Long before becoming president of Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth, Nick Shelton was learning the business from the ground up. His mother, Martha, is a third-generation Zehnder, and Shelton grew up surrounded by the family company his great-grandparents founded nearly 100 years ago.
Born and raised in Frankenmuth, the 36-year-old fourth-generation family member started working at Zehnder’s when he was 14, helping at the 18-hole golf course, in the restaurant, and at the waterpark — and even dressing up as the company’s chicken mascot, Drumstick.
After earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in sports management at Valparaiso University in Indiana, Shelton spent some time coaching basketball before returning to Frankenmuth about 13 years ago. He then immersed himself in nearly every aspect of the business, eventually leading the company’s golf operations before being named president following an internal company search. He replaces Bill Parlberg, a long-time employee who was the first non-family president in its history.
Shelton spoke with The Detroit News about his path back to the family business, his approach to leadership, and his vision for the company.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Question: Did you expect to return and be a part of the business?
Answer: I stayed at Valparaiso and got my master’s in sports management as well while I was coaching. Thought that’s what I wanted to do with my life and my career — coach college sports or coach basketball in general. And then just decided to get out of that world after that being my whole life for a long time. Came back home and at that time coming back home, didn’t really know if that’s what I wanted to do, if that’s where I would fit in. But ultimately, wanted to just start learning more about the company.
Obviously, growing up I knew of the company in a very kind of basic role, a basic understanding. But from a management and leadership level role, I didn’t have a full knowledge base of it. I just wanted to be a learner. I love learning, love understanding the process, the whys, the hows. Continued to just really dive in and work my way up and add more hats and add more responsibilities.
At a young age, no, it was not necessarily a desire, if you will, to say I’m going go to college then come back. But ultimately I was super blessed and fortunate to come back and find my footing and find my way and realize I could have a big impact on the company. One thing about coaching, why I wanted to get into coaching was I had some great coaches growing up. And loved the impact that you can have on someone when you’re a good coach or a good leader. And so that ultimately, kind of drew me to want to stay and be a part of our organization of being able to impact employees’ lives, being able to impact and be a good leader and a good coach. And how that can go a long way and really inspire someone else to be equally as good of a leader. And as well being able to have those connections with guests. That’s been one of those enjoyable parts of the job of being able to really offer a great experience and connect with guests and be that connective tissue for them and their family celebrations, and offer that spot for them to be able to continue their traditions and celebrate with their families.
Q. Did you go immediately into the golf operations? Was that the very first thing after you made that decision?
A. Yeah, pretty much. When I came back, it was just kind of like, I just want to learn everything. So I spent a little bit of time in different areas. Ultimately, at that time, there was just a need for some additional help with the golf course. And I had done every single job there growing up as well as I’ve come back here and there in my college time, and worked the golf shop a little bit. So the fit was pretty seamless. And then when an opportunity opened up relatively quickly to me being back home, I was able to prove that I had the ability and capabilities to run that, manage that department. But I used the offseason. The nice thing about the golf season here in Michigan, it gets cold for five, six months of the year, and so I use some of that downtime of managing the golf course to be able to plug in the accounting department and really understand at much bigger level the finances of the company. Plug in over at the hotel, and did every job there from call center to front desk to housekeeping to water park. And so just trying to gain more knowledge and understanding of the company while running one division and one property.
Q. Did watching other company leadership prepare you?
A. Both my parents have worked for the company and have now stepped back. My mom, Martha, was our former CFO, and she’s now just an owner and board member for the company. My dad, John, was our vice president of sales and marketing, and he has now stepped back into a consulting role and board member for the company. But really watched them work for 30-plus years and just be great role models, great parents, great spouses, great community members — and their involvement in community, their care for the business as well as our employees. I owe a lot of my leadership skills off of the two of them. Their personalities are wildly different, so I think I get best of the both worlds of both of them.
And then other family members — my uncle Al, our former CEO and now our chairman of the board and owner, has just been a visionary and been a unbelievable entrepreneur. So I think I definitely had a lot of that entrepreneurial spirit and visionary leadership that I’ve watched him … take some big risks with expansion of Splash Village and ultimately acquiring the golf course and building that up to what it is today. And so I watch him really lead our company in a visionary way. I would say that’s kind of been a good guiding light for me and role models for me — of family members.
Q. For more than 20 years, the company was lead by a non-family member, Bill Parlberg. Will your style differ from his?
A. Bill is a culmination of really a kind of shining spot on what our company is about in terms of promoting from within and in terms of really looking at employees that been with us for a long time. So while he was president for about 20 years, he’s been with the company for 50 years. And he was someone that my grandfather recognized early on in his career. And he started out on the dish machine, and my grandfather and our company helped encourage him and put him through college at Northwood University. And he grew into the leader that he is. And we have so many other success stories like that. … I think I have the same mindset of promoting from within when possible, as well as identifying these great success stories as we grow, as we look to continue to find new experiences and new ways to elevate our guest experiences. We’re embarking on opening the first new property or division of our company in the last 20 years with The Mill at Zehnder Park, and we’re building that team out with some really great internal candidates to operate and lead that team.
Q. Can tell me more about The Mill at Zehnder Park?
A. We acquired the property that is adjacent to Zehnder’s Restaurant right downtown a couple years ago, and it was an old flour mill. So the original flour mill of Frankenmuth landed in that exact same spot. It opened up in 1848. We are renovating and remodeling that building into a luxury boutique hotel. So we’ll have four large residential-style luxury suites with a lower-level lounge, named The Landmark Lounge. The lounge will be open to the public on a daily basis. That whole property, the lounge itself, the grounds included, will be, I think, a great addition to downtown as well as a great hub for a lot of activities for locals and tourists alike.
Q. What is the timeline for that?
A. Our anticipation of opening is spring 2026, this year. We’re counting down the days and ready for this new iteration of our company and this new offering to new and return guests.
Q. What will this addition provide for guests?
A. It will bring really a new opportunity for those that love Zehnder’s, those that understand our brand, those have been traveling here for years, whether it be a birthday celebration at the restaurant, or whether it be a family gathering at Splash Village. I think this will allow another offering to those guests, to find a way to come up and celebrate with us. Celebrate anniversaries, celebrate family get-togethers. I think that’s super exciting, as well as guests that maybe had never had us on their radar before. Guests that enjoyed traveling a certain way, or guests that had never thought of Frankenmuth as maybe a destination. And so I think that reach is going to broaden for us. And so we’re really, really excited about those that maybe we were never on their travel radar, that we would pop up and be able to have an offering that is something that they’re intrigued about and want to check out.
Q. By that do you mean someone who looks for luxury boutique hotels?
A. I think that someone that maybe enjoys traveling in luxury boutique hotels, or it’s more someone that’s looking for a unique experience. And so I think the building itself is very unique. It’s not your standard four-wall hotel room. There’s multiple levels even within your room, and there’s just such great storytelling to the building itself. Each of the four suites are curated in a different way. So you may stay in the 1929 suite, which is named after the year that we opened Zehnder’s restaurant, and that is going to be designed in a much different way than the 1845 suite, which was the year that Frankenmuth was founded. A lot of cool old pieces of the building and milling equipment that are kind of sprinkled throughout. It’ll offer a spot for those that want a unique lodging experience.
Q. Throughout Michigan, some in the hospitality industry are having issues with staffing. How are things going with staffing at Zehnder’s?
A. We hover right around 900 to 1,000 employees, depending on the season. Obviously, when all of our properties, including the golf course are open in the summertime, we ramp up. It’s seasonality, it kind of fluctuates. But really, we’ve been, I would say, fortunate and blessed to be well-staffed. And we really pride ourselves — and it’s one of our company mission statements — is to be an employer of choice. We feel if we’re an enjoyable place to work, and really take care of employees.
And it’s again, going back to the family atmosphere. That goes all the way back to my grandfather’s days of working. He never felt like anyone worked for him, that everyone worked with him. I think all of our family is emblematic of that. When we’re open at Christmas Day, you’re going see just about every family member right there with you, working with you. And so I think that little things like that go a long way. When you see servers that have been with us for 40 years, 30 years, I think that says something. That hey if I’m gonna work in this industry that is a lot of hard work and serve almost a million guests. It’s a lot of service that it takes. It’s a lot of hard work to pull off those busy days. I think it says something about who we are and what we do, that we have longtime employees that have been with us for multiple decades in front of the house, in back of the house positions.
Q. Stepping into this role as the company returns to family leadership, do you feel pressure because of that?
A. I don’t necessarily know about pressure, but I will say I’m super, super proud of where we are today. And I don’t take it for granted knowing that we’re not at a position where we are today without all of the individuals that got us here, of all levels of employees. Our name tags are gold with our logo on it. And so there’s a lot of people that wore the gold name tag before I did. I don’t take that for granted, to understand that we’re here because of them. And so there’s a lot of traditions I want to continue to honor, and we will continue to honor. Our famous-style chicken dinner. That’s what the majority of people know us for. We’ll continue to do that. We’ll continue to find ways to improve it and have our offerings be something that guests want to continue to come back to. I don’t necessarily say I feel the pressure. I honestly feel blessed by the opportunity to be able to continue this family tradition. I think we’re an American success story. And only 3% of family businesses make it beyond the third generation. And so it doesn’t happen often. It doesn’t happen by mistake, either. And so I feel very fortunate that we’re positioned well to continue this successful business, continue this family business, continue this legacy. We’re a couple years away from celebrating our 100-year anniversary.
The thing that my grandparents did years back, I’m sure they couldn’t even fathom what the company has grown into today. And so I think I’m really excited to work with my sister (Olivia), who works with us. She’s our group sales director. My cousin Lauren is our vice president of strategy and leadership development. My cousin Chris is one of our marketing managers. So I’m super excited that we have some great family members that I can work with, lead and some great non-family members that have been with us for multiple decades. And so just the excitement that I think we have right now throughout the company of where we’re at today, and how we positioned ourselves to move this thing forward. And in two, three decades, I hope my parents won’t even be able to fathom what this company can ultimately be.
cwilliams@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Q&A: Zehnder’s new leader on his background, family, new boutique inn
Reporting by Candice Williams, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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