Buller family back in the business

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This article was published 17/07/2018 (2109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Buller family hiatus from the kitchen cabinet manufacturing business was short lived.

The family that owned and built two different businesses into entities with hundreds of millions in annual sales — Kitchen Craft and Norcraft Companies — is back in the business.

Mark Buller and three brothers have acquired Saskatoon-based Superior Cabinets, one of Western Canada’s leading kitchen cabinet manufacturers.

The deal comes three years and two months since the $600 million sale of Norcraft Companies to Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc., a company that the Bullers had built into a $376 million per year business.

Buller said the 250-person Saskatoon company, is “a perfect fit.”

“I’ve been looking to get back in the business in Canada since the day we sold Norcraft or shortly thereafter,” he said.

Buller had a two year non-compete agreement in the U.S. but that expired more than a year ago.

Superior does business mostly in Saskatchewan and Alberta and not surprisingly went through a “near death experience” during the recession when those two provinces were particularly hard hit.

But the company invested heavily in technology and had a strong bounce back, In 2014 received the first BDC Entrepreneurial Resiliency Award which recognizes a Canadian company that emerged stronger after undergoing a business turnaround or pivotal event in the past year.

Shahan Fancy, Superior’s corporate sales development manager, said, “After the recession things got pretty tough. But the last four to five years I would say were profitable. It was a huge turnaround.”

Buller, who continues to be based in Winnipeg, said the plan is to expand sales across the country and into the U.S. He said that will mean an expansion of the current manufacturing operation in Saskatoon and/or additional acquisitions.

With home starts down across the country — except in Ontario and Quebec — Buller said, “We’d like to move into the U.S. as quick as possible because things are a little soft in Canada.”

Fancy said the Buller family experience is impressive. In addition to Mark, two other brothers based in the U.S. will assist in Superior’s expansion to that market and another Winnipeg-based Buller brother will work on expanding the Canadian dealer network.

“They know everybody,” Fancy said. “They have a lifetime of knowledge in this very focused industry. It is pretty cool.”

The Buller family has a long track record in the kitchen cabinet industry. In 2003 Mark Buller, together with his family and senior management, acquired Norcraft Cabinets from the then existing unitholders. They took Norcraft Companies Inc. public in 2013 and sold it in 2015. Mark’s father, Herb Buller and several partners founded Kitchen Craft in 1971 which was acquired by Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc. in 2002.

Superior was founded by Charles and Linda Larre in 1980. Over the years, a substantial base of employee ownership developed. Buller said management will retain some ownership of the company that has retail stores in Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton, as well as a network of 75 dealers.

Despite the current pull back in home starts, the cabinet business remains very competitive. Buller said, “They are all very, very good competitors and they’re not willing to give up anything.”

At 53, Buller said he was keen to get back in the action.

“I’m excited to be back to work building a business,” said Buller. “I’m not tired. I’m not ready to sit on a dock any longer than a weekend.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca