As Larksville, Pa.-based Grasshopper Lawns celebrates its 50th anniversary, Co- owners Michael Kravitsky IV and Shawn Kravitsky reminisce on how the family-owned lawn care company got its start.
It began as an aluminum awning business, which was founded by the brothers’ grandfather, Michael Kravitsky Jr. It was in 1964, when their father, Michael Kravitsky III, had inherited the company, that a lawn care component was added to it with the purchase of two Lawn-A-Mat franchises from an aluminum supplier.
“For two cents a square foot, a technician would spray on weed control, aerate, roll and apply seed and fertilizer in one pass,” said Michael Kravitsky IV. He added the franchise serviced 300 customers. “(My father) didn’t have an office space when he first started, so he worked out of a phone booth next to a driving range in Allentown (Pa.). I was 5 years old when I started going with him. He’d get me a couple baskets of balls while he stood in the phone booth and made his appointments for the day.”
In 1980, Michael Kravitsky IV officially joined the business, and Shawn Kravitsky joined four years later. In the mid-1980s, they changed the company name to Grasshopper Lawns and added a “maintenance program” to the firm, which offered weed, feed and aeration. The brothers assumed full ownership of the Grasshopper Lawns in 2009, when their father sold his remaining shares to them.
While Michael Kravitsky III died March 26, 2013, his sons said they intend to continue the company with the business model and values their father founded it from.
“We are so fortunate to have built loyalty, respect and overall good rapport with our team,” they said. “In fact, we’ve watched many of them grow up in the business from the time they started with us 10, 15, even 25 years ago to today. It’s the old adage, ‘treat people the way you want to be treated.’ Our family was raised with a good work ethic and the understanding of the value of a dollar. We carry that upbringing over into our business operation and hope to continue until the next generation takes over.”
