Corsicana Aims to Raise Profile, Boost Capacity
By: David Perry - Furniture Today, January 26, 2016
AT THE MARKET — Promotional bedding powerhouse Corsicana is back at the market here — with a new owner and a new commitment to growth.
On the eve of this all-important bedding market, Long Point Capital announced that it had partnered with management to recapitalize the Texas-based bedding juggernaut, which currently ranks No. 6 on Furniture Today’s Top 15 U.S. bedding producers list.
New CEO Mark Kuchenrither, an experienced executive who is new to the beddingindustry, is in the Corsicana showroom meeting with the company’s dealers. He is joined by Carroll Moran, Corsicana’s long-time CEO, who remains a shareholder and chairman of the board.
The two sat down with Furniture Today to talk about their plans for the future, which will include a higher profile for the company. Under Moran’s leadership, Corsicana kept a low profile.
“We have flown below the radar,” Kuchenrither said. “We need to do more business-to-business marketing. We need retailers to be more aware of our name.”
Long Point Capital, an investment firm with offices in Michigan and New York, described Corsicana as “the leading private label mattress manufacturer in the industry, serving more than 5,000 customers.
Kuchenrither said Corsicana is going to continue to concentrate on that business. “We are not going to lose the focus on who we are,” he said. “We are going to remain fiercely focused on what we do today. We want to improve our quality and our capacity. We will look at other strategies to grow our business, but our core team will remain firmly focused on exceeding our customers’ expectations.”
He says it is important to continue delivering “quality and value” to Corsicana’s customers.
Corsicana is making a “significant capital investment in new equipment to increase capacity and quality and through put,” Kuchenrither said. “With the bigger retailers, we will continue to be very customer-focused, transitioning from a great supplier to a key strategic partner.”
Moran said Corsicana continues to meet the bedding needs of a large group of independent retailers across the country. “I don’t see the backbone of our business drying up,” he said.
Kuchenrither said the culture of trust, respect and honesty that Moran has built at Corsicana will continue to drive the company.