Features and Series

Posted in: Features and Series
Hard Work, Consistency, Family and Faith Drive Big G
By Laura Timm
Aug 7, 2008 - 9:03:53 PM

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Garth and Ruth Grafft inside their store, Big G Foods in Marengo. The couple opened the store in 1998. It currently employs around 50 people. Laura Timm Photo

MARENGO - When Garth Grafft was around twenty years old he and his family found themselves facing hard times on their farm in Olin, Iowa. Garth was the youngest of three brothers with one already married with a family and one in the military. According to Garth, when his father was diagnosed with Leukemia, his brother in the military received a hardship discharge and came home to work on the family farm.

Garth’s father wanted to be sure that he would be successful so he went with Garth to his first job interview at a new grocery store in Cedar Rapids. Garth started that first job at Farm Market Grocery on Oakland Road in 1956.

While working there Garth attended a Jones County Youth Event back home where he met a gal named Ruth Eiben. Garth and his family lived on the South end of Jones County, in Olin, and Ruth and her family on the North end, in Monticello. Garth says the two dated while he continued to work at the Farm Market Grocery for a couple of years before enlisting in the Army. He spent two years at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado where he was a meat cutter as he had been at the grocery in Cedar Rapids.

After two years in the Army, Garth came back to the store in Cedar Rapids and got his old job back. “Well they had to do that,” he said. “It’s a shame that some of the people who’ve come back in the last few years are not able to get their jobs back. Employers are supposed to hold those jobs for them.”

He and Ruth married in 1960 and in 1963 they moved to Marengo, put up a sixty foot by ninety foot building and opened the Big G Foods grocery store. Together they raised three boys, Kevin, Gary and Brian. Garth says they built on to the original building about four times and, as several other area grocery stores decided they were ready to sell, he would purchase them.

Garth mentions the advantages of growing up on a farm, saying, “Growing up on a farm just teaches you a good work ethic.” He and Ruth lamented about various farm chores they used to have to do while growing up.

“Like cleaning out the chicken shed,” Garth said.

“That was a Saturday job,” Ruth laughed.

In late 1998 the Graffts had a new building constructed where Big G Foods is now located. According to Garth, shortly after moving into the new building, the warehouse they’d been dealing with out of La Crosse, Wisconsin went bankrupt. That’s when they chose to do business with Affiliated Foods, out of Norfolk, Nebraska. Garth said the relationship with them has been excellent. Every week, trucks come from a distribution Center in Elwood Kansas, arriving at 5:00 a.m. three times per week at the store in Marengo.

Business has changed a little over the years. While the majority of the country is seeing a change as food prices soar along with sky-rocketing fuel prices, Garth says, “Here, it hasn’t been too bad. Things like eggs and dairy did go way up for awhile but then came back down. Locally, food prices haven’t gone up too much overall; It’s the fuel and the transportation prices that have really added to it.”

When asked if he tries to stay on top of the latest technology Garth replied "Definitely.” And clearly he is doing something right - in 1999, Garth won the Iowa Grocery Industry Association's "Retailer of the Year" award. Big G Foods has long been a supporter of Iowa Valley and other area schools, their various organizations and fund raisers and in the community as a whole.  A modest man, Garth declined to talk about his other awards - or the many activities through which he has supported the community.

Garth Grafft in his office at the Big G Foods store. The store currently employs around 50 people - it is a place where many local high school kids get a chance to begin learning first-hand about employment, responsibilities, and earning a paycheck. A modest man, Grafft was less than comfortable discussing his accomplishments and work he has done to support the community. Laura Timm Photo

Along with their three sons, Kevin, Gary and Brian, Garth and Ruth now have seven grandchildren. According to Ruth, their oldest son, Kevin, lives in Minnesota with his wife Julie and their two adopted boys, Ivan, ten, and Ben, eight. The boys were adopted from Russia after one visit to the country for Ivan and two more visits for Ben. The boys were each six months old when Kevin and Julie brought them home.

Gary and his wife Janet reside in Marengo with five more of Garth's and Ruth's grandchildren, Kayla Ash, Greg Ash, Kaitlyn Ash, Peyton Grafft and Brady Grafft. Gary is actively involved with the Big G Foods store and has a B.A. in Early Elementary Education as well as a B.A. in Business Administration from Mount Mercy College. Gary also holds a Master's in Business Administration from St. Ambrose and a coaching certificate which he has used to assist the Iowa Valley boys’ high school basketball program and the Iowa Valley girls' junior high softball program for the past several years.

Brian is also actively involved with the store and has his B.A. in Marketing. He is currently working toward a Master's in Business Administration at the University of Iowa and is engaged to Amanda Hornaday.

Garth and Ruth are fortunate to have two of their sons as well as one grandson and one granddaughter working at the store with them. Both Greg and now, Kaitlyn, are currently employed at Big G Foods. According to Ruth, at any given time the store employs around fifty people. “Right now there are a lot of students employed,” said Ruth, “but it goes in transitions.”
Garth says that he credits his overall success to that initial support given to him by his father. Ruth says “We also had a lot of help from the man upstairs. He’s seen us through a lot over the years.”     

Garth also commented on the importance of consistency, saying “Just keep getting up each day and keep coming to work.”



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