Missy Wilson owns Royal Supply, a Twin Cities business that provides janitorial cleaning and food service supplies, paper products, and cleaning equipment. It started out on two shelves in the back of a grocery store and now owns a warehouse and stocks over 6,000 items.
Missy didn’t plan on running a business. She wanted to use her empathy and connection skills to help people. That’s why she majored in Sociology and minored in Psychology at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
After college, she worked at a juvenile correctional facility in Hennepin County. As a correctional officer, she helped rehabilitate the youth there. Everything changed when a paralyzed adult in a wheelchair was visiting the facility. She found their treatment dehumanizing and realized it wasn’t the right place for her.
“So that led me to Disability Services and helping people find a voice for their different ability to live life. The organization I worked for, reorganized their positions about five different times during the 12 years I worked there, and the last time they reorganized, I was in a Senior Manager position and my role got shoved out the door,” Missy said.
Her time in Disability Services involved helping disabled people get through times of crisis. She would build a supportive community around them to help them when things got tough. That experience prepared her to build community with her business.
Missy shared, “We were paid caregivers to people with different abilities. And so we just helped wrap the community around that person. So in the event that mom and dad were away, they could still live an independent life with the supports that were provided. So I thought about that same thing too, with my business that we’re really just all in it together. We’re helping each other solve problems on a daily basis. And so how do we partner with one another along the way?”
For a couple of years after leaving the facility, she worked a variety of jobs until a life-changing opportunity arrived. Her mom brought her the opportunity to buy Royal Supply.
Missy recalled, “And she said, we have this opportunity to buy a business. It would help you simplify your life and not have like 10 part-time jobs. And then you can really focus on one thing and be there for your kids and your family and all that good stuff.”
Her uncle already worked there, and the owner wanted to retire and sell the company. Missy’s mom bought the company but was too busy to run it. So Missy stepped in to help run the day-to-day operations of the company.
“So there were three of us initially: my mom, my uncle, and myself that took on purchasing Royal Supply, and it ended up happening in about April of 2020. So at the height of COVID we took on a new business, and yeah, it was kind of crazy, but I said yes. And it’s been a whirlwind ever since,” Missy shared.
She took over in the height of COVID and hit the ground running. Her uncle left the business after a year, leaving her in charge of Royal Supply.
It was a challenging job because she knew how to run the business but didn’t have a deep understanding of the industry and products. She gave herself 12 months to get up to speed and keep the business alive.
Missy described it, “During the next 12 months that my mom and I were giving ourselves I brought in all of my reps to teach me…Why do I have this on my shelf? What does it do for my customers? What am I talking about?”
She welcomed the challenge and started learning about the industry. Missy met with sales reps to learn about her products and how to help her customers. She learned how to fix equipment and order the right products for her customers.
Since then, the business has grown by leaps and bounds. In 2022 they bought a larger warehouse. Now they have a permanent location with quadruple the space. Later, she bought her mother out to become the sole owner of Royal Supply.
She is passionate about building a community around her business. She creates partnerships with local businesses to help grow their business while building Royal Supply.
As Missy put it, “If somebody says, ‘Hey, do you do supply coffee for our break room?’ Well, I just partnered with a local coffee company who roasts their own beans and we get it fresh every two weeks for one customer right now. That was another important thing, if I can make partnerships and then become a wholesale distributor to help another small business in town, then I want to do that too.”
Missy has a hands-on approach to customer service. She works with her customers every day, helping them order supplies and visiting their facilities to repair equipment. Her business success has empowered her to give back to the community.
“My husband’s a firefighter for Elk River. And so then also building that community around the fire department. I started a nonprofit at the same time. So my nonprofit is called the Elk River Fire Foundation,” Missy shared.
Her husband is a firefighter, so she started a foundation to provide resources to local firefighters and victims of fires. Her foundation raises money to buy needed equipment and training for local firefighters. It has also helped people who have been victims of a fire, such as providing monetary support to families whose homes went up in a blaze.
If you’re in the market for cleaning or food service equipment, Royal Supply can help. To learn more about what Royal Supply offers, visit their website. You can call, email, or submit the contact form to reach them.
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