CUSTOMER| A SALUTE TO AN CUSTOMER |
BITUMINOUS ROADWAYS, INC.
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Palmer "Pete" Peterson, CEO of Bituminous Roadways, Inc., believes in "planting seeds" whenever his Inver Grove Heights (Minnesota) asphalt and paving company works for a customer. Planting seeds, however, refers not to landscaping, but to Peterson's business philosophy. "When you work with a customer, always do a little more than the contract," he advised. "That's your seed, because your competitors normally won't do that. They're looking to get the job and get it done at as cheap a price as they can. But if you do a little more, especially with private businesses, that little seed will get you there for the next job." Bituminous Roadways crews have planted plenty of seeds over the years. Pete Peterson went to work for the company in 1958 after answering an ad posted at the University of Minnesota's student employment office. "A gentleman named Al Wendel started the company in 1946 as a driveway contracting firm," said Peterson.
From left, Bituminous Roadways CEO
Palmer “Pete” Peterson, Jack Peterson and President Kent Peterson
— three generations of the Peterson family.
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"In 1958 Al was having some health problems and needed help. I answered the ad and became a part-time estimator for Al, who had about eight people working for him doing mostly small commercial work and some driveways." At that time Bituminous Roadways was operating a one-ton asphalt plant on Longfellow Avenue in Minneapolis. The company's office moved from Snelling Avenue to its current location on Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis in 1968. "It's a sales office now," noted Pete. "The main office is now out here in Inver Grove Heights at 9050 Jefferson Trail." Third-generation company Wendel and Peterson hit it off, so in 1963, "I was offered the chance to buy the business," Pete said. "We had about 12 employees and a Barber Green paver. We used to think it was a wonderful stunt if we could pave 500 tons of mix in a day. Now we can, with more sophisticated tools, pave 4,000 tons in a day." Al Wendel died in 1968. Pete Peterson's company grew throughout the 1970s and '80s. His son, Kent, started working for his father in 1980 as a high school sophomore. But his on-the-job experience started even earlier. "The first time I worked out here I was 11 years old," Kent smiled. "I was brought out to the yard and given a pail full of paint and a paintbrush and was told to paint the dump trucks. So I'd spend all day painting the boxes on the dump trucks." After receiving his degree from the University of Wyoming in civil engineering and working as a civil engineer for a couple years, Kent Peterson came back to Bituminous Roadways in 1990. "I started as an estimator," he recalled. "I took on more responsibilities as time went on, then we made it official in 1996 with the passing of the gavel at our 50th anniversary celebration. That's when I officially became president." Kent's involvement in Bituminous Roadways makes the firm a third-generation company in Pete's eyes. |
