Story and photos by Tom Lindfors
According to Fortune Business Insights, the food service industry in the United States is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent from USD 905.13 billion in 2023 to USD 1,767.54 billion by 2030.
Food service is defined as establishments that serve food to people outside their homes in any form of delivery or takeaway, restaurants, food bars, institutional canteens, catering and vending machines, hotels, etc.
Zoom out and the larger ecosystem includes the food and beverage manufacturers who provide the food to the operators who prepare the serve the food as well as to retailers selling their products off the shelves in stores.
RESCO President Tim Strand and his talented team of 50 plus employees thrive in the space between manufacturers and operators providing exceptional sales support to some of the Fortune 500’s largest food and beverage manufacturing companies.
The bread and butter of large manufacturing brands is producing a physical good, storing it in their warehouse and distributing it out to operators and retailers. Large brands require armies of sales people to secure and service customers for those goods. RESCO is the insurance on their bet, the difference in the details that can determine whether a valuable customer is won or lost.
“We’re the team behind your team. We come in where it’s everything else besides the product that is actually being sold. That’s all we focus on,” Strand explained. “So, think of signage, displays, promotional inventory fulfillment, sales kits, POS, print, customized web-to-print solutions, swag and wearables for the teams and sampling. We are an extension of your marketing and sales teams, ready to help where your brand needs support.”
“Our clients leverage us to delight their customers, increase that mindshare and stick out from the rest of the crowd,” Strand said. “Oftentimes the customers that our clients are calling on have no idea we’re even involved behind-the-scenes supporting and providing those value-added services.”
RESCO was the recipient of the St. Croix Economic Development Corporation’s 2024 Large Business of the Year Award (30 or more employees). RESCO previously won the EDC’s Small Business of the Year Award in 1994.
Strand’s success within the food and beverage industry is informed by his ancestry, an intuitive sense of market trends balanced by his affinity for old-school marketing and an insatiable passion for connecting with people.
RESCO namesake Ralph E. Strand founded the company in 1957 in White Plains, NY where it provided direct mail marketing services. Strand’s son Eric took the company forward in the 1980s along with son Glenn who built the technology throughout the 90s and 00s. The business expanded into the print market throughout the 1990s opening RESCO Print Graphics in Hudson to local customers.
“We strategically got out of the pure print local business and decided to go in-depth with food and beverage. Since 2009 that has ushered in the current era at RESCO,” Strand said.
Strand literally learned the business from the ground up.
“I was throwing paper airplanes through the aisles in the warehouse when I was just a little kid,” Strand said. “My father had a great hands-off approach, ‘Do whatever you want with your life but there’s always a door open here.’ In retrospect that actually made it a lot more appealing.”
In high school, Strand worked in a pick and pack fulfillment role in the warehouse. After graduating from St. Cloud State University, he returned to RESCO assisting the main pressman loading ink and paper in the press room from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. 3 to four days a week.
“At the end of a 12-hour shift, my whole closet would smell like press wash,” Strand recalled. “But it was an eye-opening experience, and he was a great mentor to me.”
Following his work on the press, he worked as an account executive for six years before becoming the Executive vice president for six years and then president of RESCO in November 2022.
Today Strand is business partners with his step-brother Connor O’Keefe who runs the operations side of the company while he manages the creative side.
“We complement each other really well. He’s mechanically minded and has that background. I like to think of myself as a more creative, on-a-whim people person who loves a good challenge,” Strand said.
Strand believes family ownership provides strategic advantages.
Having a compact decision-making hierarchy allows the company to pivot quickly if needed in response to market challenges.
“The fact that we’re a small family-owned company, you have the ability to adapt quicker than other companies and that sets us apart,” Strand said.
It also allows them to make short-term decisions within the context of a long view strategy.
“Family ownership is important because we take a very long view on the success of the company allowing us to make difficult short-term decisions but in the name of long-term success,” Strand explained. “We’ve never had outside investors or fractional share ownership where things can start to get splintered and decisions are made based on a short-term profit centered view.”
Strand recognized the essential contributions of his employees during the awards ceremony in February.
“Most importantly this applies to our 53 incredible employees. I’m the guy that’s up here but it’s due to all of them that we’re here,” he said.
He is particularly proud of RESCO’s record for retaining employees. Lynn French, RESCO’s Chief of Staff, has been with the company going on 38 years and has held a number of different positions since she started in 1987.
“I think it’s our consistency and to some degree our humility in that there is no part of this business that any one is exempt from having the opportunity to think about or help with,” Strand said. “The challenge is, trying to create a culture of curiosity and pushing for better. And having everybody throughout the company live and breathe that.”
During his acceptance address in February, Stand noted his company’s recent growth, hiring more than 15 new employees and expanding into two new facilities: a 54,000 sq. ft. facility in the Sterling Ponds Corporate Park and a 16,500 sq. ft. addition to its Hudson headquarters bringing RESCO’s total square footage to 150,000 sq. ft.
10,000 sq. ft is home to the creative / administrative side of the business including client interface teams, operations and executive functions; 5,000 sq. ft. houses the digital print and bindery shop and with the remaining 80 percent being dedicated to warehousing and racking storage for client’s inventory.
Digital printing is an essential component of RESCO’s services. It enables RESCO to provide incredibly specific, highly customizable print solutions in very short runs much more affordably and quickly than offset printing.
That capability allows sales teams to experiment with concepts and personalize everything from gifts to t-shirts and signage to trade show banners, displays and table covers.
Despite the inundation of digital marketing, Strand strongly believes in augmenting email and social media with old-school marketing tactics.
“You need to weave a thread between the digital world and the tangible world,” he said. “There is a huge opportunity to augment the digital side with something that you can physically, tangibly touch and that happens to you. That is something that people will remember.”
It is the Christmas gift effect, experiential marketing. People respond to the excitement of opening a package, the brightly colored box, the bright shiny thing. A well-timed, hand-written note stands out from the onslaught of emails.
What’s next
RESCO has implemented two strategic changes to its operating philosophy.
“We’re still focused on what we do, but we’re broadening who we’re doing it for. It used to be just for the traditional food service industry, a very select channel. Now we are taking on and servicing retail brands and CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies,” Strand said.
In February, RESCO adopted a significant change to its plan for strategic growth. It came down to the difference between developing a client for a quick or a one-time sale or building a developing a true partnership that translates into many sales over time.
According to Strand the 80/20 rule applies to the food service industry where 20 percent of the companies are responsible for 80 percent of the spending.
“The food service industry is a big Industry in terms of spend but a small industry in terms of the number of companies and customers in it. It is a relationship-based industry. The majority of sales opportunities lie with really large corporate decision-makers,” he said.
Before the change in philosophy the goal was to have 100 clients by 2030. But scaling to 100 clients that quickly and doing it from the approach that you honestly care and keeping the RESCO commitment to partnering and learning was counter intuitive.
“We don’t want to grow just for growth’s sake,” Strand said. “We recalibrated in 2025. What we really want is to have 35 large clients by 2035. Clients where we are instrumental to their team, where they can’t imagine a world where we didn’t service them and where we make a lasting impact.”
It is hard to imagine Strand without a smile on his face. He clearly enjoys what he does.
“That’s the fun part; that’s the joy of being involved in this business. I always thank our client partners like crazy for allowing us to peek into their world and help them solve these challenges.”
Just the Facts
RESCO
Tim Strand – President
Formed: 1957
Address
1450 Heggen Street
Hudson, WI 54016
715-386-8832
Website: https://rescocompany.com/
Employees: 53
Sq. ft.: 150,000