Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce

25 Great Falls Area Chamber of Commerce www.greatfallschamber.org F E AT U R E D Q & A home one day and noticed a building auction at what would become Schulte's. It was originally a gas and service station. Mark went in to see the auction and just happened to bid one too many times. On that day, Schulte's 38th Street Store was born. How many employees do you have? Schulte's consistently has 26-30 employees on payroll. What is unique about your business? Our uniqueness comes from what we, and many others believe to be the best fried food in Great Falls. On top of that we are a one stop shop with coffee, baked goods, cold treats, dinner, gas, and just about anything else you can think of. On average, we cook 25 tons of chicken per year with only one fryer. In 2021, we finished at 27 tons of chicken. What has been your biggest success? Our biggest success is the relationships we've created with our customers and community. We have been a part of Great Falls for 32 years and plan to keep going because of those special relationships. What has been your biggest challenge? Our challenges are price, service, and quality. It can be challenging to offer all three of these qualities simultaneously. We strive to offer the best service available with the highest quality product. Sometimes the sacrifice is that products and services might not always be the cheapest in town, but we strive to stay competitive. What are your plans for 2022 or in the future to grow and develop your business? Our plans for 2022 from an employee standpoint are to get back to the basics. We have come a long way in 32 years. With that comes new products, more employees, more challenging jobs to fill, etc. However, we know our business was built on the foundation of community involvement and excellent customer service. We are continuously educating our staff on what made us successful in the first place. What have you done to overcome the challenge(s) of 2020/2021? Have you been able to turn any of it into opportunities? How has it changed your way of doing business? As like a lot of other businesses, 2020/2021 was one of the more challenging times we've gone through. We've seen people at their absolute best and we've seen them at their absolute worst. We have had to make changes to our daily flow and customer movement through the store. We have changed our already strict cleaning regiment to ensure we continue to provide a sanitary and safe environment. On the other hand, these challenging times have created a closer comradery amongst our staff and helped streamline our workflows. 2020 also allowed us to introduce a delivery service, allowing us to offer more accessibility and convenience to our customers. The pandemic helped a lot of local businesses stand out and remind the community we are still here. The Great Falls community has been beyond supportive of local business during these trying times. All in all, as hard as 2020/2021 has been, we also believe Great Falls has the resolve to come together to help find ourselves in a better state for 2022 and beyond. Anything else you would like to share or let people know about your business? We love Great Falls! We work here, live here, our kids go to school here, and we want nothing but the best for this community. We hope anyone considering coming to this area gets to see the amazingness we see every day from our point of view. Photo by Photo Solutions Photo by Photo Solutions Photo by Photo Solutions

• Cover