SR1 Companies’ ESOP Transaction Keeps the Growth Rolling Under Family Leadership
What started as one RV dealership founded by Scott Lanpher in 2004 has grown into an empire. Originally known as Scott’s Recreation, SR1 Companies now consists of eight different business segments with more than 300 employees. Over the last five years, SR1’s staff has more than tripled.
The transformation wasn’t easy. “It took an awful lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices by my family who were always standing behind me when I had crazy ideas about how to expand,” according to Scott. “But we changed the way campers and trailers were sold in Maine by going to a small margin, high volume principal way of doing business.”
The business became a huge part of Lanpher family life. Since high school, Scott’s son, Reid, has worked in the family business; he was a tireless worker and quickly excelled as a store manager. He and his sister, Emily (who, according to Scott, never had an official title, but just cheerfully does what needs to get done) have been instrumental in pushing SR1 forward.
After decades of working 70+ hours a week, Scott was ready to take a different approach. However, ideas about retiring with a comfortable nest egg were thwarted by high taxes. His accountants recommended becoming employee-owned and introduced him to Bellview Associates.
The Employee Stock Ownership Plan transaction was the perfect fit.
“After we had a presentation with Bellview, the ESOP solution checked all the boxes,” he says. “We had a desire for growth. We had a succession plan in place and I was an owner who was ready to take a little bit of a step back so the company could continue to grow under Reid’s leadership.”
The pieces all came together, quickly. With Bellview’s help, SR1 Companies became employee-owned in 2021. The transaction went smoothly and, after the decision was made, it only took a few months to implement. At the same time, Scott moved into the COO role, while Reid took over as CEO.
“The plan was always that Reid would take over,” Scott says. “We were never looking to sell to an outsider but a sale to the ESOP was a great way to continue to grow the company and to help with recruitment and retention by actually having employee owners.”
The company stays local, independent and is still a family operation—something that is lost when a company is swallowed up by a big, national operation.
“So many of our competitors sell out to the large corporations, and there’s a lot of negativity based around that,” Scott says. “People don’t like that. People don’t want that. People want to work for and utilize a tight-knit, local company like ourselves.”
The ESOP opened up many possibilities for the company. With additional capital (from saved taxes), the company had the ability to expand. Also, Scott’s retirement income was set.
“This is our breakthrough year,” Reid says. “It’ll be our third full year on this plan, and it’s so awesome. Our plan for growth, and all that entails — what it means for our employees– is so exciting.”
SR1 plans to ramp up its staff’s ESOP-awareness, while also leveraging its employee-owned status as a powerful recruiting tool. Having built the business to become a staple of Maine’s RV community, the Lanphers attribute their recent meteoric success to the ESOP structure. Truly, the SR1 ESOP has created a culture of family and partnership that now filters through the entire organization.