G & G Hauling & Excavating Celebrates 55 Years Of Family Business In Kosciusko County
June 11, 2021 at 11:29 p.m.
G & G Hauling & Excavating Celebrates 55 Years Of Family Business In Kosciusko County
By David [email protected]
The business based at 2064 N. CR 150W, Warsaw, is celebrating its 55th anniversary in 2021 and is the Kosciusko Chamber June Member of the Month.
Tom Groninger founded G & G in 1966.
“Well, back when my wife (Sandra) and I were first married, ’64, I worked for Freddy Boggs for a long time driving trucks and he just sold out the junkyard, he didn’t really want to work. So, he wanted me to buy the equipment. At that time, it was one end loader and one truck,” Tom recalled Friday afternoon at a company celebration.
He told Fred he didn’t have any money. “He said, ‘No problem. Just sign here.’ And I signed a note and started the business from there. But, it’s been quite a voyage since then,” Tom said.
He said he didn’t think the company would grow as big as it has.
His sons, Richard and Cary Groninger, are involved in the business as are some of his grandchildren. Tom said his daughter, Teresa, lives in Oklahoma because she wanted “to go where the horses are. But she’s still pretty active when she comes up. She helps me a lot. Works with the boys. We’re all a family.”
Tom said both of his boys showed big interest in machinery growing up, especially Cary. “He couldn’t run enough machines once he got old enough. I let him run some of the bigger equipment. He just couldn’t get enough hours on it. Richard was a little slower at it, but he’s really took off here, too,” Tom said, noting since Cary became a county commissioner Richard has a lot more jobs to do.
Cary said, “Me and Dad were always kind of like two peas in a pod. I started following my dad around when I was just a little guy, so he’s always kind of been my hero.”
Even at his age, Tom said he’s still involved at G & G. “I still move trucks every day here at the pit. I farm a couple hundred acres,” he said.
On the company, Tom said, “We try to be fair to our customers, to our people that we work for, to the suppliers that we deal with every day. It’s just a thing of being honest and fair with people that we deal with every day. We deal with a lot of people every day.”
He said he looked for his boys to carry G & G on for years.
“It’s been such a blessing. When Mom and Dad turned the company over to me and my brother, I think I was 26 years old. And to think of what he and Mom worked on their whole lives up to that point, I think Dad was 55 or 56, that’s pretty young to throw in the towel, seeing as I’m not that far away from that right now,” Cary said. “But, I think Dad’s always been a real simple guy, very content with what he’s doing and where he’s at in life.”
Cary said how business is done has really changed over the years since his dad first started the company.
“Back in Dad’s day, it was just sit down with a guy and you look at it and you give him an estimate of somewhere between this and this and shook hands and went to work,” Cary said. “And today, you have a contract that’s about 100 pages long and the bids are all read aloud and it’s down to the last penny. It’s just a whole different complexity of business that it didn’t used to be.”
He said his parents saw that for the business to grow, they needed to step aside and let their children run the operation.
While three generations of Groningers are involved in G & G, Cary said his grandfather, who he is named after, was a landscaper before the excavation business.
“He was responsible for a lot of the landscaping that happened around Winona Lake in the ’30s and ’40s,” Cary said.
Tom said all the limestone used to have to come 50 miles from Huntington and it was a fight to get materials up here to get the jobs done that needed to be done timewise. One thing that G & G did bring to the area was the recycling of concrete and asphalt with “a couple old machines that I dragged out of somebody’s backyard, so to speak. It’s grown ever since then.”
Cary said G & G was the first one in the county to think about recycling as far as asphalt, concrete and brick, and that was about 25 years ago.
“That’s been a real good addition to our company, and it gives us a competitive edge in the area, because we do recycle all of those type of materials,” he said.
G & G started with Tom and Sandra and a part-time guy. When the business was turned over to Cary and Richard, it had about nine employees.
“But it’s really built off the foundation that Dad and Mom started with: Good, honest businessmen that want to do people right. A lot of our customers have grown from that,” Cary said. “... We continue to add services and add people. We’re just under 50 employees right now under the G & G operation.”
Going forward, Cary said he and Richard’s dream would be to turn the company over to the third generation some day.
“I would love to see us continue to prosper and either grow in services that we’re providing to our existing customers or even growing geographically, other locations possibly,” Cary said.
While Kosciusko County “has been really good to us,” Cary said, G & G does work outside of the county. “Normally, it’s about a 50-mile radius of Warsaw” so employees can be home with their families at night.
He said the company has had growth in the Culver area, Marshall County and Wabash. “We still do a lot in Kosciusko County,” he said.
G & G may not boast about it, but it also likes to give back and let its employees give to the community.
“We pay our employees 16 hours a year to do community service so they get to pick what those 16 hours are,” Cary said. “... We do have a heart for the community and we try to do as much as we can. And we are one of those that try to live by that Scripture of ‘Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.’ So, we’re not ones who like to be out front and getting our picture taken with a $5,000 check or whatever. I know sometimes, I’m not trying to brag, there are a lot of things behind the scenes we do to try and help a lot of different organizations.”
He said his parents were always really big in faith-based and 4H organizations.
“We really look for those things where we feel like we’re really impacting the community,” Cary said. “... It’s been amazing to see the opportunities God has given us as an organization because I never would have dreamed ... God would allow me to play at the level we’re playing at as a company and a community leader. It’s been a real honor to serve the way I have.”
The business based at 2064 N. CR 150W, Warsaw, is celebrating its 55th anniversary in 2021 and is the Kosciusko Chamber June Member of the Month.
Tom Groninger founded G & G in 1966.
“Well, back when my wife (Sandra) and I were first married, ’64, I worked for Freddy Boggs for a long time driving trucks and he just sold out the junkyard, he didn’t really want to work. So, he wanted me to buy the equipment. At that time, it was one end loader and one truck,” Tom recalled Friday afternoon at a company celebration.
He told Fred he didn’t have any money. “He said, ‘No problem. Just sign here.’ And I signed a note and started the business from there. But, it’s been quite a voyage since then,” Tom said.
He said he didn’t think the company would grow as big as it has.
His sons, Richard and Cary Groninger, are involved in the business as are some of his grandchildren. Tom said his daughter, Teresa, lives in Oklahoma because she wanted “to go where the horses are. But she’s still pretty active when she comes up. She helps me a lot. Works with the boys. We’re all a family.”
Tom said both of his boys showed big interest in machinery growing up, especially Cary. “He couldn’t run enough machines once he got old enough. I let him run some of the bigger equipment. He just couldn’t get enough hours on it. Richard was a little slower at it, but he’s really took off here, too,” Tom said, noting since Cary became a county commissioner Richard has a lot more jobs to do.
Cary said, “Me and Dad were always kind of like two peas in a pod. I started following my dad around when I was just a little guy, so he’s always kind of been my hero.”
Even at his age, Tom said he’s still involved at G & G. “I still move trucks every day here at the pit. I farm a couple hundred acres,” he said.
On the company, Tom said, “We try to be fair to our customers, to our people that we work for, to the suppliers that we deal with every day. It’s just a thing of being honest and fair with people that we deal with every day. We deal with a lot of people every day.”
He said he looked for his boys to carry G & G on for years.
“It’s been such a blessing. When Mom and Dad turned the company over to me and my brother, I think I was 26 years old. And to think of what he and Mom worked on their whole lives up to that point, I think Dad was 55 or 56, that’s pretty young to throw in the towel, seeing as I’m not that far away from that right now,” Cary said. “But, I think Dad’s always been a real simple guy, very content with what he’s doing and where he’s at in life.”
Cary said how business is done has really changed over the years since his dad first started the company.
“Back in Dad’s day, it was just sit down with a guy and you look at it and you give him an estimate of somewhere between this and this and shook hands and went to work,” Cary said. “And today, you have a contract that’s about 100 pages long and the bids are all read aloud and it’s down to the last penny. It’s just a whole different complexity of business that it didn’t used to be.”
He said his parents saw that for the business to grow, they needed to step aside and let their children run the operation.
While three generations of Groningers are involved in G & G, Cary said his grandfather, who he is named after, was a landscaper before the excavation business.
“He was responsible for a lot of the landscaping that happened around Winona Lake in the ’30s and ’40s,” Cary said.
Tom said all the limestone used to have to come 50 miles from Huntington and it was a fight to get materials up here to get the jobs done that needed to be done timewise. One thing that G & G did bring to the area was the recycling of concrete and asphalt with “a couple old machines that I dragged out of somebody’s backyard, so to speak. It’s grown ever since then.”
Cary said G & G was the first one in the county to think about recycling as far as asphalt, concrete and brick, and that was about 25 years ago.
“That’s been a real good addition to our company, and it gives us a competitive edge in the area, because we do recycle all of those type of materials,” he said.
G & G started with Tom and Sandra and a part-time guy. When the business was turned over to Cary and Richard, it had about nine employees.
“But it’s really built off the foundation that Dad and Mom started with: Good, honest businessmen that want to do people right. A lot of our customers have grown from that,” Cary said. “... We continue to add services and add people. We’re just under 50 employees right now under the G & G operation.”
Going forward, Cary said he and Richard’s dream would be to turn the company over to the third generation some day.
“I would love to see us continue to prosper and either grow in services that we’re providing to our existing customers or even growing geographically, other locations possibly,” Cary said.
While Kosciusko County “has been really good to us,” Cary said, G & G does work outside of the county. “Normally, it’s about a 50-mile radius of Warsaw” so employees can be home with their families at night.
He said the company has had growth in the Culver area, Marshall County and Wabash. “We still do a lot in Kosciusko County,” he said.
G & G may not boast about it, but it also likes to give back and let its employees give to the community.
“We pay our employees 16 hours a year to do community service so they get to pick what those 16 hours are,” Cary said. “... We do have a heart for the community and we try to do as much as we can. And we are one of those that try to live by that Scripture of ‘Don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.’ So, we’re not ones who like to be out front and getting our picture taken with a $5,000 check or whatever. I know sometimes, I’m not trying to brag, there are a lot of things behind the scenes we do to try and help a lot of different organizations.”
He said his parents were always really big in faith-based and 4H organizations.
“We really look for those things where we feel like we’re really impacting the community,” Cary said. “... It’s been amazing to see the opportunities God has given us as an organization because I never would have dreamed ... God would allow me to play at the level we’re playing at as a company and a community leader. It’s been a real honor to serve the way I have.”
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