Todd Vogt dedicated to family business
Staff writer
Just like most elder sons, Todd Vogt was destined to become his father's successor to the family business.
Born and raised in Hillsboro, Todd is the first-born of Jerold and Karleen Vogt of Hillsboro. He has one brother, John.
Todd attended Hillsboro schools and graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1988. While attending high school he participated in football, basketball, golf, and track.
He attended Tabor College majoring in business. He received a degree in business administration in 1992.
During his second year of college, Todd became store manager of the family-owned grocery store, the former Vogt's IGA.
"And life has been busy ever since," Todd said.
Also in 1990, Todd married his high school sweetheart, Shawna Siebert. The couple was married Aug 11, 1990.
Being a part of the family business was something Todd has known since he can remember. As the fourth generation of Vogts to be involved with the business, Todd said he remembers, at age six or seven helping Gerald Ediger in the produce department.
"After Wednesday night Bible class, I would go with my dad and stock the shelves while he was working," Todd said.
While in fifth grade Todd began to work for the grocery store and receive payment for it. He stocked bread on shelves before going to school. After school, he would carry out groceries.
"That was a real paycheck job," Todd said smiling.
Because he played sports in middle and high schools, Todd worked mostly on the weekends or whenever he could.
"I always thought working at the grocery store was fun," Todd said. "I've always enjoyed it there."
As store manager, Todd was in charge of ordering the groceries from distributors and hiring and scheduling the store's carry-out personnel.
When the family decided to find ways to improve business, they introduced customers to check-out scanners to scan grocery items.
Renovating the existing building located on Grand proved to be too costly and not feasible.
The family explored other options and decided to build elsewhere, which led them to the Western Heights development.
Todd said much preparation and hard work went into building and opening the new store. All four family members went to work on the project.
In preparation for the new store opening, Todd became responsible for hiring new personnel for various departments. He was involved with planning the set up of the store, scheduling, meeting with company store planners daily and sometimes two or three times a day, along with a host of other duties.
"It was very intense and a lot of planning," Todd said. "It was also time consuming."
The new store opened its doors Oct. 22, 2003, and was named Vogt's Hometown Market.
Todd credits Tabor for the knowledge he received to help run the family business.
"I understand where the numbers come from and it's good to have knowledge from getting the degree," he said.
With a few added responsibilities at the new store, Todd finds himself working in every aspect of the store operation. He meets with department heads formally and informally; orders merchandise, now on a larger scale; restocks shelves; and removes outdated items. He still carries out groceries when needed.
"There are so many variables in the grocery store business," Todd said. "Things change from one week to the next."
Todd said various aspects of the business, besides implementing the use of computers, have changed since his humble beginnings at the store. According to Todd, it used to take two or three hours to unload trucks delivering merchandise.
"We had to throw each piece off the truck by hand," Todd said.
Even though, the volume is greater in the new store, it takes about 30 minutes to unload the trucks. Todd attributes the savings in time to the fact that merchandise is loaded on pallets at the warehouse. Todd and other personnel can now use a forklift to unload the pallets.
"I still find the job at the grocery store intriguing," Todd said. "I like the fun of selling stuff, especially when I order something and it's gone in a week.
"I like the fact of doing the job everyday, but yet it is always different," he added.
Todd said the downside of working as manager of the store is "it takes a lot of hours."
He said his downfall would be in training new personnel which he feels he could improve in that area.
"I've been doing things so long at the store, it is hard for me not to expect people to know what to do right away," he said.
"Also, I'm doing too much of the work and not delegating enough," he added.
With all his duties as store manager, Todd has very little time for hobbies.
He enjoys being with his family, golfing, and traveling.
"I pretty much dropped the golfing after our first child was born," Todd said, smiling.
They are members of Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren where Todd has been a member for more than 20 years and serves as an usher
He and Shawna have taught Sunday school to three-and-four-year-olds, and Wednesday night Bible class to first through fourth graders.
The couple has two children, Taylor, 8, is a third grader and Braden, 5, is a kindergartner at Hillsboro Elementary School.
