Pharmacist O.K. Grettenberger launched LorAnn Oils (named after his wife, Laura, and daughter, Ann) in 1962, aiming to provide pharmacy customers with quality essential oils in smaller quantities than they could buy at the time. Fast forward to 2025: the Lansing, Michigan-based company has grown to more than $23 million in annual revenue and 70 employees.
LorAnn’s extensive product line now comprises more than 5,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) of essential oils, flavorings, vanillas, food colors and specialty ingredients, ranging in sizes from one dram to 55 gallons. Available in grocery stores, craft stores and mass-market retailers, LorAnn’s flavoring products are used by home bakers, candy companies, specialty food manufacturers and bakeries.
Looking to the future, LorAnn aims to surpass $50 million in sales by 2032. To achieve that goal, the company is:
- Expanding its presence online and in grocery stores.
- Broadening its product line offering.
- Strengthening its internal infrastructure.
- Developing more leaders throughout all levels of the organization.
In the food flavoring market, barriers to entry are rather low, points out John Henighan, LorAnn’s president, who joined the company in 2020. “The way we fight the competition and grow is to have better people,” he says.
“When a company moves into second stage, you need to take work that was previously concentrated in the hands of a few people and spread it out,” Henighan continues. “We aim to develop leaders who can make great decisions and coach others to do the same. If you build your people, you can build your business.”
Innovation is also a priority. Among LorAnn’s new products are gummy mixes, which enable consumers to make their own gelatin candy bears and worms at home. Available in Walmart and Michaels stores, the gummy mixes have been a huge hit — and serve as an example of how LorAnn pays homage to its past. “We want our products to transform simple moments into lasting memories, such as helping your grandmother in the kitchen,” explains Henighan.
In 2024 LorAnn was named a Michigan 50 Companies to Watch (CTW) honoree, which connected Henighan with programs co-hosted by the Edward Lowe Foundation and Michigan Economic Development Corp. Among these, Henighan attended a retreat for CTW awardees at Big Rock Valley, the foundation’s 2,000-acre learning campus in southwest Michigan. This led to his joining a CEO roundtable that meets monthly in the foundation’s Lansing office.
Henighan deems the roundtable a “fantastic resource” that enables him to share ideas and discuss challenges with other second-stage leaders on everything from recruiting and retaining talent to dealing with the rising cost of health insurance. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another,” Henighan says, quoting Proverbs 27:17. “That’s what the roundtables do for you. It puts you in a room with other business leaders who have faced the same issues and can give you insights into what has worked — or not worked — for them.”
“Granted, there are a lot of networking groups out there,” he adds. “Yet where the foundation leads the field is by bringing together a very niche group of entrepreneurs in a similar stage and of a similar mindset.”
Henighan has invited some of his roundtable members to sit in on LorAnn’s monthly managers meetings and share their leadership lessons. This has been beneficial, because they carry great credibility and, as outsiders, can sometimes have a greater impact than he can, Henighan points out.
In addition to leveraging the foundation’s peer-learning programs, Henighan has attended an Entrepreneur-in-Residence retreat, a three-day experience designed to help business owners reflect on both professional and personal issues. “It was transformational,” Henighan says. “I left with a greater sense of clarity on where I am, what’s important to me in the future, and where I am best suited to impact people in a positive way.”