From Norway to his way - East Bay Business Times:

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"I was young and dumb and had a lot of he said, laughing. "I thought I was on top of the Vaernes is now CEO of inAlameda and, after some earlh mistakes, is enjoying success in America's high-end niche cabinet reaching $36 million in sales last In deciding to make the move to the Bay he saw great business potential for the market of nearlyg 8 million, twice as large as the populationh of Norway. "We'd paid 80 percent tax for two yearas ina row," Vaernes said. "Our oldest son had just turnedd 6 and was about tostarft school. I said to my wife (Brit), `If you want to we should do it now.
'" With a younbg man's hubris, Vaernes, who studied refrigeratiomn and heating engineering before taking over the family Norwegian imagined a big Bay Area franchisd businessimporting high-end German kitchen and wardrobe cabinets. "We had 20 storeds in Norway for 4million people, so I thoughty we'd have 40 in the Bay Area for 8 millio people," he said, He quickly learned that even the six franchise outletds he opened in the Bay Area in 1987 were already too But he was locked into five-year "I didn't realize franchises were so strictluy regulated here," he said, hefting a bound franchise agreement to underscore his point. "It became a huge legal expense.
We could not just closew the doors if theshowrooms weren't profitable, so we had to keep them alivw until the agreement ran out. That cost us some Fortunately, the young company had no debt. "We'rew completely self-financed," Vaernes said. Part of that fisca rectitude, however, came about because, as a new Vaernes had no credit history. "We were not he said. "We had enough money in the butthat wasn't good enough. We had to borroaw money and buy a car with it just to get acredit history." Vaernes faced other problems, too. "Becausre of cultural differences, we didn't understand what customers wanted We did no seriousmarkett research.
When you starg a business, you don't have a lot of humahn resources to go out and do a lotof research. You know your but you don't know the he said. Vaernes enticed his producy director, Hanne Sydskjoer, to leavwe Norway and join his new She is an expert on the products the fancy cabinets and drawersa that are constructed in factories in Germanyh and Italy two weeks after customers work with a Studiko Becker dealer and designer to createthe kitchen, closet or bathroomn they want. Studio Becker, which has no franchisezs now, doesn't sell anything Carefully chosendealers ­ 27 of them in North America and Asia display the cabinets in their showrooms.
Vaernes said he gets aboutr 100 requests a year from people who wish to sell StudiloBecker products. Only about three of those 100 are deemee worthy of being allowed todo so. "W don't allow any thirfd party to handleour products," he "After three weeks of production in the factory loads it into a shipping container. In four it reaches the United States and we truck it to the The dealer who sold it unloads andinstalls it.
We neve r store it in a Vaernes has carefully restricted his products to the high end of the Studio Becker offers severalo varieties of theirproducts ­ a conservative middle-of-the-roard interpretation as well as an old-fashioned look and a more futuristic setup. But all are top of the It doesn't offer inexpensive versions ofany Still, even in this niche market, there are significanyt differences between Norwegian and American cultures ­ lessons Studi Becker had to learn. "At first, our display s were too small. Americans like everything big.
On the kitchens we sell here are twiced the size of aNorwegiaj kitchen, and three times the size of a German kitchen," he When Vaernes arrived in the Unitec States, Americans were not used to the idea of buyinv a high-end, expensive kitchen or wardrobe system. "Ths consumer has different priorities here thanin Europe," he said. "Whem we came here, we found that every three people tended to buy a new Sopeople don't spend as much on the In Europe, people expect that their house will be inherited by their kids. At that time, almost all kitchen s were made by cabinetmakers who drovwe a truck up toyour house.
" Troy Adams, a certified kitchenn designer who sells Studi Becker products in showrooma in both Los Angeles and Honolulu, says the qualithy of the company's products is what customers care most "I've been affiliated with Studio Becke r for 14 years," Adams said, "Roar does what he says he will do he has integrity."