BELLEVUE - Louie Konop started with a route of 120 penny peanut machines. Now, 75 years later, the company he started has 140 employees and sells a lot more than peanuts.
Konop Companies Inc., a vending and catering company in Bellevue, was started in 1946 when Konop, a World War II veteran, purchased a penny peanut machine route. At the time, he was working at a local bakery.
"My grandma wasn't too excited about him quitting his good job at the bakery," said Tom Konop, the current president of the company and Louie's son. "But he ended up buying it (and) working part time at the bakery for quite a few years."
Konop said Louie filled and emptied the machines on his own for a number of years, running the business out of their house at 1332 Elm St. in Green Bay. Slowly, they added candy, coffee and even cigarettes to their route, and a handful of drivers were hired to fill and empty the machines.
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From the beginning, the company was run as a family business. Currently the business is owned by Louie's three children: Tom and Dave Konop and Mary Borley.
Borley said they spent a lot of their free-time as children helping with the business, from sorting candy at the end of the day to cleaning. Now, Borley is the secretary-treasurer and Dave, Konop's vice president, drives a route filling and emptying machines.
"Dave doesn't have any interest in the administrative part of it — which is great," Borley said. "This is what Tom and I enjoy doing. Just the balance works well for our family."
Roughly 10 years into business, Konop Companies moved into its first building. In 1987, it built the company's current headquarters on Industrial Drive.
Now the business has three divisions: a food service division; an office, coffee and bottled water division; and a market division. The company is no longer limited to vending machines; it also offers catering and runs dining facilities.
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Tom Konop said many businesses are no longer looking for a typical vending machine to offer their employees but a market with fresh food, such as salads, baked goods and sandwiches that can be purchased at a kiosk.
"Instead of the closed vending machine, it's open concept like going into a convenience store ... that's where the industry has gone," he said.
In the last 20 years Konop has expanded outside the Green Bay area but remains a local business. Tom Konop said they cover roughly an hour radius around Green Bay, with customers as far as Fond du Lac, Wittenberg and Menominee.
Looking ahead, Konop said there are lots of opportunities for them to continue expanding, but they have to ensure quality remains the priority. Additionally, the coronavirus pandemic has not been easy on the company.
Borley said 2020 and 2021 have been hard for the business, and they did have to furlough some employees. Tom Konop said most have been welcomed back.
"It was a very tough time and now it doesn't seem like it's bouncing back as quick as we'd like it to, but we are heading in the right direction," Borley said.
The focus on the company while working through the pandemic is prioritizing efficiency in order to save profits and continue to grow.
In the last five years, both Louie Konop and his wife, Pat, have died. Borley said she hopes her parents are proud of the way she and her brothers have run the business.
"We are a family-owned business," Konop said. "That will never go away."
Alexandria Bursiek Kloehn is a business reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at abursiekkloehn@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @bursiekkloehn.