the city? Was it something like, Oh, that’s my dad works there and and you were just, you know, obviously you were aware of it, but it wasn’t like that. Curious. But it wasn’t until after you were in college and kind of saw like, Hey, there is something there for me and there’s a way for me to contribute.

Andrew Koenig: [00:13:49] Yeah. I mean, I as a kid, I always thought it was cool and I thought it was interesting, but I definitely thought sports were more cool or more interesting. And I didn’t really didn’t really fall in love with the business until college, when really that accounting class really kind of woke me up and said, Hey, there’s an industry here. Hey, there’s, you know, this this is an opportunity to build something really fun. And so I always thought what he built was very special in the culture was really special, But I didn’t really see the fun in work when I was a kid. And I think that’s something that the world needs to do a lot better. Job at work can be a lot of fun. Like I love what I do. I, I know our team really works hard because they enjoy who they do it with. It’s a fun work experience. The challenges every day are fun and we’re all we all on a mission and a vision and got great purpose. And you know, it’s just work’s a lot more fun when you when you have a great team and great culture and great opportunity. Then I think that I learned when I was in high school, you know what I mean? Or when I heard about work. It sounds horrible work. Oh, you got to work hard, you know. You know.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:01] Especially comparing it to golf.

Andrew Koenig: [00:15:03] Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, you know, but but as soon as I realized the work was fun and challenging in.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:12] And has meaning in impact, I mean, you’re what you’re doing is impacting so many families through your employees and the joy you’re bringing to the customers. It’s it’s a gift. A lot of the stuff you’re doing and the reframing of that, I’m agreement 100%. The young people have to see the joy of work and the personal satisfaction and the impact you’re making in the families and the community. I mean, that stuff’s real.

Andrew Koenig: [00:15:38] Yeah. There’s there’s nothing more proud to know that. You know, I’ll start with the product side just to provide just amazing product. You know, our product is in factories where, you know, right down the line is RH or Williams-Sonoma or Pottery Barn. Some of the some of the highest end brands you could think of. And we’re able to provide that product substantially, you know, 70 to 80% less and pass on that value to our customers. My father and my uncle always they they have very humble beginnings. They didn’t come from money. You know, they they were they had to work the work through college and keep themselves afloat. They probably started working when they’re 12 years old, you know, So they understand the value dollar. And our business is all about creating or developing amazing product, amazing style, amazing quality at affordable and strong values for our customers and and a fun and exciting environment. So after you find the product you love and the price, you’re like, Wow, that’s amazing. Then you have a great sales associate and delivery experience. It just makes our entire shopping experience something very special. And when when city succeeds, you’re absolutely right. When we grow and financially we can do more. The fact that I have more dough in the bank account to give back to American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, Junior Achievement, Habitat for Humanity, you name it.

Andrew Koenig: [00:17:05] Some of these causes that are just greater than anything I could ever do. You know, I think these people are angels, what they do and and the fact that we can financially help them out and support them is just it’s a dream. And and I’ll never forget the story if I just add I remember we’re we’re trying to raise money for the American Heart Association three years ago and and I’m and I rarely ask our associates to participate. I think once a year it’s always the American heart, you know, and I don’t ask for much. It’s a buck, whatever you want to help out. Of course, we ask our customers and we raise money with our vendors and all that good stuff. But I remember this this guy walking out in the warehouse worker walks up to me, he says, Andrew, I’m sorry, man. I just I just don’t have a buck to share right now. I go, Bro, I love you, man. That is so nice that you actually came up to me to tell me that. Number two, you don’t have to worry about it. You work at Citi, like the better our company does, the better you do helping our company, the better city does, the more money we have at the end of the year to give back to these charities and these organizations.

Andrew Koenig: [00:18:05] And his eyes just lit up. He was like, You’re telling me I’m by me working here and helping like kick butt Today in the warehouse, I’m actually helping American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, all these guys. Yes. And he was like, wow. Like, he was like, you know what? That’s amazing. Thank you so much. Like, and it’s true. So a lot of our associates, we have 3000 plus associates know that. And our sales team, we’ve got about eight, eight, 900 sales associates in our stores right now. There right now, this first quarter of this year, they’re trying to raise $500,000 for the American Heart Association with our test campaign. So, you know, our our culture is very special. Like we definitely believe we’re we’re doing more. Right before I came to this meeting or this podcast, I just left another meeting in. It was for the American Heart Association that we’re trying to raise. And I ended the meeting saying, let let’s save some lives. Like what? It’s not a marketing campaign. Your marketing campaign is actually saving lives. And we truly believe that. So that’s just one example of many about what we’re we’re doing here at City.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:06] So what do you need more of? How can we help you? Do you need more talent? You need more employees, you need more customers, You need more causes to help. How can we help you?

Andrew Koenig: [00:19:18] Oh, man. So, you know, we’re an open book. So, you know, number one, I’d say, hey, give me give me anybody out there listening. Give me ideas to help make us better, how to serve our customers better, how to how to be better. And in return, our company will continue to grow and we’ll be able to give back more. So I think I’m always asking anybody, I’m interacting whether you’ve shopped with us or or whether you didn’t tell me how I can improve, how we can improve to be a better retailer and or home furnishings retailer or anybody listen in that. You know, could provide me advice on how to run our business better, how to create better culture, how to have better technology or better supply chain. You know, I’m all ears. So, you know, I try to network as much as possible and and connect with as much as possible to learn from everybody. We’re a continuous improvement organization. And how everybody can help me, how you can help me is help me be better and give me ideas. Never hesitate to be honest and direct with me on on where we can improve. Or if you just have ideas while wild, crazy ideas. They’re all welcome. So that’s that what’s that’s what I need.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:33] So if somebody wants to learn more about city and trying to location near them, what’s the coordinates?

Andrew Koenig: [00:20:41] Well, the website is a good one. You can learn a lot about us online and obviously shop with us online. But we have a corporate social responsibility report. We have about US page. We have a lot of branding information there that really explains who we are as a business and where we’re going and what we’re trying to do. Of course, you can go to your local city store. We’re pretty much within 50 minutes of everybody in South Florida and now Orlando and about to be Tampa. We got our first store there in Tampa. But so, yeah, we’re not too far away or anybody can reach out to me at Andrew Kay at City Furniture dot com. I share my email with everybody and I’m happy to take any feedback calls, network, you name it.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:21] Well, congratulations on all the success. You must be doing something right. You win an awards and all different categories all over the place. So congratulations and you’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Andrew Koenig: [00:21:33] All right, back at you. And thank you so much for having me on. And I wouldn’t be here. And without my amazing city family, it’s all them. They’re kicking butt every day. I’m so proud of them.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:42] All that city furniture. City furniture dot com. To learn more, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on South Florida Business Radio. He.