Terrace Supply Company was founded in 1947 as Elmhurst Welding Supply by James A. Myers and his wife, Gertrude. Jim was a blacksmith by trade and had the first drop station for high pressure oxygen cylinders in the Chicagoland area in their Aurora shop, World War 1 put an end to their first business and, after another entrepreneurial attempt, at 51 years old (and debt free), in 1947 he and Gertrude started Elmhurst Welding Supply in their garage and basement and set the company and family on a course that it still travels nearly eight decades later.
In 1949, the company moved out of the Myers’ basement and into its first storefront, expanding the business and bringing on the need for a counter salesperson, Ric Lichtenheld.
“Both my dad (Ric) and my grandfather (Jim) loved the game of chess. One night Papa invited Dad to the house for dinner and to play chess. Well, that is where Dad met Mom…and the rest was history,” says Gary Lichtenheld, Terrace’s fourth President.
In 1954, the business moved into a new building in Villa Park, IL, and the name changed to Terrace Supply Company. Ric officially purchased the business from Jim in 1965, to become Terrace’s second president. Ric also hired Jim’s son, Walt Myers, to help with sales and the technical aspects of the business. Walt was a Mechanical Engineer, who eventually worked for NASA, before joining Terrace.
“Walt really advanced our business in engineering and automation,” Gary says. “He brought technology to the company and brought our business to a whole new level, including a proprietary software suite created in partnership with the good folks at S.J. Smith!”
Walt eventually became the company’s third president and, one year later, invited Gary Lichtenheld to join the business, in 1978. Gary started out as inside sales, matriculated into sales and management, before eventually taking the reins as the company’s fourth president in 1996.
Finally, the fourth generation of the family, Steve and Brad Lichtenheld, joined the business in 2006 and 2009, respectively. Steve was promoted to become Terrace’s fifth and current president in 2024. Through it all, Terrace has remained steadfast to its principles and a true family-owned company.
A Relationship Business
At Terrace Supply Company, they have a phrase that they often repeat, “We don’t make anything…except relationships.” And they truly live this out every day.
“We’re the type of company who like to have key relationships on both the customer and the vendor side,” says President Steve Lichtenheld. “We like to focus on a vendor and be fiercely loyal to them. To be true partners with them. We don’t like to switch unless they give us a real reason. As an example, we’ve been with Miller since Day one and we are proud to remain a single line distributor. Yes, relationships can be difficult sometimes, but we were founded on personal relationships and we do everything in our power to maintain them – whether it is with a vendor, customer or team member.”
Gary echoes those sentiments, “We say we don’t make anything except relationships. If you blend the objectives of the best customers with the best vendors, the results generally yield long term relationships on both sides.”
And that relationship-building extends beyond customer and vendor relationships. It is evident in the staff that Terrace has built as well.
“How we got to a fourth generation is not really that tricky,” Gary says. “The key is finding young talent, or developing those with experience and motivating them to work together as one! You just don’t find men or women with exceptional talent and the burning desire to succeed that often. But if you make a concerted effort to know each one as an individual and help them develop, the results can be incredible! While it’s true of our whole industry, Terrace Supply is a team standing on the shoulders of those who paved the way to our current success and we don’t EVER forget that! In fact, we have pictures of our founders on the wall at each location and they inspire us daily to do everything we can to utilize the talents of everyone on our team to help each of us develop and grow. And, most days, as we are leaving the building we will look at pictures of those who got us here and ask, ‘Did I make you proud today?’”
Past GAWDA President Randy Squibb had a saying, “The first generation builds the business, the second generation makes it a success, and the third generation wrecks it.” It’s not always that simple, but it’s rare to see family businesses continuing to grow and thrive over the course of four generations and counting.
“By God’s grace and sense of humor, He made all of us ridiculously different,” Steve says. “Jim Myers had a gift for developing deep relationships, where customers became friends! Plus, he was an incredible handyman who liked to get his hands dirty and just get things done. Papa Ric was fiscally sound and extremely organized, and they built on each other’s strengths. Then, Walt came along and he had a level of cerebral complexity that, quite frankly, we are STILL trying to catch up with! He could see things nobody else could see and you would just ride his coattails to get to where his mind was heading and fill in the gaps along the way! Dad brought the sales and business side that complemented Walt, while bringing Terrace’s focus from a micro to macro level through industry partnerships and organizations. And now, if you look at Brad and me, even though we’re only two years apart, are so very different. I love the day-to-day operations. And Brad has the computer and the sales side, which I don’t understand, and I don’t really care for, honestly. And I think the fact that God made us all uniquely different, so that we need each other and we’re allowed to use our greatest gifts to build up those around us, it just works. If Brad and I both wanted to do sales, we might butt heads. But since we lack in so many things that our counterparts are good at, it’s a blessing.”
And that relationship-building goes beyond the C-suite. Terrace has many long-time employees because of the culture that it has built. Terrace’s average employee tenure is over 14 years.
“Maybe that’s because at Terrace, we try to show that our TEAM comes first! For example, Ric and Jim started a profit sharing program in 1962, with 50% of net profits going to our employees, plus other benefit plans, all of which creates an ownership culture with the company and an incentive to stick around and hold each other accountable.”
But because it has so many long-tenured employees, it’s important that the family members in the Lichtenheld family avoid the appearance of impropriety. The family has a rule that each family member must develop a career outside of the business before being asked to join Terrace. And once they are on the team, they are challenged each day to continue to earn their stripes, just like every other employee.
“All of us have had to do every job there is around here,” says Executive Vice President Brad Lichtenheld. “Whether you’re starting out with cleaning bathrooms or on the dock scraping and painting cylinders in the middle of summer, to mixing paint in the warehouses. But we’ve also had members of the family through all four generations come in and decide this isn’t for me. The family rule is to make sure that everybody is bringing something of value to the table that you learned elsewhere. And I think it has really helped with each of the transitions.”
Continues Steve, “And once we get the positions, our work ethic and personal expectations don’t stop either. As an example, our retail is open on Saturdays. And we divide the staffing into ‘shifts.’ As President and Vice President, Brad and I still work every third Saturday, from 8-12, kicking steel and taking care of customers. I think that’s important for our employees to see that we’re working side-by-side with them.”
And finally, those relationships even extend (within reason) to its competitors. Terrace credits organizations like GAWDA, MDG and WEMCO for providing learning experiences to help aid its growth.
“I think that’s something that Dad brought to the company,” Brad notes. “Getting involved with GAWDA, various opportunities to serve on Distributor Councils or committees, etc., allowed him to learn and share with other companies who are doing things well (and even to avoid things they didn’t do well!), all the while, fine-tuning best practices. We’re not going to be the greatest at everything we do and often we don’t even know what we don’t know. But we are constantly seeking out whatever we can learn from our industry, then challenge ourselves to develop and grow.”
TERRACE SUPPLY COMPANY
TERRACE SUPPLY COMPANY
TERRACE SUPPLY COMPANY
Willingness to Take Risks in Order to Stay Ahead of the Curve
In addition to its incredible culture, a big part of the company’s success over 77 years has been its willingness to take calculated risks.
In 1949, Terrace brought on an automotive paint refinish business. For the next 70 years, that business was vital to the company’s bottom line. But in 2018, Terrace took the somewhat shocking step to sell off its automotive paint business and reinvest that money into dry ice.
“That was a risk,” Steve says. “But we decided that we needed to be okay with saying this isn’t an industry that we’re great at anymore and letting somebody else take care of it. And, as it turned out, the dry ice business has turned into a tremendous growth source for us.”
Adds Brad, “Many on our team were worried when we sold the paint side of the business because it represented 30% of our revenue at the time, yet we didn’t lay anybody off. And employees were nervous that cuts were coming. The truth of the matter is, within 14 months, we were above our profit from the paint side. That is the result of laser focus on our core business relationships.”
On the topic of taking risks, Terrace was an early adopter of supplying complete cell welding automation solutions and was also one of the first independents in the industry to use its assets to actively promote micro bulk and maintain on-site cryo support.
Today, because of its breadth of services and its deep-rooted relationships with its customers and suppliers even some competitors across the country, Terrace is a true partner in our industry. So, when a customer has a challenge, they know they can depend on Terrace to be a true solutions provider, rather than a simply an order taker.
“Customers trust us to advise them if an application has the potential for a good return on investment,” Brad says. “We generally start by offering a good, better, best proposal and show the projections for growth on each. For example, sure we can put in a 3,000 gallon bulk vessel and it might be a great opportunity, but we also need to show them potential for losses. What is the true return on investment and does it still align with your ultimate objectives? Bottom line – which is really the best opportunity for you?”
Terrace Supply Going Forward
With its new leadership team in place, Terrace Supply is uniquely positioned for growth as it continues its march toward 80 years and beyond. Its fourth generation is firmly entrenched in the business and in the next five years, the company expects to grow.
“We’re looking to expand our microbulk fleet to add a fifth truck,” says Steve. “Our goal, in five years, is to be in a bigger building, because our dry ice consumes a growing footprint (financially and physically.) We aim to grow 5-10% every year, because we don’t want to outstrip the ability to maintain first class service.”
Says Brad, “We are blessed with generational experience at a young age. And while most of our staff has been here 15-20 years, our entire management team is under 45 years old, with the exception of Dad, who has been with Terrace for more than 45 years! We have a young staff that sticks around, and has gained immense practical experience, by helping develop each other – so they are prepared to adapt to the changing times readily. A perfect example, a year ago we changed to a new software system. Though we were aggressive on the launch timeline, our team handled the transition beautifully with the help of CU. Once again, that is what true teamwork can achieve! We see tremendous value in a generation that you can excite with new growth opportunities, all you have to do is tell them where we want to go and give them the latitude to make it happen.”
Concludes Gary, “Hey folks – this isn’t ‘rocket science’ because, when you get right down to it –‘We Pass Gas for a Living’ – And we get PAID for it! What more can you ask for?”
Don’t miss the Terrace interview on GAWDA TV: Episode 65 (New Year, New Revenue Ideas)
