Mark Haney: Yes, this is the Mark Haney Show, on a
Mark Haney: mission to ignite the entrepreneurial
Mark Haney: revolution right here in the hometown.
Mark Haney: We love, and we do that by building the
Mark Haney: Backyard Advantage the most connected
Mark Haney: community in the world for local
Mark Haney: entrepreneurs, and it's based around this
Mark Haney: culture of love.
Mark Haney: And today on the show I have a couple of
Mark Haney: men that I have just met, but I've loved
Mark Haney: their business for the last several years
Mark Haney: and you're going to enjoy this.
Mark Haney: This is going to be a discussion about
Mark Haney: family business, and Wayne Bishop is the
Mark Haney: owner of Bishop's Pumpkin Farm and Lee
Mark Haney: Bishop his son, I presume is the CEO of
Mark Haney: Bishop's Pumpkin Farm, and if you don't
Mark Haney: know about Bishop's, then you haven't ever
Mark Haney: driven down Highway 65 before, because you
Mark Haney: get out there and there is just this really
Mark Haney: cool oasis that is a family-friendly place
Mark Haney: to go.
Mark Haney: You can go around holiday seasons, but I
Mark Haney: think you can go full-time any time of the
Mark Haney: year.
Mark Haney: So we're going to get their story today,
Mark Haney: and so I would just say welcome to the show,
Mark Haney: guys.
Wayne Bishop: Thank you.
Wayne Bishop: Thank you, I do want to tell you Lee's only
Wayne Bishop: been CEO for three weeks.
Wayne Bishop: Uh-oh, three weeks.
Mark Haney: He's still in his probationary period.
Wayne Bishop: Okay, so how long is the?
Mark Haney: probationary period last, I haven't decided
Mark Haney: yet.
Mark Haney: Okay, so let's find out about this.
Mark Haney: Okay, let's get an overview of the company.
Mark Haney: Then let's dive into those dynamics.
Mark Haney: So maybe, wayne, maybe we'll have you start
Mark Haney: off.
Mark Haney: So this is a multi-generation company.
Mark Haney: You guys have been around 50 years.
Mark Haney: Maybe tell us what you are today and maybe
Mark Haney: the origination of the business.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, so what we are today is a farm that
Wayne Bishop: hosts 300,000 plus visitors every fall,
Wayne Bishop: which is one of the largest operations in
Wayne Bishop: the country like us.
Wayne Bishop: There's only a handful that host that many.
Wayne Bishop: We have 850 temporary employees in the fall.
Wayne Bishop: We have about I don't know, 17 or 18
Wayne Bishop: full-time now people year-round have about
Wayne Bishop: I don't know, 17 or 18 full-time now people
Wayne Bishop: year-round.
Wayne Bishop: Uh, we do some other farming too, but but
Wayne Bishop: our primary business is is this, this
Wayne Bishop: pumpkin farm, and it's it's more than just
Wayne Bishop: pumpkins actually.
Wayne Bishop: You know the the actual sale of pumpkins
Wayne Bishop: now is about five percent of what we of our
Wayne Bishop: revenue in the fall.
Wayne Bishop: Uh, so it's all the things that go with
Wayne Bishop: that to.
Mark Haney: You know, it's a family day at our, at our
Mark Haney: place yeah, I've taken my kids, as I was
Mark Haney: telling you, my kids are 36 and 38.
Mark Haney: Now I was, I think, the last.
Mark Haney: It's been a few years since I've been out
Mark Haney: there, but I've taken my grandkids.
Mark Haney: It's about time I take my.
Mark Haney: I have two newer grandkids.
Mark Haney: I gotta get them out.
Mark Haney: But my, my grandkids that are a little
Mark Haney: older, I've taken out there and I just see,
Mark Haney: I just can remember these pictures that I
Mark Haney: have of us being out there and it's such an
Mark Haney: experience Can you describe.
Mark Haney: So there's what is there?
Mark Haney: A hundred acres or so.
Wayne Bishop: It's pretty it's really big.
Wayne Bishop: We actually own 235 now that's, that's a
Wayne Bishop: big a big, big change for us in the.
Wayne Bishop: In the last five years or so, we we started
Wayne Bishop: on 45 acres okay, is, is all that we owned,
Wayne Bishop: uh.
Mark Haney: And then for a long time, we, we leased
Mark Haney: ground around us uh to grow pumpkins on,
Mark Haney: and and, um, you know, we finally were able
Mark Haney: to buy some of that land just a few years
Mark Haney: ago okay, so I want to describe, I want to
Mark Haney: better understand the experience, um, so
Mark Haney: you've got these, you know several acres,
Mark Haney: hundreds of acres, um, and a lot of people
Mark Haney: converge and I've gone out there um
Mark Haney: halloween type time frame.
Mark Haney: Are you guys open year round or is it
Mark Haney: predominantly and seasonal?
Wayne Bishop: yeah, no, it's, it's, it's all seasonal.
Wayne Bishop: We we have stretched that season out now to
Wayne Bishop: nine nine weeks so shortly after labor day
Wayne Bishop: and through the first weekend in november
Wayne Bishop: and and we may, uh, we may continue to
Wayne Bishop: expand that season a little bit, and the
Wayne Bishop: only other thing we do is is a um, we do a
Wayne Bishop: spring field trip, so it's it's schools
Wayne Bishop: only.
Wayne Bishop: We get about 15,000 people in the spring
Wayne Bishop: for that, Um, but but it's a tiny, tiny
Wayne Bishop: amount compared to what we do in the fall.
Mark Haney: Okay, well, let's get over.
Mark Haney: Let's bring Lee into the conversation.
Mark Haney: Lee is the new CEO, and uh, how well.
Mark Haney: First of all, how's he working out so far?
Wayne Bishop: So far fantastic.
Mark Haney: Looks like you're going to pass the
Mark Haney: probationary period, but you know, see how
Mark Haney: you do today on the Mark Haney Show.
Mark Haney: So give us a little bit of your background
Mark Haney: and what led to you becoming the CEO.
Lee Bishop: That's a great question.
Lee Bishop: I think we just hired a consultant who said
Lee Bishop: you know, lee's probably a better fit than
Lee Bishop: his brother.
Wayne Bishop: And so my brother didn't take that so great.
Wayne Bishop: She also said we should go outside first.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, yeah she actually.
Lee Bishop: I was the second choice, remember I was the
Lee Bishop: third choice on CEO, but my background is I
Lee Bishop: graduated from Chico State with a finance
Lee Bishop: degree in 2011.
Lee Bishop: I then worked for most of my career at a
Lee Bishop: company called Reynolds and Reynolds and
Lee Bishop: they did software for car dealerships.
Lee Bishop: I spent all of my time working with service
Lee Bishop: managers and sales managers and controllers
Lee Bishop: and dealers and just answering their
Lee Bishop: questions on the software really and
Lee Bishop: osmosisly growing through, just being
Lee Bishop: around those people every day.
Lee Bishop: And then in 2020, I moved back to the farm
Lee Bishop: and I told my dad when I moved back I don't
Lee Bishop: want to manage people, I'm the controller
Lee Bishop: of the business and I'm going to start a
Lee Bishop: hard cider brand.
Mark Haney: And that's what I'm going to do.
Mark Haney: Okay.
Lee Bishop: Now here I am the CEO.
Mark Haney: Okay.
Mark Haney: Well, do you have to manage people in this
Mark Haney: new job?
Mark Haney: Assume so, I love it.
Mark Haney: Okay.
Mark Haney: So let's go back to the beginning here.
Mark Haney: It's 50 years old.
Mark Haney: Was it started by your family?
Mark Haney: Yeah, my parents.
Mark Haney: Okay, so your family.
Mark Haney: Can you tell me about how it started and
Mark Haney: yeah so.
Wayne Bishop: So my mother had been a teacher and um, and
Wayne Bishop: she recognized that dad was a farmer and
Wayne Bishop: she recognized that kids just didn't didn't
Wayne Bishop: know where their food came from and, you
Wayne Bishop: know, didn't know what what farms were all
Wayne Bishop: about.
Wayne Bishop: And so she really just wanted to get kids
Wayne Bishop: out to a farm on a field trip.
Wayne Bishop: And um thought, between her and dad they
Wayne Bishop: thought, well, we could plant a few
Wayne Bishop: pumpkins.
Wayne Bishop: He had a small field in front of the house
Wayne Bishop: that he wasn't doing anything with and she
Wayne Bishop: said, well, I'm going to put pumpkins there
Wayne Bishop: and see if we can get kids to come out on
Wayne Bishop: field trips.
Wayne Bishop: So that's what it started as, and right
Wayne Bishop: away we were getting people on weekends too.
Wayne Bishop: You know the word got out that you could
Wayne Bishop: come out and pick a pumpkin off the farm,
Wayne Bishop: but that's all it was.
Wayne Bishop: In year one other and although maybe she,
Wayne Bishop: maybe she was making pies also that first
Wayne Bishop: year there were there were there were a few
Wayne Bishop: years in the beginning where she would make
Wayne Bishop: pies in her own kitchen and and sell on the
Wayne Bishop: farm, which was not legal at the time,
Wayne Bishop: interestingly enough it is now.
Wayne Bishop: Now you can get a cottage food license and
Wayne Bishop: do that now, which is great.
Wayne Bishop: But at that time you know she did it for a
Wayne Bishop: few years and the county came out and said
Wayne Bishop: you know, you can't do that, and so then it
Wayne Bishop: was a while before we could get a bakery
Wayne Bishop: built and reestablish that part of the
Wayne Bishop: business.
Mark Haney: So what was it like?
Mark Haney: When did you grow up working in the
Mark Haney: business?
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, in fact we were getting ready to do
Wayne Bishop: my other son, austin, who, by the way, is
Wayne Bishop: the COO my other son.
Wayne Bishop: They really worked that out between them.
Wayne Bishop: We had this consultant come in and give us
Wayne Bishop: advice on how to do this succession and she
Wayne Bishop: felt Lee was more suited to be the CEO.
Wayne Bishop: And Austin was a little taken aback, which
Wayne Bishop: we all were.
Wayne Bishop: She was very blunt and he went home for the
Wayne Bishop: weekend and came back and talked to Lee and
Wayne Bishop: he said you know, I think she's right, I
Wayne Bishop: think that you are a better fit for the CEO
Wayne Bishop: and I'm a better fit for COO Interesting.
Wayne Bishop: And so it's fantastic the way they've
Wayne Bishop: worked that through.
Wayne Bishop: That was almost a year ago.
Wayne Bishop: We had that meeting, and so we were working
Wayne Bishop: a year towards making it happen, but anyway,
Wayne Bishop: I'm way off track.
Wayne Bishop: What was the question?
Mark Haney: So how did you take over?
Mark Haney: So mom and dad started the business in what
Mark Haney: the 70s?
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, so 1973 was the first year, and
Wayne Bishop: that's why this came up.
Wayne Bishop: My other son, was talking to me this
Wayne Bishop: morning that we were going to make a video
Wayne Bishop: on just the history of our hayride to the
Wayne Bishop: field.
Wayne Bishop: So we had done that from the beginning and
Wayne Bishop: my brother and I were the drivers when we
Wayne Bishop: were six and seven years old, you know.
Mark Haney: Drove the hayride.
Mark Haney: Now these motorized uh, oh, yeah, it's a
Mark Haney: tractor.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, yeah and uh anyway, so there's
Wayne Bishop: there's a.
Mark Haney: We can talk for an hour about that.
Mark Haney: Okay, so you don't work.
Wayne Bishop: They put you to work early we, we worked,
Wayne Bishop: we worked through childhood and, and which
Wayne Bishop: is fine, you know.
Mark Haney: And so that was you and your brother, and
Mark Haney: then you as your brother.
Mark Haney: Did he ever stay with the business?
Wayne Bishop: Well, so interestingly enough, we both, you
Wayne Bishop: know, when we both graduated from high
Wayne Bishop: school, the business was still very small,
Wayne Bishop: Okay, and neither of us expected to come
Wayne Bishop: back.
Wayne Bishop: And we went off to college.
Wayne Bishop: And when my brother was almost finished
Wayne Bishop: with college, my dad showed up one day and
Wayne Bishop: said hey, man, I need help.
Wayne Bishop: You know the business is growing and I need
Wayne Bishop: help.
Wayne Bishop: And so my brother went back right after
Wayne Bishop: college.
Wayne Bishop: He worked about six years six, seven years,
Wayne Bishop: something like that Decided he wanted to do
Wayne Bishop: something else and left, and that was my
Wayne Bishop: opportunity then to go back.
Wayne Bishop: And so that actually is 30 years ago next
Wayne Bishop: week.
Wayne Bishop: Wow.
Mark Haney: And the business has changed a lot since
Mark Haney: then.
Mark Haney: When you came back, how big was the
Mark Haney: business?
Wayne Bishop: We were grossing $300,000 at that time.
Mark Haney: Okay, Annual revenue $300,000.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah.
Mark Haney: And now you have 800 seasonal employees on
Mark Haney: hundreds of acres.
Mark Haney: It's quite a bit, I would assume.
Mark Haney: So Okay, so that was, and at this age
Mark Haney: you're an adult, so you were part of
Mark Haney: driving that growth.
Wayne Bishop: Yes, so my dad retired in 2005.
Wayne Bishop: So so, uh, you know, I worked for him for
Wayne Bishop: 10 years, for my mom and dad worked for
Wayne Bishop: them for 10 years and, uh, and then he
Wayne Bishop: retired in 2005 and and I took over, so so
Wayne Bishop: I got to run the company for 20 years and
Wayne Bishop: and we, uh, I, since I do know the numbers,
Wayne Bishop: I I can tell you well, we average 15 growth
Wayne Bishop: over that 20 years.
Wayne Bishop: Wow, 15 a year.
Wayne Bishop: So, uh, we're about 14 times now what we
Wayne Bishop: were in 2005.
Wayne Bishop: Wow, congratulations on that growth.
Mark Haney: A lot of people are probably interested in
Mark Haney: the family dynamics here a little bit more.
Mark Haney: So I have kids that are 36 and 38, and if
Mark Haney: one of them became the boss, that would not
Mark Haney: work right.
Mark Haney: They're too stubborn.
Mark Haney: I couldn't.
Mark Haney: I can't even imagine it.
Mark Haney: My brother and I we had a business together.
Mark Haney: I was actually in part of a family business
Mark Haney: and we had video stores and my three
Mark Haney: brothers and I bought out my parents from,
Mark Haney: bought out the video stores.
Mark Haney: We had 12 stores and ultimately my younger
Mark Haney: brother and I bought out the older brother
Mark Haney: and our titles were he was more like the
Mark Haney: financial guy and I was more like the
Mark Haney: people guy, so maybe a little bit like you
Mark Haney: and your brother.
Mark Haney: Somehow.
Mark Haney: He let me have the title of CEO, but he was
Mark Haney: really the brains and I was the person that
Mark Haney: was more like in the field.
Mark Haney: Uh, you know, we sold security cameras, had
Mark Haney: a, uh, you know, pretty good size group of
Mark Haney: security camera companies and so I was out
Mark Haney: there with the people and, you know, kind
Mark Haney: of like a hands-on with all the customers
Mark Haney: and stuff.
Mark Haney: Um, he let me have the title of CEO, but he
Mark Haney: was really the brains behind the business.
Mark Haney: So, yeah, uh, so I'm kind of curious, lee,
Mark Haney: from your standpoint, do you break up roles
Mark Haney: so you don't have to run into each other as
Mark Haney: much, or do you really manage him?
Lee Bishop: No, I don't manage him.
Lee Bishop: He's unmanageable.
Mark Haney: Yeah, yeah, I was like my brother didn't
Mark Haney: manage me and I didn't manage my brother,
Mark Haney: but we had titles right.
Lee Bishop: You need something for the, you know Well
Lee Bishop: interesting, he's my older brother by three
Lee Bishop: and a half years.
Lee Bishop: oh interesting, he's been at the farm for
Lee Bishop: 15 years and I've been there for five yeah
Lee Bishop: um, so for him to just say, you know, yeah,
Lee Bishop: you're a better fit for it was for him, I'm
Lee Bishop: sure, a shot in the heart.
Lee Bishop: You know he's been there for so long.
Lee Bishop: But naturally when he came back to the
Lee Bishop: business it was a lot different than now
Lee Bishop: and he kind of got siloed into you're an
Lee Bishop: outside guy, that's what you do.
Lee Bishop: And when I came back to the business it was
Lee Bishop: like we need help inside, you know.
Lee Bishop: And so I think we both kind of got just
Lee Bishop: siloed into our own areas.
Lee Bishop: But I think you know, and I've told him
Lee Bishop: this I'm not his boss, I'm his business
Lee Bishop: partner.
Lee Bishop: We are gonna be co-owners in this business.
Lee Bishop: We already are co-owners in the business.
Lee Bishop: I'm not gonna make a huge decision without
Lee Bishop: him knowing about it.
Lee Bishop: I can't just go build a new attraction with
Lee Bishop: him not being able to see, it Are there
Lee Bishop: other brothers and sisters, or just you two?
Lee Bishop: We have a younger sister and she worked
Lee Bishop: with the business up until 2020, for about
Lee Bishop: five years or so, and she left in 2020.
Mark Haney: Okay, but you all live locally.
Lee Bishop: She moved away.
Lee Bishop: Actually, when she quit, she moved up to
Lee Bishop: Idaho.
Mark Haney: Okay, she wanted to get away from it all.
Mark Haney: Huh, yeah, okay, but do you and your
Mark Haney: brother, so you have all these acreage.
Mark Haney: Do you live near the property or on the
Mark Haney: property?
Lee Bishop: My brother lives in the town in Wheatland
Lee Bishop: and I actually live in Lincoln, so I'm 15
Lee Bishop: minutes away.
Lee Bishop: But he my dad lives on the farm.
Lee Bishop: Oh, you live on the farm too.
Mark Haney: Okay, so what we did with our family and we
Mark Haney: don't have a?
Mark Haney: We don't have a business like yours where
Mark Haney: you know you could build, you know you have
Mark Haney: enough acreage.
Mark Haney: You guys could build more houses out there.
Mark Haney: We've ended up building a family compound
Mark Haney: where there's 12 of us we all live, you
Mark Haney: know, cause we've got grandkids and stuff
Mark Haney: and we all live on the property together
Mark Haney: and we've been doing this for the last few
Mark Haney: years and we haven't killed each other yet.
Mark Haney: Um yeah, yeah, yeah Watch the news.
Mark Haney: So I'm curious if you've thought about
Mark Haney: doing that kind of thing.
Mark Haney: What's the family dynamic in terms of you
Mark Haney: know, you living uh in Lincoln, which is,
Mark Haney: for those listening, that's probably 20, 30
Mark Haney: minutes from wheatland.
Mark Haney: Wheatland is where the?
Mark Haney: Uh the business is and uh, it's this small
Mark Haney: town with a frosty in it and it's got you
Mark Haney: guys, but you guys are tucked away.
Mark Haney: So what's the population of wheatland?
Mark Haney: 5 000 people less 30 about 3 500 okay, 3
Mark Haney: 500.
Mark Haney: So how is the?
Mark Haney: You know, are there?
Mark Haney: Are there family meals together, where you
Mark Haney: guys all get together and talk?
Mark Haney: How does that?
Lee Bishop: work.
Lee Bishop: Well, I mean, we all go to work together
Lee Bishop: every day.
Lee Bishop: So we actually eat lunch together basically
Lee Bishop: every day, which is more of a family time
Lee Bishop: than it is a work time.
Lee Bishop: Interesting, so right in the middle of our
Lee Bishop: day we have more of an hour family time.
Lee Bishop: But yeah, I mean we're a pretty close
Lee Bishop: family.
Lee Bishop: So even all the holidays, even though we
Lee Bishop: all work together, we still see each other
Lee Bishop: on all the holidays.
Lee Bishop: And, uh, my brother has three girls and so
Lee Bishop: we're always going to a softball game or a
Lee Bishop: volleyball game or soccer game or something
Lee Bishop: you know.
Lee Bishop: So we're, we're pretty well, always
Lee Bishop: together.
Mark Haney: One of the things that, um, I've always
Mark Haney: felt, and so Ronald Reagan quote, is that
Mark Haney: all great change in America begins at the
Mark Haney: dinner table.
Mark Haney: And I'm wondering, like, growing up, were
Mark Haney: you guys at the dinner table talking about
Mark Haney: business and you know what's involved all
Mark Haney: day long.
Mark Haney: Were you, was it bred into you, uh, as as a
Mark Haney: young person?
Mark Haney: Or were you talking basketball or football
Mark Haney: or something like that, what described to
Mark Haney: me like family time when you were growing
Mark Haney: up?
Lee Bishop: it was definitely both of those things okay
Lee Bishop: we had to have our you know hour-long talk
Lee Bishop: about barry bonds that time.
Mark Haney: Okay, now are we a Barry Bonds fan.
Lee Bishop: Oh yeah, we're San Francisco Giants people.
Lee Bishop: Oh nice.
Lee Bishop: I don't know exactly what happened at Volco.
Mark Haney: Well, yeah, you can see my Buster Posey
Mark Haney: shirt right on the back of my chair over
Mark Haney: there, so I'm a Giants fan too.
Lee Bishop: But definitely at home it was.
Lee Bishop: You know, we grew up in the business.
Lee Bishop: We lived in Wheatland when we grew up and
Lee Bishop: my grandparents are still living on the
Lee Bishop: farm.
Lee Bishop: I started going to work in the bakery with
Lee Bishop: my grandma when I was five or six years old
Lee Bishop: and I was helping her in there.
Lee Bishop: I wasn't allowed to drive hay rides when I
Lee Bishop: was seven years old.
Mark Haney: Yeah, that is a young age.
Lee Bishop: We changed that Probably by the time I was
Lee Bishop: eight or nine, I was probably driving the
Lee Bishop: tractor for my dad while he was moving the
Lee Bishop: pipes.
Lee Bishop: He would get me out of bed at 6.30 in the
Lee Bishop: morning.
Lee Bishop: When I was nine years old, 10 years old my
Lee Bishop: brother and I would alternate days on who
Lee Bishop: got to do that.
Lee Bishop: But yeah, even at home, around the dinner
Lee Bishop: table or when we'd go to my grandparents'
Lee Bishop: house work came up a lot.
Mark Haney: What were your grandparents like, or what
Mark Haney: are they like?
Lee Bishop: My grandpa passed away a few years ago.
Lee Bishop: My dad will probably tell you a very
Lee Bishop: different story of my grandpa than I will,
Lee Bishop: and my brother will too.
Lee Bishop: My brother will tell you a lot.
Lee Bishop: Like my dad, I wasn't around when my
Lee Bishop: grandpa was fading out of the business.
Lee Bishop: I was away.
Lee Bishop: I loved my grandpa.
Lee Bishop: He was a hard worker man.
Lee Bishop: He's got red dirt in his knuckles.
Lee Bishop: That's who he is.
Lee Bishop: He worked a hard worker man he is.
Lee Bishop: Uh, he's got red dirt in his knuckles.
Wayne Bishop: you know that's who he is.
Lee Bishop: He's just, he worked, and worked and worked.
Lee Bishop: And my grandma's similar, you know, but she,
Lee Bishop: she obviously had different.
Lee Bishop: You know, passions, the bakery, but they
Lee Bishop: loved work.
Lee Bishop: That's who they were, that's the generation
Lee Bishop: they grew up with.
Mark Haney: Yeah, um, how so you?
Mark Haney: There's a contrasting opinion there.
Wayne Bishop: Give us the uh, give us your thoughts on
Wayne Bishop: that way you know, my dad and I, you know,
Wayne Bishop: we were both passionate about the business
Wayne Bishop: and there was a period of time there when I
Wayne Bishop: first came back, where it was really just
Wayne Bishop: the two of us doing all the work and and my
Wayne Bishop: mom and you know, and then we gradually
Wayne Bishop: were able to hire a little bit of help.
Wayne Bishop: But um and my dad had some mental health
Wayne Bishop: issues that he dealt with his whole life
Wayne Bishop: and I think he he kind of conquered those
Wayne Bishop: at the end, but but he uh, boy, we clashed
Wayne Bishop: at times, okay, you know, and we had great
Wayne Bishop: times together.
Wayne Bishop: You know, we uh, my favorite year of my
Wayne Bishop: life, maybe, in 1999, we spent the winter
Wayne Bishop: in the shop building a new locomotive for
Wayne Bishop: our train and we and you know who gets to
Wayne Bishop: do that with their dad right, we built a
Wayne Bishop: train together and you know, and that train
Wayne Bishop: has hauled hundreds of thousands of people
Wayne Bishop: and and made a lot of families happy.
Wayne Bishop: So, um, that was it was, it was fantastic,
Wayne Bishop: you know, we both loved to be in the shop.
Wayne Bishop: I majored in engineering and ran a machine
Wayne Bishop: shop before I came back to the farm and and,
Wayne Bishop: um, we had a great time.
Wayne Bishop: But then there were other times.
Wayne Bishop: Boy, boy, we, we butted heads, you know,
Wayne Bishop: and and uh so, so, we had our ups and downs,
Wayne Bishop: you know, but we stuck it out and and in
Wayne Bishop: the end, you know, uh, I think we respected
Wayne Bishop: each other.
Wayne Bishop: We always know.
Wayne Bishop: Uh, I think we respected each other.
Wayne Bishop: We, we always did.
Wayne Bishop: We always respected each other.
Wayne Bishop: I think, um, there were just times where it
Wayne Bishop: was hard to work together.
Mark Haney: Yeah, yeah.
Mark Haney: Well, you guys are members of the family
Mark Haney: business association.
Mark Haney: I'm a member too.
Mark Haney: I'm not as involved maybe, as you guys have
Mark Haney: been a little less active, but uh, this is
Mark Haney: where family businesses can get to know
Mark Haney: other family businesses, get to learn ideas
Mark Haney: on what it's like to have a family business
Mark Haney: that is handed down through the generations.
Mark Haney: I'm kind of curious.
Mark Haney: You said you brought in the consultant, and
Mark Haney: that's do you?
Mark Haney: What kind of information have you got from
Mark Haney: the family business organization?
Mark Haney: I'm assuming that idea came from someone
Mark Haney: there.
Mark Haney: Is that right?
Wayne Bishop: Well, yeah, actually, we got the referral
Wayne Bishop: for her from that organization.
Wayne Bishop: But you know, I think the biggest thing is,
Wayne Bishop: it's so when you, when you learn that every
Wayne Bishop: family business, that I've ever heard of or
Wayne Bishop: that we've ever heard about, goes through
Wayne Bishop: similar struggles as what we've gone
Wayne Bishop: through and, um, of course, some of them
Wayne Bishop: it's.
Wayne Bishop: It's the end of them.
Wayne Bishop: You know some of them can't work through it,
Wayne Bishop: but but you, we get to go there and hear
Wayne Bishop: about the ones that have encountered their
Wayne Bishop: challenges and and gotten through, worked
Wayne Bishop: their way through them, and you know how
Wayne Bishop: they did it.
Wayne Bishop: And you know, bringing this consultant in
Wayne Bishop: was all about communication really, which
Wayne Bishop: is, you know, if you could give one piece
Wayne Bishop: of advice to families and business together.
Wayne Bishop: You got to keep talking and we don't always
Wayne Bishop: do that when we should.
Wayne Bishop: Lee talked about our, our lunches together
Wayne Bishop: and that was something I heard years ago.
Wayne Bishop: The family that owned the jelly belly uh
Wayne Bishop: business and and um that that there was
Wayne Bishop: something they did.
Wayne Bishop: I think in their case they commuted
Wayne Bishop: together two generations for for decades
Wayne Bishop: they lived near each other.
Wayne Bishop: They were 10 miles or whatever from the
Wayne Bishop: plant and just that, 10 minutes or 15
Wayne Bishop: minutes in the car twice a day, where
Wayne Bishop: there's no pressure to talk about business.
Wayne Bishop: If there's something that comes up, it's
Wayne Bishop: not like okay, we've scheduled a meeting.
Wayne Bishop: You got to talk about business.
Wayne Bishop: Well, when we have lunch together, we talk
Wayne Bishop: about my grandkids.
Wayne Bishop: We talk about sports, sports politics,
Wayne Bishop: whatever.
Wayne Bishop: And if, if there's something pressing in
Wayne Bishop: the business, it will come up and we'll
Wayne Bishop: talk about it.
Wayne Bishop: But we just, you know, I think we maintain
Wayne Bishop: the love of the family that way and the
Wayne Bishop: closeness and and it.
Wayne Bishop: If there was one thing that we've that that
Wayne Bishop: I started that we do right it.
Wayne Bishop: It's like hey, you guys, when they came
Wayne Bishop: back to work I said I want you at my house
Wayne Bishop: for lunch as many days of the week as
Wayne Bishop: possible.
Wayne Bishop: You know sometimes it doesn't work out, but
Wayne Bishop: as much as possible we have lunch at my
Wayne Bishop: house.
Mark Haney: That's great, my brother and I we had our
Mark Haney: own businesses, since, like we had paper
Mark Haney: route together.
Mark Haney: You probably remember the Sacramento Union.
Mark Haney: I delivered the Sacramento Union as a kid,
Mark Haney: so I recruited my little brother to help me
Mark Haney: and it kind of became our thing.
Mark Haney: But in our video stores and security stuff.
Mark Haney: But we went out to lunch almost every day
Mark Haney: for a few decades One year, and we'd always
Mark Haney: split like who's going to pay?
Mark Haney: Or sometimes the business paid.
Mark Haney: But one year for my birthday I think it was
Mark Haney: for my 40th birthday he said I's going to
Mark Haney: pay, or sometimes the business paid, um,
Mark Haney: but one year for my birthday, I think it
Mark Haney: was for my 40th birthday.
Lee Bishop: He said I'm going to buy lunch for the next
Lee Bishop: year.
Lee Bishop: That was my birthday, cause we go to lunch
Lee Bishop: every day.
Lee Bishop: I said that was my.
Mark Haney: you give me a financial but that was also
Mark Haney: saying I want to have lunch with you too.
Mark Haney: So I remember that being, uh, very touching
Mark Haney: gift.
Mark Haney: That you know, not only was he going to pay
Mark Haney: for lunch for a year, but that you know,
Mark Haney: hey, he liked that.
Mark Haney: We did that together and it helped the
Mark Haney: business and it definitely helped our
Mark Haney: relationship to be talking all the time.
Mark Haney: So I agree with you on that communication.
Wayne Bishop: And I'll go one step further on that.
Wayne Bishop: I just was telling Lee the other day, I
Wayne Bishop: think in 2020, covid happened and my
Wayne Bishop: daughter had been with us for several years,
Wayne Bishop: loved the business.
Wayne Bishop: Uh, she was pregnant with her second child
Wayne Bishop: at the time.
Wayne Bishop: Uh, and we said, when, when you know, you
Wayne Bishop: remember the, the terror we all felt at the
Wayne Bishop: beginning of kovid?
Wayne Bishop: We, there was so much unknown and we said,
Wayne Bishop: hey, uh, you know, you don't need to be
Wayne Bishop: coming into work right now.
Wayne Bishop: Why don't you stay home with your, with
Wayne Bishop: your older child?
Wayne Bishop: Not, let's not take her to daycare.
Wayne Bishop: Hey, you don't need to be coming into work
Wayne Bishop: right now.
Wayne Bishop: Why don't you stay home with your older
Wayne Bishop: child?
Wayne Bishop: Let's not take her to daycare right now.
Wayne Bishop: We don't have to have that exposure and
Wayne Bishop: anyway.
Wayne Bishop: So she ended up home for a while, then had
Wayne Bishop: her other child home for a few more months
Wayne Bishop: and we're not having lunch together.
Wayne Bishop: And at the end of that, she's like hey, you
Wayne Bishop: know what I want to be a mom, which is fine.
Wayne Bishop: I have zero criticism about that.
Wayne Bishop: My wife didn't work while the, while the
Wayne Bishop: kids were growing up, and she, you know,
Wayne Bishop: mom, being a mom, was the priority and
Wayne Bishop: that's wonderful, um, but it, it, she, she,
Wayne Bishop: she lost interest in the business and we
Wayne Bishop: lost a connection that we had during that
Wayne Bishop: time, you know, yeah, you seem sad about
Wayne Bishop: that.
Wayne Bishop: Oh, I'm still sad, yeah, and and uh, you
Wayne Bishop: know she may listen to this, so but, uh,
Wayne Bishop: but what would you say to her?
Mark Haney: right now she's listening to this.
Mark Haney: What would you tell her?
Wayne Bishop: uh, we miss her, you know, and, and you
Wayne Bishop: know what we still.
Wayne Bishop: We miss her in the business.
Wayne Bishop: We still see her.
Wayne Bishop: We're not estranged by any means.
Wayne Bishop: We she was just here for christmas and and
Wayne Bishop: um, you know, we get along great, but we
Wayne Bishop: miss her in the business.
Wayne Bishop: You know, she, growing up, of the three of
Wayne Bishop: my kids, she was the one who loved the
Wayne Bishop: business the most and and um and always
Wayne Bishop: talked about coming back at some point and
Wayne Bishop: um.
Wayne Bishop: It doesn't lessen the way the boys felt
Wayne Bishop: about it.
Wayne Bishop: Or when they chose to come back, they did
Wayne Bishop: it for good reasons, but it hurt when she
Wayne Bishop: said, no, you know what, I'm not interested
Wayne Bishop: anymore.
Wayne Bishop: That was.
Mark Haney: What prompted her move to Idaho.
Wayne Bishop: They felt they could, between her and her
Wayne Bishop: husband, that living up there with a lower
Wayne Bishop: cost of living, that she wouldn't have to
Wayne Bishop: work and could stay home and be a mom.
Mark Haney: So yeah, yeah, um, my family, right now
Mark Haney: we're transitioning in our own way as well,
Mark Haney: and one of my buddies he's actually, um, uh,
Mark Haney: natoma wealth management, by the way he
Mark Haney: suggested that we write a family mission
Mark Haney: statement, and you know like we live, all
Mark Haney: we all live on this property and you know,
Mark Haney: this unity is an asset, a valuable asset if
Mark Haney: it can be, if it can be brought together
Mark Haney: and continued, and he said he thought the
Mark Haney: key to that was writing a family mission
Mark Haney: statement.
Mark Haney: So there, but me and my wife are supposed
Mark Haney: to stay out of that.
Mark Haney: They're supposed to present the family
Mark Haney: mission statement to us and they're in the
Mark Haney: process of preparing that or getting that
Mark Haney: going right now.
Mark Haney: Have you guys done a family mission
Mark Haney: statement, or has that ever been
Mark Haney: contemplated?
Wayne Bishop: We don't even have a company mission
Wayne Bishop: statement.
Wayne Bishop: Okay.
Mark Haney: No, so do you do annual goals and things
Mark Haney: like that?
Lee Bishop: Yes, yeah, okay, because that growth didn't
Lee Bishop: happen by accident.
Lee Bishop: Yeah, we have core values and definitely
Lee Bishop: meetings, and there's just some little
Lee Bishop: corporate stuff that we've probably missed
Lee Bishop: along the way.
Mark Haney: Well, I, I mean, it's obviously worked.
Mark Haney: Uh, you've decided.
Mark Haney: I always think of a.
Mark Haney: A mission statement is what we are going to
Mark Haney: be, so, or, excuse me, what we are going to
Mark Haney: do, and a vision statement is what we are
Mark Haney: going to be, and it's all centered around
Mark Haney: those core values.
Mark Haney: And so how did you come up with the core
Mark Haney: values?
Mark Haney: Were they there when you got there or did
Mark Haney: you help?
Wayne Bishop: They were there when I got there, that was
Wayne Bishop: something that's huge I had for years, of
Wayne Bishop: course, heard about mission statements,
Wayne Bishop: didn't understand the point, didn't take
Wayne Bishop: the time to try to understand it, and
Wayne Bishop: finally somebody made me understand why we
Wayne Bishop: should have one, and I don't remember how
Wayne Bishop: that happened, but so I bought a book and
Wayne Bishop: started reading and it said you know, step
Wayne Bishop: one is to define your core values.
Wayne Bishop: And so we got that done, and that's as far
Wayne Bishop: as we got.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, got back to work.
Mark Haney: We got pumpkins to tend to.
Mark Haney: So that's really cool.
Mark Haney: So do you have, I would imagine, that
Mark Haney: there's a vision for the company, and one
Mark Haney: of the things I think we have to get right
Mark Haney: if we want to attract the right teammates.
Mark Haney: In my world, you want to attract investors,
Mark Haney: if you want to get people to follow you,
Mark Haney: you need a compelling vision.
Mark Haney: So how compelling is your vision?
Lee Bishop: I think it's a very compelling one.
Lee Bishop: You know, we always talk about what's next
Lee Bishop: for us, so maybe we don't have a mission
Lee Bishop: statement, but we're always talking about
Lee Bishop: what's the next project and what's the one
Lee Bishop: after that.
Lee Bishop: And the one after that and the one after
Lee Bishop: that We've got, you know, I like to say,
Lee Bishop: five years of projects that are likely 15
Lee Bishop: years of projects lined up, you know.
Lee Bishop: But the nature of our business is we always
Lee Bishop: have to do capital improvements.
Lee Bishop: That's what we have to do to keep people
Lee Bishop: coming back.
Lee Bishop: With that, you've got to have some vision
Lee Bishop: and some foresight of what to do next.
Mark Haney: All right, well, so I'm going to have you
Mark Haney: paint the picture for me, lee here, what is
Mark Haney: the?
Mark Haney: So I walk through the door.
Mark Haney: You still have the train, lee here.
Mark Haney: So I walked through the door.
Mark Haney: You still have the train, right, that you
Mark Haney: and your dad built right.
Mark Haney: So you got this train and then I remember
Mark Haney: going out in the fields it must have been
Mark Haney: on a hayride type thing and then you get to
Mark Haney: pick out your pumpkins, but then you can
Mark Haney: come back to this sort of centralized area
Mark Haney: where there's get stuff to eat and petting
Mark Haney: zoo, and all that Now.
Mark Haney: Now that was 10 years ago.
Mark Haney: Pay me a picture of what it is today,
Mark Haney: because I know it's changed.
Mark Haney: You've done some capital improvements, yeah
Mark Haney: so we have now.
Lee Bishop: We have five or six, uh, amusement style
Lee Bishop: rides.
Lee Bishop: Okay, on the train, a carousel.
Lee Bishop: We have a airplane ride.
Lee Bishop: That's kind of like the dumbo ride at
Lee Bishop: disneyland.
Lee Bishop: We have a, uh, tootling tractors is what we
Lee Bishop: call.
Lee Bishop: It was just tractors that go around some
Lee Bishop: scenes and animatronics thing to each other.
Lee Bishop: Uh, we installed a teacup ride last year.
Lee Bishop: Um, we have you pick sunflowers, a petting
Lee Bishop: zoo, a corn maze, uh you know, apple cider
Lee Bishop: slushies, which is our number one seller, a
Lee Bishop: bakery that my grandma, you know, created
Lee Bishop: and, and like a food court style thing on
Lee Bishop: top of a bunch of you know, weekend
Lee Bishop: entertainment around the farm of jugglers
Lee Bishop: and, uh, all that other stuff, and then we
Lee Bishop: have a bar on site.
Mark Haney: Now, too, that's serving the hard cider
Mark Haney: that I came to make okay, yeah, I see that
Mark Haney: in your shirt is this is, uh, this hard
Mark Haney: cider.
Mark Haney: Tell me about that.
Lee Bishop: That sounds like some a reason for me to
Lee Bishop: get out there, yeah, and uh, one of my
Lee Bishop: reasons to come back was I, my dad and my
Lee Bishop: sister went to a class in 2019 or 2018 how
Lee Bishop: to make hard cider, and they both left that
Lee Bishop: class saying man, we don't have time to do
Lee Bishop: that aha, so I'll have to do it, but don't
Lee Bishop: yeah, so you make a.
Mark Haney: This is a drink that um.
Mark Haney: It's got alcohol in it I take it and uh, so
Mark Haney: you, uh, you sell it there at your business.
Lee Bishop: Yeah, we make it.
Lee Bishop: We just we're about to keg our first stuff
Lee Bishop: for the 2025 season.
Lee Bishop: On Monday, we'll be our first kegging.
Lee Bishop: So, yeah, I started making hard cider in
Lee Bishop: 2020.
Lee Bishop: I'm a finance guy, so I'm not a chemistry
Lee Bishop: guy, so I had to learn how to make it,
Lee Bishop: which took some years.
Lee Bishop: It's really one of the things that really
Lee Bishop: took off.
Lee Bishop: Our business, too, is now you can have hard
Lee Bishop: cider all around the farm.
Mark Haney: What's it taste like?
Mark Haney: What goes into it?
Lee Bishop: It's apple.
Lee Bishop: The base is apple, which is like a white
Lee Bishop: wine, and we sweeten it up with a flavor.
Lee Bishop: So we have just an apple which is back
Lee Bishop: sweetened with a little apple juice
Lee Bishop: concentrate.
Lee Bishop: Or we have a blackberry, a pineapple, guava
Lee Bishop: or a pear, so we juice concentrate.
Lee Bishop: Or we have a blackberry, pineapple, guava
Lee Bishop: or a pear, so we have four different
Lee Bishop: flavors right now, but the base of that is
Lee Bishop: all fermented apple juice okay, and then
Lee Bishop: the only place to get it is at your
Lee Bishop: location.
Mark Haney: Are you guys selling it through retail?
Lee Bishop: just at the farm right now.
Wayne Bishop: We are constrained with space right now
Wayne Bishop: where we make it just to get it made for
Wayne Bishop: what we can serve.
Lee Bishop: Yeah, okay, we've run out all year for the
Lee Bishop: nine weeks we're open yeah, okay.
Mark Haney: So now paint me a picture.
Mark Haney: You say you have these capital improvements
Mark Haney: that are, um, that you've dreamt up, um, is
Mark Haney: that to make the place, uh, different?
Mark Haney: Obviously you need to put capital you got
Mark Haney: to put money into your business to keep it
Mark Haney: going.
Mark Haney: But are you going to do new things?
Mark Haney: What were the?
Mark Haney: What are those things going to look like?
Lee Bishop: yeah, so uh, this year our big project is a
Lee Bishop: big um snow tube style slide that's six
Lee Bishop: lanes.
Lee Bishop: Uh, it's 50, 60 feet in the air goes 200
Lee Bishop: feet long oh my goodness, okay, snow tube
Lee Bishop: style so um, sit on like a snow tube and go
Lee Bishop: down this big, huge hill.
Mark Haney: Uh, it's all bumpered, contained and you
Mark Haney: can race each other okay, so not with
Mark Haney: actual snow, though, but yeah right, you're
Mark Haney: going down, is it?
Lee Bishop: uh dirt or no, it's on a, it's a plastic,
Lee Bishop: it's a.
Wayne Bishop: It's a turf, which is the same thing that,
Wayne Bishop: like skiers or boarders use to train on
Wayne Bishop: when there's no snow.
Mark Haney: Same same stuff.
Mark Haney: And then how high is it again?
Wayne Bishop: Well, the actual drop, I think, is around
Wayne Bishop: 35 feet, but there we're going to, we're
Wayne Bishop: going to put it in, um, we're going to put
Wayne Bishop: that coming out of a building that's going
Wayne Bishop: to look like an old grain elevator or one
Wayne Bishop: of the old rice dryers that are that are in
Wayne Bishop: our area.
Mark Haney: So that building is going to be almost 50
Mark Haney: feet tall, okay, and so it's going to be a
Mark Haney: real landmark and so you walk upstairs to
Mark Haney: get there and then you'll go down the slide
Mark Haney: and it's 200 feet long, long and you're
Mark Haney: going.
Mark Haney: Uh, so are you engineering this well?
Wayne Bishop: yeah, somewhat.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, I mean I, I, which, which is what I'm
Wayne Bishop: still.
Wayne Bishop: That's why he's letting me still work for
Wayne Bishop: him yeah, you got to.
Wayne Bishop: You got that mechanical engineering stuff,
Wayne Bishop: yeah yeah, and, and that's what I enjoy
Wayne Bishop: doing the most, or or the the new projects
Wayne Bishop: on the farm so, uh, it's for adults or kids.
Mark Haney: I take it either and you're going pretty
Mark Haney: fast.
Lee Bishop: It sounds like yeah it's a big, yeah, and a
Lee Bishop: lot of farms have done a smaller version of
Lee Bishop: this.
Lee Bishop: You know we're big, yeah, and a lot of
Lee Bishop: farms have done a smaller version of this.
Lee Bishop: We're doing six lanes.
Lee Bishop: A lot of farms have done two lanes of it I
Lee Bishop: like the six lanes that way too.
Mark Haney: You know people, brother and sisters can go
Mark Haney: down at the same time and kind of race,
Mark Haney: yeah.
Lee Bishop: So anyway, that's one of the projects, but
Lee Bishop: you know we're working on a.
Lee Bishop: Uh, we're really behind on food service
Lee Bishop: right now.
Lee Bishop: Our crowd is demanding more food, more
Lee Bishop: lunch items, so we're working on another
Lee Bishop: kitchen which would be a chicken strips and
Lee Bishop: corn dog style.
Lee Bishop: Um, we want another building for a hard
Lee Bishop: cider production so we can make it
Lee Bishop: permanent in there.
Lee Bishop: Uh, we desperately need more bathrooms.
Lee Bishop: Our customers are um begging for more
Lee Bishop: bathrooms, right now we have to kind of
Lee Bishop: backfill with porter potties.
Wayne Bishop: We're also thinking about what the next
Wayne Bishop: amusement ride will be.
Wayne Bishop: Those take.
Wayne Bishop: If you're going to order a new one, take
Wayne Bishop: about a year and a half to get them.
Wayne Bishop: So we're going to go to Germany this summer
Wayne Bishop: and look at one that we think we like.
Mark Haney: We were talking about subsea systems
Mark Haney: earlier.
Mark Haney: Have you talked to people that are
Mark Haney: obviously really good on underwater rides
Mark Haney: and things like that, but they build
Mark Haney: amusement type rides.
Mark Haney: Have you talked to those guys at all about
Mark Haney: what you're, what you're thinking?
Wayne Bishop: not really.
Wayne Bishop: It's interesting, you know they go to the
Wayne Bishop: same conference we do in orlando when we're
Wayne Bishop: going to uh to look for these things and
Wayne Bishop: and uh, we haven't specifically talked to
Wayne Bishop: them about, about what they could do for us
Wayne Bishop: we should do that.
Mark Haney: It's fun because you know they've got such
Mark Haney: imagination they were developing a ride.
Mark Haney: Uh, last time we talked to them actually an
Mark Haney: underwater ride, yeah, yeah and for those
Mark Haney: listening subsea systems has got an
Mark Haney: underwater car among other rides, and they
Mark Haney: they have them in a mute.
Mark Haney: Uh, excuse me, like resort areas typically,
Mark Haney: but they are also a family business and a
Mark Haney: lot like you guys, I mean just a great
Mark Haney: story of innovation and growth and
Mark Haney: stick-to-itiveness.
Mark Haney: So tell me more about like what you see for
Mark Haney: like the next 12 months or so with you and
Mark Haney: your brother.
Mark Haney: You know you've got to get through your
Mark Haney: probationary period and so how does?
Mark Haney: that if he doesn't get through it, do we go
Mark Haney: to the consultant or do we go to?
Lee Bishop: we go to bro brother, I like to think I
Lee Bishop: already completed it, because the thing is
Lee Bishop: she told us last february, I think it was,
Lee Bishop: you know okay, we decided lee was probably
Lee Bishop: the next guy and that's it.
Lee Bishop: Well, I'm not gonna let you do it.
Lee Bishop: Take the title till next year, but you can
Lee Bishop: act like it now.
Lee Bishop: So I already I've already done it for a
Lee Bishop: year, in my opinion, but he's still holding
Lee Bishop: the probationary card.
Wayne Bishop: I just made that up when we got here.
Mark Haney: I love it that you're still involved in the
Mark Haney: business too.
Mark Haney: It makes it there's a lot of continuity.
Wayne Bishop: I'll tell you what, mark I'm the happiest
Wayne Bishop: I've ever been right now, because these
Wayne Bishop: guys are more than ready to run the company.
Wayne Bishop: I still get to work in it and do the fun
Wayne Bishop: parts and, and, um, do some other things
Wayne Bishop: with my time that I want to be, want to
Wayne Bishop: work on too, and it's, it's great.
Wayne Bishop: These three weeks have been great.
Mark Haney: Oh, that's great a lot of people, uh uh,
Mark Haney: want to shy away from the 800 employees in
Mark Haney: california kind of thing.
Mark Haney: Um, so you have 800, I guess most of them
Mark Haney: are seasonal type employees.
Mark Haney: But some of these employees work year round
Mark Haney: to keep the business operational.
Mark Haney: You know, keep the farm rolling.
Mark Haney: How difficult is that to?
Mark Haney: I guess?
Mark Haney: It seems to me that it'd be running the
Mark Haney: farm pieces.
Mark Haney: You know, know, that's kind of like that
Mark Haney: just kind of continues.
Mark Haney: But when you have to staff up, um for these
Mark Haney: seasons, talk to me about the what goes
Mark Haney: into that yeah, so uh, luckily, most of
Mark Haney: that's not on my plate okay that's your
Mark Haney: brother, no, our HR manager oh okay, um,
Mark Haney: it's, uh, it's been a process.
Lee Bishop: I think we've grown it, certainly over the
Lee Bishop: last few years of the last 10, 15 years.
Lee Bishop: Our HR program my mom kind of started that
Lee Bishop: and then my sister came in and was our HR
Lee Bishop: manager for a long time and kind of
Lee Bishop: developed this, our strategy, going into it.
Lee Bishop: Now our HR manager and my wife play a big
Lee Bishop: role in getting the people out.
Lee Bishop: Now our HR manager and my wife play a big
Lee Bishop: role in getting the people out.
Lee Bishop: You know we have 20 full-time employees
Lee Bishop: right now.
Lee Bishop: We have one HR manager.
Lee Bishop: We'll bring in another 8 to 10 people to
Lee Bishop: help with the hiring process.
Lee Bishop: We'll hire 850-ish employees.
Lee Bishop: You know last year we had about 550 that
Lee Bishop: were returners, so their paperwork is
Lee Bishop: pretty seamless.
Mark Haney: Oh wow, that makes it so much easier.
Mark Haney: So you have supervisors, you have people
Mark Haney: coming back, so you already have your
Mark Haney: little management staff sort of set up.
Lee Bishop: That was a struggle for us, especially in
Lee Bishop: 2020 and 2021.
Lee Bishop: We lost a lot.
Lee Bishop: Our retention rate on seasonal employees
Lee Bishop: was not good, so we spent a lot of effort
Lee Bishop: over the last three or four years to try to
Lee Bishop: develop some strategies to get people to
Lee Bishop: come back year after year, and it's working
Lee Bishop: now.
Lee Bishop: So we're only hiring 300 or so brand new
Lee Bishop: employees.
Lee Bishop: Everybody else comes in.
Lee Bishop: They know the drill.
Lee Bishop: We usually put them back to where they were
Lee Bishop: the previous season.
Lee Bishop: It makes life a lot easier.
Lee Bishop: My brother and I were talking just the
Lee Bishop: other day how much easier the start of this
Lee Bishop: season was than previous season, and it's
Lee Bishop: it was, you know, the biggest year we've
Lee Bishop: ever had.
Lee Bishop: So there's something to be said about
Lee Bishop: getting returners.
Wayne Bishop: So a number of years ago now I couldn't
Wayne Bishop: tell you exactly what year it was, but we
Wayne Bishop: went over a million dollars in payroll that
Wayne Bishop: year and now we're four, four and a half
Wayne Bishop: million, but, but we went over a million
Wayne Bishop: dollars.
Wayne Bishop: And I thought four and a half million, but
Wayne Bishop: but we went over a million dollars and I
Wayne Bishop: thought, holy cow, we've never spent that
Wayne Bishop: much on anything.
Wayne Bishop: You know, any improvement we'd ever made on
Wayne Bishop: the farm at that point had never spent a
Wayne Bishop: million dollars.
Wayne Bishop: And I thought, here we are spending it
Wayne Bishop: every year on people and, and yet we put
Wayne Bishop: very little effort into making sure that
Wayne Bishop: we're getting the best people and that
Wayne Bishop: we're training them and and giving them the
Wayne Bishop: culture that we want them to pass on the
Wayne Bishop: best people, and that we're training them
Wayne Bishop: and and giving them the culture that we
Wayne Bishop: want them to pass on.
Wayne Bishop: So so really, my wife jumped in at that
Wayne Bishop: point.
Wayne Bishop: You know we talked about it and we happened
Wayne Bishop: to go to a seminar that year where a lady
Wayne Bishop: talked about how to do behavioral
Wayne Bishop: interviews and and and.
Wayne Bishop: So we made some huge changes at that time,
Wayne Bishop: started getting better people and, and then
Wayne Bishop: likely Lee and his wife have worked on this
Wayne Bishop: the last three out four years.
Lee Bishop: We really.
Lee Bishop: The interview process hasn't really changed
Lee Bishop: since my mom took it over yeah it's
Lee Bishop: relatively similar.
Lee Bishop: You know, we we have to hire kids, and
Lee Bishop: that's struggle right.
Mark Haney: Most of the workers that you hire are
Mark Haney: direct facing with customers.
Mark Haney: Yeah, yeah, good, good, half of them at
Mark Haney: least, and uh, anyway.
Lee Bishop: So, yeah, my mom really built up that first
Lee Bishop: half part of it and then, you know, my wife
Lee Bishop: really, uh, has built up the back half,
Lee Bishop: which is retaining them and getting them to
Lee Bishop: come back, and so you know, we have to do a
Lee Bishop: lot of incentives to get them to come back
Lee Bishop: year after year, but it's working what's
Lee Bishop: great too is that for some reason we don't
Lee Bishop: fully understand, Hopefully just people
Lee Bishop: enjoy working for us, but hopefully that's
Lee Bishop: the reason.
Wayne Bishop: But we just get a ton of applicants Other
Wayne Bishop: than those couple of school there you have.
Wayne Bishop: Lindhurst High School is out there.
Mark Haney: What else Wheatland?
Lee Bishop: High School.
Lee Bishop: There's Wheatland High School there, but we
Lee Bishop: get a lot from Yuba County in general, so
Lee Bishop: Plumas Lake.
Wayne Bishop: But also Sutter County and Sutter County.
Mark Haney: Okay, people get to drive for that type of
Mark Haney: thing, it's probably a great.
Mark Haney: It's probably like a part-time job for most
Mark Haney: people, right?
Lee Bishop: It's right before Christmas, so you can put
Lee Bishop: a couple extra thousand bucks in your
Lee Bishop: pocket, right?
Mark Haney: before.
Lee Bishop: Christmas.
Lee Bishop: That's how we get a lot of good people on
Lee Bishop: the weekends.
Mark Haney: Yeah, and people, probably parents.
Mark Haney: You have any parents that drive out there
Mark Haney: and their kid is a worker.
Mark Haney: Their teenage kid is a worker and they're a
Mark Haney: worker.
Mark Haney: Yeah, because transportation for a 16 or
Mark Haney: 17-year-old is harder, especially if you've
Mark Haney: got to drive 20 minutes.
Wayne Bishop: We've had that happen a number of times,
Wayne Bishop: where we hire a kid and then their mom will
Wayne Bishop: come in and say you know what I got to
Wayne Bishop: drive here anyway.
Wayne Bishop: Could I work too, yeah?
Lee Bishop: Yeah, we get a lot and it just seems like
Lee Bishop: we're getting better at that, because I
Lee Bishop: think we're doing a really good job
Lee Bishop: treating our employees well.
Lee Bishop: We're getting four or five or six people
Lee Bishop: from the same household working for us and
Lee Bishop: it just it really makes everything a lot
Lee Bishop: easier, because they also hold them each
Lee Bishop: other accountable when they're not doing
Lee Bishop: something right and whatever building and
Lee Bishop: that's the thing too, is that when you,
Lee Bishop: when you get a family working for you, you
Lee Bishop: know, we have several of these families
Lee Bishop: that, like this, they care about the
Lee Bishop: business as much as we do you know they
Lee Bishop: they, they, they really consider it their
Lee Bishop: own as much as we do, and when you can have
Lee Bishop: that in an employee, it's special.
Mark Haney: So your wives are both in the business.
Mark Haney: Your mom and dad were both in the business.
Mark Haney: I mean, I couldn't work with my wife no way.
Mark Haney: We worked together great at home, but you
Mark Haney: know 40 years and we never.
Mark Haney: Well, we started working together in the
Mark Haney: video stores back in the day, but you know
Mark Haney: she worked in accounting, I was more like a
Mark Haney: customer facing, so we didn't really work
Mark Haney: together.
Mark Haney: I don't know how you guys do that.
Wayne Bishop: You know it's not for everybody uh my wife
Wayne Bishop: and I were doing great until you know.
Wayne Bishop: We just got done remote, doing a huge
Wayne Bishop: remodel on a house, and that almost well,
Wayne Bishop: that was almost.
Mark Haney: Did you keep living in the house during the
Mark Haney: remodel?
Wayne Bishop: fortunately we didn't have to do that, but
Wayne Bishop: but yeah, that was, that was tougher than
Wayne Bishop: working together on the farm.
Wayne Bishop: But I'm not sure what makes it how it works
Wayne Bishop: that well.
Wayne Bishop: We just maybe we chose good women.
Wayne Bishop: Yeah, I think well between you know,
Wayne Bishop: between.
Lee Bishop: Well, my wife is a very hard worker, so
Lee Bishop: it's pretty easy to work with her because
Lee Bishop: she wants to work, it's it's shutting her
Lee Bishop: brain off at night.
Lee Bishop: That's, that's what I struggle with because
Lee Bishop: she wants to work till till we're laying in
Lee Bishop: bed.
Lee Bishop: I'm like, hey, I'm going to sleep now.
Lee Bishop: But I think what drives us is we all have
Lee Bishop: the same passion for the business to grow
Lee Bishop: me and my brother my dad and my wife and my
Lee Bishop: mom.
Lee Bishop: We all want success, we all want it to grow.
Lee Bishop: So that's really, I think, if we all have
Lee Bishop: that at the root of ourselves, that's, uh,
Lee Bishop: that's all you need really Is our business
Lee Bishop: and there are others like this too, but
Lee Bishop: there's a lot of businesses where you just
Lee Bishop: don't get the gratification that you, that
Lee Bishop: we get.
Wayne Bishop: You know we're we're so lucky that if
Wayne Bishop: you're in your office and you're a little
Wayne Bishop: grumpy and not feeling it, you can walk
Wayne Bishop: outside and see a lot of happy families.
Wayne Bishop: Oh, yeah, yeah.
Wayne Bishop: And when you see that and a lot of times
Wayne Bishop: they'll, uh, they'll recognize us and, you
Wayne Bishop: know, want to talk and just tell us hey, we
Wayne Bishop: just love coming here.
Wayne Bishop: Thank you for doing this, um it.
Wayne Bishop: You know that that can smooth over the
Wayne Bishop: rough patches real easy.
Mark Haney: Yeah you know I had talked to you, uh, I
Mark Haney: think before the show, about, like, we have
Mark Haney: these 74 acres out in lumas it's like six
Mark Haney: minutes from here and on horseshoe, right
Mark Haney: off horseshoe bar, and there's 31 acres.
Mark Haney: That would be ideal for either developing
Mark Haney: new houses, you know, like custom homes, or
Mark Haney: something like, uh, a pumpkin farm,
Mark Haney: something, you know, christmas tree stuff
Mark Haney: and my family gets excited about these
Mark Haney: kinds of ideas because they're kind of
Mark Haney: entrepreneurial.
Mark Haney: And then you know it's like what do you
Mark Haney: wish for?
Mark Haney: Be careful.
Mark Haney: What you wish for my mentality was, yeah,
Mark Haney: it would be cool to go out there and see
Mark Haney: the kids, or if you had your buddies out
Mark Haney: there drinking some hard cider, let's go,
Mark Haney: let's go hang out.
Mark Haney: But, um, I, I can only imagine what goes
Mark Haney: into doing, you know, built, starting it
Mark Haney: from scratch, and so I've always thought,
Mark Haney: well, what if you could partner with
Mark Haney: somebody to put that experience together
Mark Haney: and maybe you could contribute, however you,
Mark Haney: you know, were able to, but somebody else
Mark Haney: is sort of running the operations.
Mark Haney: Your thoughts on that?
Mark Haney: Have you thought about expanding somewhere
Mark Haney: else, not necessarily my place?
Lee Bishop: Well, it's not a hard no on your place.
Mark Haney: Yeah, okay, it's always a discussion.
Mark Haney: Okay, can we head over there, right?
Wayne Bishop: now.
Mark Haney: Yeah, let's go over there so it's the
Mark Haney: perfect location, but I did drive down
Mark Haney: Horseshoe Bar the other day and I saw
Mark Haney: another place that was doing something
Mark Haney: similar to that, so it would be smaller
Mark Haney: than ours would be, though ours would be
Mark Haney: special.
Mark Haney: I'm not the thirstiest guy we've been along,
Mark Haney: so but anyway, yeah, it just seems like
Mark Haney: such a cool idea, especially when I have a
Mark Haney: bunch of grandkids that could put them to
Mark Haney: work.
Lee Bishop: Yeah.
Lee Bishop: I think, you know, you always got to stay
Lee Bishop: open to business opportunities and if the
Lee Bishop: right one were to hit us, you got to take
Lee Bishop: advantage.
Lee Bishop: And I think that's the mentality we haven't
Lee Bishop: had, that, at least in a while.
Lee Bishop: The right opportunity come up to where
Lee Bishop: we're like let's get that farm and let's,
Lee Bishop: you know, make another Bishop's Pumpkin
Lee Bishop: Farm.
Lee Bishop: But you know, I think we're always open to
Lee Bishop: that.
Mark Haney: We're always open to ideas.
Mark Haney: Well, maybe if you guys have time right
Mark Haney: after the show we'll drive over there, but
Mark Haney: if not, I you know, no pressure.
Lee Bishop: It's just a podcast.
Mark Haney: You can paint me a picture of what it might
Mark Haney: look like or something, uh, what the pros
Mark Haney: and cons are.
Mark Haney: So, um, anyway, uh, what did I not ask you?
Mark Haney: Like, I want to make sure you have a chance
Mark Haney: to really tell your story the way that you
Mark Haney: want it to to be told.
Wayne Bishop: You know, um, we, we belong to a couple of
Wayne Bishop: organizations, and, and so we, uh, of what
Wayne Bishop: I call the funny farmers in in the country.
Wayne Bishop: You know that that do similar things to
Wayne Bishop: what we do, and so we visited a lot of
Wayne Bishop: farms.
Wayne Bishop: We talked to a lot of people that do
Wayne Bishop: similar things to what we do, and so we
Wayne Bishop: visited a lot of farms.
Wayne Bishop: We talked to a lot of people.
Wayne Bishop: The thing that I think we do better than
Wayne Bishop: all of them is is the food, and, you know,
Wayne Bishop: started from, uh, my mom's bakery, and we
Wayne Bishop: make a pumpkin pie from, from an heirloom
Wayne Bishop: variety pumpkin that we grow, and, um, I
Wayne Bishop: actually take credit for saving that
Wayne Bishop: pumpkin from.
Wayne Bishop: You know, there was a time where it was
Wayne Bishop: really hard to get seed because nobody was
Wayne Bishop: growing it anymore.
Wayne Bishop: And uh, there there are a bunch of things
Wayne Bishop: we do like that and we make.
Wayne Bishop: We make food from scratch.
Wayne Bishop: We make caramel for our caramel apples, we
Wayne Bishop: press apples into cider and now we ferment
Wayne Bishop: it to hard cider and and, um, we, we, we go
Wayne Bishop: to the extra work to to make the food good
Wayne Bishop: and and, um, I don't know, I'm just I'm
Wayne Bishop: kind of a food guy.
Wayne Bishop: When I travel, I always remember what I ate,
Wayne Bishop: especially if it was good yeah and and I
Wayne Bishop: associate that with with my memories, like
Wayne Bishop: you know.
Wayne Bishop: Oh yeah, we visited this um.
Wayne Bishop: You know, I was in nuremberg, germany, and
Wayne Bishop: I I had the most awesome german sausage I
Wayne Bishop: ever and I and I started eating mustard.
Wayne Bishop: I never ate mustard before in my life, but
Wayne Bishop: I ate it the way the germans do, and now I
Wayne Bishop: like mustard you know, it's, it's, uh.
Wayne Bishop: So to me, that's the thing that has been
Wayne Bishop: the predominant driver for our growth.
Wayne Bishop: You know, and now we have these rides, we
Wayne Bishop: have a full day's experience.
Wayne Bishop: If you want to bring your family out, I
Wayne Bishop: still think it's the food that brings
Wayne Bishop: people out.
Wayne Bishop: Interesting.
Mark Haney: Is it you got to?
Mark Haney: I know, I believe you pay to park, you pay
Mark Haney: to get in and then you can buy the stuff.
Mark Haney: How does what's the mechanics in terms of
Mark Haney: no, I.
Lee Bishop: I think that's.
Lee Bishop: Another thing that makes us really unique
Lee Bishop: is we're open 65.
Lee Bishop: I'm pushing 70 days a year and we charge
Lee Bishop: parking 12 days a year, just october,
Lee Bishop: friday, saturdays and sundays, and the rest
Lee Bishop: of the year we're admission free okay you
Lee Bishop: can walk in and choose your own adventure.
Lee Bishop: If you just want to come in and have dinner
Lee Bishop: and a hard cider, that is totally okay.
Lee Bishop: Wow, if you want to come and just ride the
Lee Bishop: rides and not buy anything else, that is
Lee Bishop: totally okay.
Mark Haney: So it could be a real, affordable night out
Mark Haney: for a family that's on a real budget.
Wayne Bishop: You can bring your own picnic, if you want
Wayne Bishop: to.
Lee Bishop: Wow, there's not a lot of places in the
Lee Bishop: world that do that still.
Wayne Bishop: That's really special.
Wayne Bishop: They're charging you $30 to get in the game.
Lee Bishop: Oh yeah, santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is like
Lee Bishop: that too, but I think that really makes us
Lee Bishop: different in our industry.
Lee Bishop: I don't care if you spend $5 with us or
Lee Bishop: $100 with us, just come and have a good
Lee Bishop: night.
Lee Bishop: That's what's important, I think, to us as
Lee Bishop: a family.
Mark Haney: That's really cool.
Mark Haney: Okay, anything else I didn't ask you.
Mark Haney: I had to let your dad uh chime in for his
Mark Haney: uh, his thoughts on the uh, on the food no,
Mark Haney: I don't, I don't think so.
Lee Bishop: I think we had a lot of, uh, good stuff
Lee Bishop: today.
Mark Haney: Well, congratulations and thank you for
Mark Haney: coming on the show.
Mark Haney: Thank you for making so many families happy,
Mark Haney: employing people and getting them their
Mark Haney: christmas money and, uh, maybe for a lot of
Mark Haney: people, their first job those experiences
Mark Haney: that we get in our early years whether it
Mark Haney: be going to the pumpkin farm and grabbing a
Mark Haney: pumpkin or a pumpkin pie or just our first
Mark Haney: jobs we want to be in a wholesome place
Mark Haney: like what you guys offer, so thank you very
Mark Haney: much.
Mark Haney: Well, thank you, mark, for having us.
Lee Bishop: We appreciate it, you bet.