Family Business Handoff: No Coronation, Just Runway

A family business handoff is safest when the title changes after the work has already been done. The successor should have spent years close to the product, the customers, and the cash. The founder should still be in the room, but not in charge of daily decisions. Owners often ask when the next generation is ready. The better question is whether the business has given them a long enough sequence. Succession planning works when the steps are long enough. The owner should treat the title as the last step, not the first.

The floor teaches what the title cannot

Put the successor on the plant floor before any title. The floor shows how the product is made, where the bottlenecks sit, and what the people who make the business actually do. Jason Dabrow, the successor at family-run food maker Chelten House Products, began on the plant floor in New Jersey. He arrived with more than two decades of food manufacturing experience. That kind of start gives the successor a vocabulary that cannot be faked in a boardroom. It also gives the employees a reason to take the heir seriously.

The floor also reveals whether the successor can handle the unglamorous parts: downtime, quality checks, supplier calls, and the daily friction that keeps a plant moving. If the successor can sit with the crew and ask why a process is done that way, the family has a better read on character than any interview can provide. The step is complete when the successor can walk a new hire through the line, explain why a batch failed, and name the people who keep the schedule honest.

Stretch has to be real, not ceremonial

Give the successor a greenfield or site-level stretch. A new site, a new plant, a new product line, or a new market can show whether the heir can build something, not just inherit it. In 2013, Jason Dabrow led the launch of Chelten House's Las Vegas facility and then ran that site for three years. The test covers judgment, staffing, and operational nerve. If the successor can stand up a site and keep it running, the family has evidence, not sentiment.

A stretch should be visible to the whole company. When the successor's work is public, the employees can judge it, and the family can see whether the heir earns respect or just patience. The owner should also decide in advance what failure looks like and what it costs. The stretch proves itself when the successor has opened a site, hired the first crew, and kept the site profitable enough to earn another year.

Growth is the safest corridor

Move the successor into president or COO through a growth phase. A promotion during expansion shows whether the heir can manage more people, more complexity, and more money without the business hiding their weaknesses. Jason Dabrow served as president and COO from 2020, and Chelten House grew by more than 50 percent during that period. A record like that makes a CEO transition feel earned. Growth gives the successor a chance to make mistakes while the business can absorb them. It also forces the founder to loosen control without abandoning the company.

The growth phase shows its value when the successor has run a larger P&L, managed a bigger team, and made a hard decision that the board can still defend. The warning comes here: do not promote the heir to CEO while the business is shrinking, because a decline will look like a failure of leadership.

Keep the founder in the chair and the COO out of the family

Transition to CEO while the business is growing. The founder should remain chairman, not a ceremonial figure. Jason Dabrow took the CEO position at Chelten House Products in September 2026. His father, Steve Dabrow, will remain chairman. That arrangement keeps institutional memory in the room without letting the old title block the new one.

Put a non-family COO beside the family CEO. Chris Sorensen was named COO after spending ten years in senior operational roles at Chelten House. The outside operator gives the family CEO a check, a second review, and a way to separate family loyalty from business judgment.

The chairman role should have real duties: board agenda, long-term strategy, and a clear line to the CEO. The non-family COO should have a direct reporting line and a direct role in operational decisions. The final structure works when the founder attends board meetings as chairman, the family CEO runs the company, and the non-family COO can say no without starting a family feud.

The company is now in its fourth generation, with a history exceeding 80 years. Ownership transfer can wait until leadership is stable.