Two Surry County businesses were honored this week when the Piedmont Triad Business Journal held its annual Triad Family Business Awards lunch.
Shelton Vineyards, of Dobson, was presented with the 2022 Heritage Award, the top award given at the event.
Johnson Granite, of Mount Airy, was among a dozen other firms in the Greater Triad Area honored with a Family Business Award.
During a round table discussion at the awards gathering, co-founder Ed Shelton described the winery start-up as “a hobby that got out of hand.”
He and his brother, Charlie Shelton, founded the winery, which began when the brothers purchased 400 acres of farmland outside of Dobson.
“He thought that opening a winery would be a good thing for our hometown that had been suffering after losing manufacturing and textile mills jobs to companies in Mexico and overseas,” Ed Shelton said of his brother’s push for them to begin a vineyard and winery.
The winery is one of the oldest in North Carolina, having opened in 1999. In previous interviews, the Sheltons have said they felt the Yadkin Valley region of North Carolina offered opportunities for a wine industry to develop and thrive, a prophecy which came true.
The Yadkin Valley became North Carolina’s first federally approved American Viticulture Area in 2003, and opened the doors for converting much of the area’s former tobacco farmland into vineyards.
Since Shelton’s opening, more than 150 wineries across the state have opened.
“We were far from an overnight success. After such a huge investment in land, infrastructure, machinery and vines it took us 20 years to turn a profit,” he said at this week’s awards ceremony. “That’s not the formula most North Carolina wineries follow, most of them start small with family members growing grapes and working the business and then they expand. We did the reverse of that, and luckily for us, it paid off.”
Johnson Granite
Johnson Granite was among 12 other family businesses recognized at the awards ceremony.
The business began in 2000. Larry D. Johnson had spent much of his life in the stone business, and his son, Brian H. Johnson, was selling building supplies after finishing college, when the two considered the idea of opening a business together.
“The demand for granite countertops was just starting to catch on in our area, so we decided to take a leap of faith,” the younger Johnson said.
So the pair, along with Linda Johnson who manned the books and the schedule, opened Johnson Granite.
The firm grew, and over the years other family members joined, starting with Lisa Johnson.
“I started out sweeping the floors and other odd jobs like that, and eventually, they’d give me a little more to do and then a little more to do until I worked my way up to being a stone polisher, and I’m proud to say I got pretty good at that,” she said this week.
Karen Johnson Coalson came on board next. With a background in bookkeeping she signed on as a secretary, while her twin sister Kimberly Johnson Marshall followed, working on the sales floor. Four of the five Johnson kids eventually joined the family business, with the oldest sister, Mary Johnson Holt, electing to follow her heart by continuing in her career in healthcare as a registered nurse.
Larry Johnson, now retired from the business, said the company has done well, but it was not always easy. He recalled some lean times during the aftermath of the 2008 housing crisis.
“It was tough,” he said. “We had grown and there were more people than just our family depending on us. We were forced to make sacrifices, and that started at the top, but we promised our employees that if they’d stick with us, we’d make it right in the end. I’m proud to say we didn’t lose a single employee during that time and were able to return all that had been lost to our team…and then some.”
Jennifer Slate, a member of the Johnson Granite staff, contributed to this story.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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