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Local
mushroom entrepreneur lauded Gary Schroeder didn't
follow the usual roads in the business.
By Sandra Rumanek
Conquering new frontiers
seems to come naturally to London Britain resident Gary Schroeder, president and
founder of Oakshire Mushroom Farm. Last week he received the 2000 Paradigm Award
from the South Eastern Economic Development Co. -- the first mushroom business
owner so honored. It is presented to an entrepreneur who is a model of success
in a competitive business environment, and the latest in a line of achievements
for Schroeder. He started his specialty
mushroom business in 1985, and one year later was elected chairman of the
American Mushroom Institute, serving until 1988. He is now a director of that
organization. In 1997, Schroeder was named a Leading High Growth Entrepreneur by
the Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. He is
chair of the White Clay Creek Bi-State Advisory Council and the newly elected
vice president of operations for the Chester County Council of Boy Scouts, an
organization he credits with much of his success. It all began 28 years ago,
said Schroeder, when he was elected a Boy Scout senior patrol leader at 15. His
stint at Scout leadership school was "incredible," Schroeder said with
a smile. "A teen leading younger teens is about as difficult as herding
cats." He was good at it though, and decided leading the pack was just
where he wanted to be. Schroeder was elected
president of numerous school clubs over the next few years, and obtained a
bachelor's degree in plant science from Pennsylvania State University, quickly
followed by a master's degree in plant pathology. His father was a professor at
the university, and is an engineer by training. That sets Schroeder apart
from his fellow mushroom growers. "As far as I know, I'm the only
mushroom-farm owner who's not from a lineage of it," he said. Schroeder said starting his
own business was always part of his "master plan." After college, he
went to work for Phillips Mushroom Co. in Kennett Township, which at the time
grew only white button mushrooms. "I started them in the specialty mushroom
business," said Schroeder. When the time was right to
break out on his own, Schroeder knew just what to do. "There was no
competitive advantage to doing white mushrooms," said Schroeder. "I
was looking for a unique niche." In his college research,
Schroeder had developed a process for growing shiitake mushrooms in a sawdust
base, but it needed refining. Oakshire's shiitake-growing
results were "mixed" at first, said Schroeder. "We were working
with different growing mediums, then in 1987 we purchased an old [mushroom
cultures] company and started working in it with great success," he said. Oakshire now has 50
employees, compared to 30 in 1994, but the business has increased seven-fold
during those years, he said. Rather than increased
manpower, "we use technology at every turn possible," said Schroeder.
"I can sit at my desk -- at the office or at home -- and check and adjust
the growing conditions at all my facilities." Oakshire now has six plants
and three divisions, including Golden Oak, where the shiitake "logs"
are made by compressing sawdust and adding the cultures, called spawn. "In nature, that's how
shiitakes grow -- on a log," said Schroeder. "The spawn has the
perfect food source, so it just takes off." Because fungi is low on the evolutionary chain, he said, it is easily subject to environmental change. "If you've been using the same [spawn] culture for about three years, you can tell the difference in the mushroom -- usually it's deteriorated," said Schroeder. To combat
that problem, Oakshire takes the best cultures and stores them in liquid
nitrogen, "trying to freeze them in time," he said, so quality is
assured years down the road. The company's 'clean room'
laboratory has much the same standards as a computer microchip manufacturing
facility, said Schroeder, so the cultures are not contaminated. "We're just
accelerating nature's mushroom-growing process, keeping it pure and
high-quality," he said. The company grows, packages
and markets other specialty mushrooms, including crimini, oyster, enoki and
portobello, under their name and others. Several years ago, Schroeder
said he realized the company needed to diversify to continue its growth. So they
began selling the 'logs' to other growers. Much of their business is now with
companies in California, Florida, Texas and the Midwest -- all part of
Schroeder's master plan. The large amount of mushroom farms in the area causes
an "over saturation and lower prices in the Northeast region" he said,
so Oakshire went after markets every place but.
Balance The mushroom business is not
his 'life' however. Schroeder and his wife Laurey have three sons, 12, 15 and
18. The oldest, Zachary, is working toward a degree in astrophysics at Penn
State, and Schroeder is just fine with that. "I've told my employees
that one of my sons is not going to be the next president of this
business," said Schroeder. "I want my sons to follow their own
dreams." That philosophy is one way
he has attracted talented people to join Oakshire, said Schroeder. "There
are about a half-dozen people in the United States who really understand growing
these types of mushrooms," he said. "And three of them, including me,
work here." His sons are following in
his scouting footsteps though, and Schroeder's commitment to the organization
and its principles remains strong. He founded Troop 62 eight years ago and is
its Scoutmaster. He helped start Pack 42 a few years before that. Troop 62, sponsored by the
Kemblesville United Methodist Church, is a "high adventure troop,"
said Schroeder. Last year he took the older members on a wilderness canoeing
trip to Canada. This summer it will be mountaineering in Philmont, N.M., a Scout
leadership camp where Schroeder is now a faculty member. |
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© 2000 THE KENNETT PAPER. All rights reserved.