My older brother, Jan, taught me that you can fight with someone, truly go head-to-head, while still loving them with all your heart. Disagreements are bound to happen, but we’re family. We have carried this mindset throughout adulthood and throughout our relationship as business partners. One of the reasons we worked so well together is because we balance each other out. After growing up in the same household, we understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This allowed us to strategically divide our responsibilities. “Jan’s role was the quarterback managing the office and accounting side, and I was the receiver managing the field staff, clients and sales.” says Pat Cherry, Co-founder of Cherry Brothers Painting.
During the economic downturn, things dried up in Dallas. Since we had relationships in the Southeast with some of the top general contractors we opened an office in south Florida, and moved here with our families. We helped paint and rebuild south Florida in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew swept across causing lots of destruction. Within this decade we became the largest painting company in south Florida.
The third generation of Cherry’s now is actively managing the Cherry Coatings. Growing up in the family business, both Zack and Rocky started working at Cherry Painting during summer and winter breaks throughout high school. “After serving as President of Cherry Painting for 25 years, I felt it was time for change and for the third generation to take the helm. Both Zack and Rocky grew up working with my brother Jan and I who taught them about the painting business, the work ethic, and knowing that our company is only as good as the people we have in business.” says Pat Cherry.
Zack focuses on managing in-house teams with accounting, hiring personnel, and managing operations. Rocky’s role manages estimating, marketing and business development. Pat still continues working as Project Manager and mentor.