A View On: OFS

We were excited to recently interview Ryan Menke of OFS.

OFS was founded on the principal that “How we make people feel is as important as what we make.”  They specialize in creating innovative office furniture that paired with interior design, establishes an environment that sets clients up for success.  As designers ourselves, we could not agree more!

We share with you their story:

Our family started out making covered wagons in Wisconsin in the 1800’s, however a fire in our factory ended our business in 1897.  Our family migrated to Iowa to utilize their skills in wood working and wagons to start an OEM business focused on parts supply for wagons and the new Ford Model A.  As entrepreneurs always do, our ancestors saw an opportunity to leverage their expertise in new and unique ways and started making chairs under the name of the Clinton Chair Company.  Our family quickly realized that they need to move closer to our natural resources and settled in Southern Indiana.  It was here that our family planted their roots in furniture over eighty years ago.

From 1937 to 1987 our family produced residential furniture under the name Styline and Ferdinand Furniture and this in when our connection to High Point began.  My father worked at Thomasville Furniture in the mid-1970’s as assistant plant manager at Plant D.  It was here that he saw US production quickly moving to Asia and realized he had to head home to save the family business.  In 1987 we produced our very last piece of residential furniture and were fully committed to the commercial furniture industry.

Our family’s love for the Carolinas never relented, so when an opportunity to buy Carolina Business Furniture presented itself we jumped at the opportunity.  Being born in High Point I quickly offered to come down and help with the integration.  Needless to say, the people of High Point and the surrounding region are absolutely some of the best on earth.  There is a genuine sincerity and work ethic that you feel the moment you meet them.  Soon after the Carolina acquisition, we were able to buy Loewenstein and save the great brand from ruin.  The diversification that both of these businesses brought has continued to make OFS ever stronger. Lastly, we acquired the old MGM main offices and trucking terminal off Business 85.  This cemented our commitment to the area and gave us a base of operations to expand our furniture and logistics operations in High Point.

The community of High Point was, and still is, incredibly supportive of the local business community.  When you couple the work ethic and incredibly strong values of the local talent with a business friendly government you have a recipe for success and High Point has just that.  Working with local government  on outreach programs, recruiting efforts and economic development initiatives was very collaborative and rewarding.

Discover our High Points,

The HP Discovered Team