As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we want to look back at how far we've come – and the amazing customers, suppliers, and coworkers who have helped us get here.

On December 22nd, 2022 BGR celebrates a remarkable 50 years in business! Founded by the dynamic Al Backscheider and driven forward with passion by his sons Dean and Allen, the company has risen to become an industry leader in high-performance packaging solutions. With countless successful customer stories under its belt across many industries over these last five decades, we invite you to join us this anniversary year as we reminisce about some of their most moments that have made such success possible.

1970's - A Customer-First mindset is born

Al Backscheider was 62 years old when he received the unwelcome news that his career at Seybold Paper had come to an end. Spurred into action by the support and encouragement of his wife Helene, he turned their basement into a makeshift office space, and transformed their small garage space into a bustling storage facility, with BGR emerging as its core business in the 1970s. His philosophy for success? A customer-first sales approach coupled with hard work and integrity - values that remain at BGR's foundation to this day. 

Shortly thereafter, he brought on partners, Tracy Goodwin, Jimmy Ray, and Roger Neihisel. Experiencing early signs of Alzheimer's, Al's son's Dean and Allen picked up the torch as Junior Sales Reps - unaware of what heights BGR would soar to down the line! To top it all off, the distribution delivery fleet got its start—The BGR Station Wagon.

1980's - A Year of Firsts

The 1980s marked a major milestone for BGR with their acquisition of the first van, along with hiring Joe Sanker as the company's inaugural sales rep. To keep up with their expanding operations, they made the exciting move to a 5k sq ft facility - where Jeff Jaeger joined as BGR truck driver and Joe Hennekes took on UPS clerk duties. Leading them into this new era of growth was their first computer system! With Steve Howison on board as purchasing manager and Jeff Simon one-upping things yet again as another knowledgeable sale representative, it wasn't long before BGR discovered its niche in providing stretch film strappings foams bubble wrap labels this set them off onto great success well into the future generations. 

Congratulations to the incredible group of employees at BGR (mentioned above) who have each given 4 tenacious decades worth of effort and dedication! We thank you for your hard work in creating a fantastic workplace. 

1990's - Expansion into Equipment and Label

The 90s marked a period of unprecedented growth for BGR, as our portfolio expanded to offer equipment and services in addition to labels. We even entered the exciting realm of tape slitting after becoming an authorized distributor for iconic companies such as 3M! These years brought us much pride - including notable new sales team members Nick Fox, Bill Jenkins, Steve Apke, Rick Gaertner, Rod Hare (and many others) who are still contributing their expertise or have since retired from service at BGR three decades later!

2000-2022 Exponential Growth

The past two decades have solidified BGR's place as the largest packaging distributor headquartered in Ohio and its four neighboring states. Beyond conventional converting services, our growing label-manufacturing business, strengthened partnerships with key suppliers, and high-level consulting services in industrial packaging are responsible for boosting revenue threefold. This success attracted a new executive team to help lead us into an even brighter future, including CFO Vince Muglia, CTO Barry Gertner, President Phil Schneider, VP of Supply Chain Tom Metz, and Chief Customer Officer Jeff Dickson – we expect great things from this forward-thinking collective!

A big thank you to our customers, suppliers, and coworkers. BGR is great because of you!