Badgerland Printing, Inc. in De Pere has new owners

Heather Graves

Staff

September 23, 2024

DE PERE – For nearly four decades, Badgerland Printing, Inc. in De Pere has been a family-owned and operated business.

That remains true 38 years later, with one exception – there’s a new family at the helm.

The new owners, Andy and Jennifer VanRemortel, said they look forward to not only carrying on the legacy of the company’s past but looking forward to the future.

A look back

Bob and Connie Clusman first purchased Badgerland Printing in 1986 from a man running the operation out of his home and set up shop in the 600 block of George Street.

They moved operations in 1994, after purchasing the former George Street Auto Parts property at 610 George St. – where it still does business today.

In 1999, daughter and son-in-law Karla and Kevin Kujava took over operations.

“Karla and Kevin built a reputation second to none,” Andy VanRemortel said. “Jennifer and I are honored and humbled to own Badgerland Printing and carry on the tradition of great quality and exceptional customer service for which Karla and Kevin are known.”

Stepping out on his own

Though VanRemortel is no stranger to the industry, small business ownership, he said, is a new venture.

“I’ve been in advertising and marketing – different aspects and different sides of the table for about 30 years,” he said.

As frequent customers of Badgerland Printing over the years, VanRemortel said they had a good relationship with the Kujavas – on a personal level and a business one.

“I came into Badgerland Printing for a print job earlier this year – it was probably the first quarter of 2024 – and I was talking with them, and they mentioned that they were interested in trying to find someone to buy the building and business,” he said.

VanRemortel said he told them he’d keep that in mind and let them know if he thought of anybody.

“Then we started to talk about what it would take for me to take over Badgerland Printing,” he said. “I thought, ‘I have the experience. It would be great to be my own boss and run a De Pere business like this.’”

At that point, VanRemortel said it was an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.

“We talked about what the investment would be and what the transition would look like, (and before long, we were the new owners),” he said.

VanRemortel said the business the Kujavas built since purchasing it in 1999, is supportive of the community and regional businesses

“They did this very effectively from a budget standpoint,” he said. 

Now the owner of Badgerland Printing, VanRemortel said his goal is to provide the exact same thing.

The transition into business ownership, VanRemortel said, has gone well.

“Having the benefit of knowing the industry a little bit, some of the things have come very naturally,” he said. “Other things – like running your own business and stuff like that – I am starting to pick up on.”

One learning curve VanRemortel said he has learned already is industry terminology.

“You or I might call it one thing, but it may be called something completely different in this industry,” he said. “They were cost-effective, and they turned stuff around extremely fast.”

The ins and outs of being the boss and running your business, VanRemortel said, has also provided opportunities to learn.

“I think that the accounting end of it, the setting up the different LLCs to make sure that your business is protected – (those are new to me),” he said. 

‘Big shoes to fill’

Carrying on the legacy of the Kujavas and even the Clusmans before that, VanRemortel said is something he takes very seriously.

“I want to continue this because they’ve set up a great business in a great community that I’ve grown up in,” he said. “Everything that I have heard from people who come in – whether I know them or not – is, ‘you have big shoes to fill.’”

Though honored to be able to carry on the four-decade legacy of Badgerland Printing, VanRemortel said it is also a big responsibility.

“It’s an exciting time, but certainly there’s some anxiety because of what they’ve set up and doing my very best to maintain that,” he said.

One of the aspects he has enjoyed the most about being the owner of Badgerland Printing, VanRemortel said, is the customers.

“I grew up in De Pere and so did my whole family,” he said. “There are so many familiar faces.”

Regardless of who his customers are, VanRemortel said they have their “own endgame in mind.”

“People – whether it is someone running their own business like a hair salon or a chiropractor, or someone needing a pattern copied so they can create something – have something they are trying to do,” he said. “I want to be there to help facilitate that for them. I want them to be successful in what they do.”

VanRemortel said Badgerland Printing’s success is a direct reflection of their success.

“Being from here and seeing a lot of familiar faces, it means a lot that I can help support their successes,” he said.

Status quo, plan for future

Under his leadership, VanRemortel said Badgerland Printing will continue to offer everything customers have come to expect.

“We offer printing, obviously, but also digital printing – black and white, color, we do laminating, mailings, envelopes, business cards, invitations for weddings, graduations, birthday – pretty much any aspect of printing that you can think of,” he said. “Carbonless paper is another big one that we do.”

Looking to the future of Badgerland Printing, VanRemortel said he has many plans – “what of those plans are realistic, I’m not sure yet.”

One of those plans, which he said he plans to move forward with in the near future, is expanding Badgerland Printing from a capacity standpoint.

“We can take a lot more capacity than we currently have,” he said. “We’re not just a small-job print shop. We do a lot of very big projects. I think sometimes people think that we have a business copier inside the front door, people walk in and make copies and leave. We are a whole lot more than that.”

Currently, Badgerland Printing has a staff of one-plus, VanRemortel said.

“At this point, the only person working here (full-time), is me,” he said. “So, on a day-to-day basis, people will see and work with me. My family is here – my wife is a teacher at De Pere and my son and daughter are in high school – they help me out when we have larger projects.”

VanRemortel said the plan is to expand the staff, however, with just a few weeks of business ownership under his belt – right now, “I’m trying to figure out where I need someone.”

“So, do I need someone up front – taking care of people who walk in the door or (following up) on emails?” he said. “Or do I need someone in the back for the labor side of things? At this point, that is what I am trying to figure out. When we figure that out, we’ll be adding more staff.”

For more, visit Badgerland Printing, Inc. on Facebook.