Harry Davis & Company celebrates 70 years of ‘making markets’ with service, expertise
Harry Davis & Company celebrates 70 years of ‘making markets’ with service, expertise
By Alyssa Mitchell, Cheese Market News
PITTSBURGH — Harry Davis & Company is celebrating 70 years of business and reflecting on its role in connecting dairy industry players with solutions and expertise to drive market growth.
From its beginnings as a small industrial auctioneer, the company has long been recognized for its expertise in dairy processing equipment sales. Still, it has become known for so much more in the past two decades.
Third-generation company leaders Leonard Davis, CEO, and Aaron Morgenstern, president, reflect on the company’s growth in terms of geo- graphical reach and expertise.
“Looking through our archives, it’s amazing to me how much our business has changed,” Davis says. “We originated as an industrial auction company that would buy and sell, mostly sell, on behalf of others as an agent. We have grown tremendously, not only in the number of deals we transact but also in the location of our work. Our clients and customers are global; today, we’re providing solutions throughout North America and overseas.”
Beyond its work as an equipment expert, Harry Davis & Company has built a strong reputation in the dairy industry as a market expert in asset valuation, Morgenstern notes.
“We help to guide our customers’ key decisions on acquisitions and more,” he says. “That’s changed the game for us because we were conducting auctions pretty exclusively for the first 45 years of our existence, and in the last 25-plus years, we’ve started to provide this service. In the last 15 years, it’s taken off to where companies will call us before they make a decision to get our input. That’s a difference- maker. We’re now a service provider for mergers and acquisitions, and that service and expertise are unique to us.” Davis adds this service provides important corporate governance data to companies so they can understand the value of their assets and their impact on production.
“When we’re called on to perform a role in an M&A scenario, we don’t advertise it to the masses like we would an auction campaign — but that’s the behind-the-scenes work that often keeps us apprised of what’s going on at the crossroads between buyers and sellers, and that creates an essential set of information for us to utilize with our clients,” he says. “If you produce results for a company and treat them well, they’ll come back to you, and really, that’s our calling card and why we’ve continued to be as successful as we have been — we add value to those businesses.”
Morgenstern notes that CFO Joseph Joyce is a key part of the team in terms of market expertise that drives industry-leading asset valuation. “It’s about understanding the market itself and how it works, from the producer perspective to the processor and eventually the consumer,” he says. “That information is critical to the value of the equipment, and of course, if that equipment is located in a facility where the milk shed around it has changed, it impacts the value of that facility. We have to meet where supply and demand intersect, so it’s important to follow the market as closely as we do. That’s the expertise Joe provides, that market guidance.”
As it celebrates its growth over 70 years, Davis notes the company is undergoing its first office renovation since it moved into its current building nearly 50 years ago. It has also launched a refreshed website and a new company logo.
“The overarching feeling for me having grown up in this business is how proud I am to continue our legacy,” he says. “When people talk to us about the fact that we’re third generation and successful — most people say we’re an outlier. Many businesses don’t get to a second generation, let alone a third, or a successful third generation. It’s the thrust of what Aaron and I have been doing as the company’s leaders to ensure our family name and family business is on solid footing.”
Positioning the company to be successful for the next generation is also a guiding light for Harry Davis & Company’s approach to business, Morgenstern adds.
“Many of our clients have come to recognize that our expertise isn’t limited to just selling equipment, and that’s made us more of a partner for companies,” he adds. “We’re often on the same side of the table instead of on the other side. That dynamic change has taken hold in the dairy industry.” CMN