Bob Foos
The second-generation leaders at MSW Restaurant Furnishings still lean into the foundation their fathers created – while evolving and diversifying MSW keep it going for another 50 years.
Ryan McCoy and Clay Stark now have more than 10 years experience of running the company that has equipped restaurants since Ray “Mac” McCoy started building wood frames for booths in 1959.
The corporate name MSW comes from Mac’s Specialty Woodworking.
Ryan and Clay’s fathers, Curt McCoy and John Stark, went to work for Curt’s dad in his garage in 1975 and built the company’s first steel building across County Road 200 from Mac’s garage in 1977.
MSW Inc. is family-oriented as well as family owned. Many of the firm’s 65 employees have stayed with the company for a long time. “I think that’s the reason MSW has been so successful,” says Mandy Young a MSW employee and John Stark’s daughter. “They may not share the last name, but they’ve made this company their home and they become family,” says Mandy Young, John Stark’s daughter.
Part of the reason for the employee longevity is that it’s a custom job shop, as opposed to doing the same thing every day on an assembly line. “Our team members take pride in learning new skills and newer concepts, and seeing the product through to its finish,” adds Mandy.
Coming out of covid, MSW became an even better place to work as leadership refocused on flexibility.
“Life is short,” says Clay Stark, the company president. “We want our team members to spend more time with their families.”
They reasoned there had been a way not to work on Sundays, so they figured they could find a way not to work on Saturdays, too. Now, team members are guaranteed to get weekends off no matter what. And the company is promoting more family engagement by hosting family outings, at Tee Time and G3 Entertainment for example. They’ve also just enhanced their paid-time-off policy, including adding a Birthday PTO.
“We don’t want MSW to be your life,” says Clay. “We want MSW to be a way to live your life.”
Over the past 10 years, Ryan McCoy, the vice president, says they have been leaning into what their fathers had done and “put a twist on things – adapted to changes in the industry, kept moving forward and staying relevant.”
In addition to staying with the model that has kept MSW successful, the second generation has refocused and diversified.
“It has been rewarding to see the growth of the company in the last 10 plus years,” says Brent Young, account manager. “We have a wonderful team that has helped us achieve several performance and customer service awards with our customers.
“In my time, it has been interesting to see the changes in design and seating and millwork needs within the restaurant industry.”
Growing the business in the past 10 years required expansion of MSW’s main facility east of Carterville – from 115,000 square feet to 130,000 square feet. A solar array has been installed on site to supply a portion of the plant’s electrical needs.
And in 2014, they started Kitchen Outdoors, a new company under the MSW umbrella. It is housed in two metal buildings off Highway 171, south of Carterville, that they purchased for a metal shop and the Kitchen Outdoors division.
Kitchen Outdoors is especially good for homeowners who want to add a kitchen to their existing deck or patio. The kitchen layouts can be customized in modular configurations with a choice of finishes. They are constructed with GFRC (glass fiber reinforced concrete) so they can stand up to the elements. Both the cabinets and equipment come with a limited lifetime guarantee. It takes two to four weeks to build a custom layout but only two to three hours to install onsite.
“This ought to be the year Kitchen Outdoors ramps up, which will create an opportunity for new jobs,” says Clay.
A luncheon was held Thursday inside the plant for employees and guests to celebrate MSW’s 50th anniversary.
Clay Stark honored Curt McCoy and John Stark for laying the company’s strong foundation during the first 40 years.
He noted that the employees have a combined 589 years of experience. Gene Lasiter was singled out for being with the company the longest. He’s coming up on 44 years in August.
“Over the years our sales strategies and products may look different, but we’ve always been working towards the same common goal,” said Jimmy VanBecelaere, vice president of sales. “Our continued success, and the reason we get to celebrate another company anniversary, is a reflection of the culture and environment we strive to create every day.”
Actually, the company’s 50th anniversary was last year, but the plant got extremely busy during the third quarter, and it was decided to push back the celebration until this year.
