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| As I write this article, my wife, Pam, and I are halfway through a road trip. We haven’t been on a long road trip for some time, and now I remember why, but that’s a story for another time. We decided to drive to a meeting of the Farm Financial Standards Council in Durham, NC so we could stop near Dayton, OH to visit some customers, and tour the Airforce Museum, and then circle back through Michigan’s upper peninsula and stop by to see some relatives near Detroit. |
| We have several customers in the Dayton area, and because of time constraints, we were only able to visit two. Our first stop was Bowman and Landes Turkeys. I had earlier contacted long-time customer Stan Landes to see if we could get a quick tour of the operation. He was out of town during our visit and had arranged for Drew Bowman to show us around. While we expected a quick tour, Drew spent about two and a half hours with us, showing us the entire impressive operation. They raise turkeys from two days old and are vertically integrated all the way to selling whole turkeys and numerous deli products in their on-farm retail store. Bowman and Landes Turkeys is a real success story now, having their fourth generation of family involved in the business. If you live in the area or just passing through, you need to stop and get some of their awesome products. |
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| Our second visit was with Lavy Enterprises. They started using our software in 1982, one of our first customers ever. They have used many products before the release of CenterPoint and have used CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture for their crop operation and sod farm, CenterPoint Accounting for their equipment repair business, and CenterPoint Fund Accounting to keep track of financial records for their church. Ivan showed us around their operation, Lisa explained how they use CenterPoint in their business (and had a couple suggestions on how we could improve their user experience, which we always welcome), and Gary showed us the small but high-tech and very capable airplane they use to travel the country. We were honored to share dinner with the Lavys at a popular small-town eatery and enjoyed time reminiscing about all the changes we have been through over the years. |
| One thing that we noticed about both operations, and we believe all successful long-term businesses, is the great people that own, manage, and work at these companies. At Red Wing Software, we too take pride in hiring the best people, and are proud to be known as “the friendliest software company on the planet”. |
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