Running a Family Business
Growing a family business—without the family drama
Zaraid Jimenez (MS·MBA’17) and her older brother Antonio (MS·MBA’17) always struggled with weight issues as kids growing up in Venezuela, a country that lacked many of the healthy foods available in the United States. Peanut butter—one of their favorite protein-rich snacks—was available only in a few specialty food stores, but was always loaded with sugar.
Frustrated by monotonous menus and a craving for the natural peanut butter she found whenever she travelled to the States, Zaraid took to the family’s kitchen. She began creating options that were nutritious, but didn’t sacrifice flavor. In 2012, the brother-sister pair cofounded FitFood, a healthy food manufacturing company based in their hometown of Valencia, Venezuela. FitFood’s products, including items like peanut butter and hazelnut flour, are sold in more than 40 stores in 4 cities throughout the country.
Venezuela’s current food crisis has forced the company to grapple with soaring inflation, a scarcity of raw materials, and electricity shortages. Feeling a responsibility to their customers and employees, the Jimenezes have responded by reducing margins, modifying recipes, and exploring overseas expansion. Here’s their advice for growing a family business—free of family drama—in good and bad times.
1 Think about the emotional cost Zaraid: “Make sure your business partner is the right person. Is the relationship going to survive if something happens after this? This is my brother and we are super close. If you decide to end the business relationship, you could end the personal relationship, too.”
2 Celebrate your differences Antonio: “She’s very risk averse. Her way of thinking is thinking of all the possibilities that might not go well.” ZJ: “And he’s the other way around.” AJ: “When the stores requested crazy quantities, she said, ‘No, no, we can’t do it.’” ZJ: “Three days later—and no sleep—we did it, because Antonio said to go forward.”
3 Move on without pointing fingers AJ and ZJ: “With every mistake, the first thing is to not blame one another. We never do that. We just try to resolve the situation first. And then we try to figure out where we went wrong so we don’t make the same mistake again.”
4 Don’t always put family first ZJ: “When you need to hire new people, sometimes family want to be hired, but that may not be the best choice. Try to help your family, but in a way that’s good for the business, too. There may be another job you can offer that is more fitting. Just because you get along as a family doesn’t mean you’d get along as business partners.”
5 Tap into relatives’ expertise AJ: “Because our parents were entrepreneurs, we took their insight into account in making decisions. They provided value to the decision-making processes. They have contributed from strategy and leadership to topics that were more unfamiliar to us, such as finances and accounting. As well as being parents, they were mentors.”
