MANSFIELD, Ohio — Tony Gerich, 83, remains meticulous when it comes to his trademark Fiber Core Trailer designs.
Since the 70s, his business has been a global leader in producing food and beverage concession trailers comprised of all fiberglass.
Gerich, who immigrated from Germany as a child, started off working on three-wheelers, conversion vans and, then, after being approached by a salesman about an all-fiberglass trailer, the rest is history.
“It always evolved in itself. You know, I never planned some of these things but took the opportunity when it came around. They’re light, easy to clean. Just like a boat basically,” said Gerich.
Gerich said his company produced seven trailers a week and 5,000 trailers total in the 80s in 90s when he had contracts with Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
His daughter Kim said now the focus is strictly on food and beverage trailers.
And although the design remains the same, word of mouth and QR codes keep their five-person assembly team quite busy these days.
“One person was at a gas station, put his phone up to it and found out where we were at,” said Kim Gerich.
Fifty years of innovation and dedication to his craft has earned Gerich honors at the North Central Ohio Industrial Museum’s Hall of Fame in Mansfield.
The Mansfield Senior High and Ohio State graduate said the honor was a pleasant surprise.
And while he said starting out in the industry was tough, he has no regrets, no plans to slow down and offers this advice:
“Stick with it. There were times when I thought, ‘why did I do this?’ But I stuck with it. Long-term, it was rewarding,” said Gerich.
