A conversation with Bob and Mindy Rich of Buffalo

Executives from a movie studio company are visiting Buffalo, Quinn told Rich. They want to eventually build a studio on your property and make films there. Want to meet them?

“You have my attention,” Rich told Quinn.

That call sparked a series of conversations that led to the construction of the $50 million Great Point Studios, right across the street from the global headquarters of his family’s food company, Rich Products, worth $5.8 billion.

Rich and his wife, Mindy, recounted that conversation last week during an hour-long interview with The Buffalo News shortly before the grand opening of Great Point Studios.

They discussed Rich Products’ interest in developing its West Side properties; the new roles they assumed within the family business in the summer of 2022 (Mindy Rich became president; Bob Rich, longtime president of the company, assumed the role of senior president); and their continued work in entertainment.

Although the Rich’s wealth was based on food – Bob Rich, whose father founded the company in 1945, once called himself “the clown prince of cream puffs” – sports and show business are also their Longtime business interests: Bob Rich purchased the Buffalo Bisons in 1983, the same year director Barry Levinson came to town with Robert Redford to film the iconic baseball movie “The Natural.” Since then, the Riches have expanded their baseball holdings — they also own minor league teams in West Virginia and Arkansas — and become prolific theater and, more recently, film producers.

Mindy Rich is a Broadway producer and her current show, “Water for Elephants,” was just nominated for seven Tony Awards. Bob Rich is a prolific writer whose 2015 novel “Looking Through Water” will soon be released as a feature film called “Blood Knot” starring Michael Douglas. The Riches are also now investing in Great Point Studios, which has locations in New York, Buffalo and Yonkers, as well as Atlanta and overseas in Wales.

Mindy Rich reflected on this point during this conversation: Just steps from the door of Rich Products, movies will be filmed year-round and 24 hours a day. “This building is going to be filled with people probably for almost 24 hours,” she said. “It’s going to create all kinds of jobs and it’s going to be an anchor for this neighborhood.”

Here are excerpts from the conversation, edited for space and clarity:

How do you plan to develop the properties Rich Products owns along Niagara Street and the West Side?

Mindy Rich: You are looking for who these key tenants will be to help liven up the neighborhood. We’re here, (Great Point) will be here, and that will help inform other development activities and other things that we’ll do as we continue to develop our properties.

We take our time to do things right. We talked about growing our footprint here long before the movie studio was even an idea. We have developed many post-Covid plans where we think about what the footprint should be and what the needs are.

(Rich points to the office window overlooking the second building that includes the company’s global headquarters, which overlooks the Niagara River and the Canadian border.)

When we bought this building across the street and at one point we were trying to figure out how to renovate it, Bob and I talked about building ourselves an apartment in the far corner. So we thought it would be too scary, like, “Oh! Do they live here? So we never did it. (She laughs.) But we thought, “What a perfect view.” » I mean, it’s a great field. We always thought there were good opportunities here.

What will your involvement be in Great Point Studios?

Bob Rich: We are going to be investment partners.

Mindy Rich: We will not intervene. They will run the studios. They are professionals. They will be our neighbors and we will help them wherever we can; we will promote them and encourage what they do. I try to bring my producer friends over. I’ve already made a connection that I hope will produce a film there. But we’re not getting into the movie business, other than Bob directing his movie – and he’s the writer, so it’s a different dynamic.

Bob, I know the movie has been in the works for years now. What can you share about this?

Bob Rich: “Blood Knot” will be released this fall. It’s in post-production. Everything is as expected and the result is better than I could have dreamed.

About eight years ago, I spent a lot of time with you two for an in-depth article on Bob, and one of the takeaways that has stuck with me all this time is how you view life as a Don Quixote-style quest. How has this quest evolved over the last few years?

Mindy Rich (to Bob): For you, it’s the movie. It took about eight years.

Bob Rich: People ask all the time, especially as you get older, “Are you retired?” (Rich is 83 years old.) You don’t really retire in a family business, but I have decided to step down from my position as Chairman of the Board.

When you’re president, you go around the table and all of a sudden the conversation stops and everyone looks to you to make a decision. Now the conversation is over and people are looking to Mindy for her decisions.

It was a change for me, and it gave me a lot more time to work on repositioning a lot of the writing that I had been doing, and also to bring the film to fruition. I’m doing a lot of things I wanted to do.

Mindy Rich: I think about how things have evolved. I still have this passion for theater, and it’s always about finding the right project and the right show. Every show you do is a small business startup. It’s very entrepreneurial. The goal is to make it a big business. In this regard, everyone wants the next “Hamilton”.

The quest for me is figuring out how to make time to do everything that needs to be done. Every hour is precious. I don’t feel like I’m doing something I to have TO DO. I do everything I do to want TO DO. So how can I do them well? How can I realize them fully? How can I add value? How can I consider all these hours of my life, including time spent with my husband and family?

I don’t know if it’s a quest or a challenge, but that’s how it works: How do you make the hours? I wish I didn’t have to sleep.

What have you learned about managing your time?

Mindy Rich: I learned not to waste time on things that waste your time. It’s not just about large scale things. Sometimes it’s very small things, micro-issues. Simple things like how to pack faster for a trip. Efficiency, productivity – it works in every aspect of your life. How to prepare a dinner in half an hour versus 45 minutes? Multitasking is huge. I think about how many times I have a phone, an iPad and I’m doing something at the same time.