Owners of Graff Dairy seek buyer who will carry on the Grand Junction ice cream store’s tradition

Tim Harty, The Business Times

Operating for six decades in the Grand Valley, Graff Dairy has become an ice cream institution.

Its husband-and-wife owners, Ed and Lloy Beauchamp, know there’s something special about their ice cream shop at 581 29 Road, and that has guided decision making during their three-and-a-half years at the helm.

And it guides their decision making now as they realize their ages and health are telling them they can’t continue to be Graff Dairy’s stewards. But they want Graff Dairy to continue providing the cooling comfort it has been for so many people, so they enlisted Kyle Serrano of Grand Junction commercial-real-estate brokerage Venture Group to sell their business.

Meanwhile, the property that it occupies is owned by Darin Carei, the man who sold the business to the Beauchamps in September 2022. His sentiments about Graff Dairy mirror the Beauchamps, so he is offering to sell the building and land as part of a package deal, business and property, if that’s what it takes to entice a buyer to keep Graff Dairy churning out ice cream.

Serrano said the business, the building and the land together are listed for sale for $1.7 million.

If someone wants to buy only the business, it’s listed at $425,000, and Serrano said, “That would include all the inventory, all their operations systems and processes, intellectual property, goodwill and all the FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment).”

Carei acknowledges he doesn’t “have” to sell the real estate, but he knows that would limit the pool of buyers for the business.

“My wife and I, our incentive to sell is really because Ed and Lloy are ready to sell, and potentially this will help sell it,” he said. “We are able to continue to own it and be the landlord, but we would sure like to see somebody take it on.”

Carei is well-versed in owning commercial property, so he knows why his involvement in the sale could be make or break for potential buyers.

“If you’re a small business owner, the way that you can create equity and value for your own future is to own the real estate your business is in,” he said. “I think that the real estate and the business together makes good sense. But if somebody wants to buy only the business itself, the operational enterprise, if you will, then that’s doable as well.

“So, it’s not mandatory, but in my opinion it’s preferred from a good, smart, business sense of developing and creating equity for the future, that you own the real estate your business is in.”

The Beauchamps appreciate Carei’s offer and like-mindedness about keeping Graff Dairy open, and Lloy Beauchamp said they want the community to know with absolute certainty: “We are not going out of business.”

Rather, she said, “We want somebody to continue growing that business and continue the tradition. … I can’t tell you how many people have come through there, saying, ‘My grandma used to bring me in here. We used to walk over from da da da.’ … It’s a history that we do not want to see end.”

Lloy would’ve liked to see Graff Dairy remain in her family, but Ed’s 65 years old, and she’s 57, and their family’s younger generation has different plans than taking over Graff Dairy.

So, Lloy said they had to come up with a new plan with a mission of keeping Graff Dairy’s doors open.

“Even though we want to get on the retirement path, we want to continue the tradition of Graff Dairy and its connection with the community,” she said.

She believes whoever buys Graff Dairy will come to the same realization as she and Ed did. The same realization Carei has.

“Well, it’s an icon,” Carei said. “Graff’s been here for 60 years, and people come every year – they come through Grand Junction on their way to wherever – and they’ve been stopping at Graff Dairy for as long as they can remember, generationally speaking.

“It’s just an exciting business. It’s fun. It’s rewarding. It’s just a good thing to be involved with.”

Lloy added a lot of people work jobs and own businesses “that you don’t really get feel-goods from. It’s just a business, you know?” For her, Graff Dairy is not just a business, and the feel-goods abound.

“The kids coming through – heck, even the dogs with their pup cups – you see them getting all excited,” she said. “It really gives you a sense of, you know, the Grinch’s heart growing three sizes bigger.”

Carei’s optimistic the right buyer will come along.

“The people of Grand Junction want to see Graff stay and succeed,” he said, “so let’s make it happen.”

A job best left to an expert

When Graff Dairy co-owner Lloy Beauchamp and her husband, Ed Beauchamp, decided they want to “get on the retirement path,” it meant selling the ice cream store.

That also meant turning to someone who knows how to sell a business and commercial real estate, so she contacted Kyle Serrano at Venture Group, 627 24 1/2 Road, Unit D, in Grand Junction.

“You just have to acknowledge where your strengths and where your weaknesses are, and selling a commercial business is not a strength of ours. It’s a strength of his,” she said. “We just would not be able to have those same contacts that he would to be able to make sure that this goes quickly, efficiently and to the right people.”

Serrano said the Beauchamps are taking the right approach. He spoke of valuations and marketing and differences between selling a business versus real property, and it’s head-spinning stuff for the uninitiated.

That’s why, he said, “It’s important to engage with someone who has the expertise and knowledge on how to actually sell a business.”