All in the Family: Father and Son Build Batteries Plus Empire

Editor's Note: This story was written by Patch Editor Stefanie Briggs.

Sometimes it takes two. Bill Criego tends to look at the big picture when it comes to managing his business. His son Mike Criego is more detail-oriented and is all about structure.

Both find the other's business styles complimentary to their own, which is a good thing since the father and son duo are proud owners of 12 Batteries Plus stores in the greater metro area, including Eagan, as well as Fargo and Grand Forks.

How did the father and son end up in business together? It wasn't by accident or on purpose, but more of an evolution into something extraordinary.

Back in the early 90s, Bill was looking to start his own business after working for other technology companies. He was hoping to find technology to buy and he came across a story about Batteries Plus in the Wall Street Journal.

"I spent six months working to become a franchisee of the company and there were only four corporate stores open at the time," Bill said.

He said Batteries Plus started out of Green Bay, Wis. and today has more than 560 stores nationwide. Bill soon became the company's metro franchise owner. 

During college his son Mike was working one of their Batteries Plus store in North Dakota while training to become a pilot. He became a flight instructor then worked for Mesaba Airlines and later Northwest Airlines. 

"After 9/11 the industry fell to pieces," Mike said. "I started looking for a new opportunity and at the same time Bill was looking for an operations manager for the stores."

So after a three-month trial, the two discovered they worked well together and their skill sets complimented one another's.

"We decided if we could survive together we'd make it permanent," Bill said. "There's a lot of challenges when working with family, but we found we were a good match and enjoyed working together."

The two can separate their family relationship from their business one, he said.

"I don't think we've ever had an argument, just disagreements, which you should have because people who run businesses have different points of view, which helps keep things improving," Bill said.

For Mike, most of the stress of the job came up front when he was first learning the business. 

"As a pilot I came from a very structured work environment," Mike said. "I have more freedom now and I learned from Bill how to mediate stress. It took me a while to know how he could sleep so well at night."

Realizing it was just business and being rational about things made the work more enjoyable, Mike said.

Bill has enjoyed watching Mike grow the business and knows its in good hands whenever he decides to step away to retire. 

"I know he can make things happen and has discipline and consistency," Bill said. "We need that structure and consistency so whichever store someone is at customers see the same thing."

Both give similar advice for those who work with family members, the first and foremost is to be patient.

"We all learn and absorb at different rates," Bill said. "Know each other's skills and capitalize on them."

Mike said to also appreciate the other person's attributes. He says it has been helpful that the business relationship has been less father and son and more teacher and student. 

It hasn't always been easy mixing family with business, but Bill and Mike have liked the outcome. Their stores are doing quite well, even when the economy was down sales were up and they don't plan on slowing down.

"We'd like to expand to more locations when the opportunity comes up," Bill said. "For now Batteries Plus is going to be changing to Batteries Plus Bulbs."

And that has kept the two plenty busy. In the coming months, the stores will be showcasing a new product line with a great selection of bulbs to compliment its already wide array of batteries and services.