Hull juggles steakhouse and tractors

It took one college course about federal tax for Dave Hull to change his major from business to communications.
Yet he’s spent most of his career in his former major as an owner of a local business. And now, he owns two.
The Fort Recovery resident owns Ponderosa on Meridian Street in Portland and co-owns Hull Brothers in his hometown.
“I started out as a business major, ended up a communications major. I started my working history as a communications major and then I went into business so I kind of did it backwards there,” Hull said.
He worked for a production company in Southern Arkansas making TV commercials for two years post graduation before coming home to open Ponderosa with his brother Tom.
That was in 1992. And last year, he stepped away from his position as manager at Ponderosa to begin working at the family business.
Hull Brothers is a Case International farm equipment dealership that also sells combines, tractors and lawn mowers. It also services farm equipment and sells parts.
Started by Dave Hull’s grandfather, the family business was incorporated by his father Buzz Hull and uncle Richard Hull in 1966.
Now Dave Hull, his brother Bob and his sister-in-law Jill own the entire business.
“We’re partners and then I still own this (Ponderosa),” Dave Hull said. “I have not figured out how to do that very good yet.”
It was Tom Hull’s idea to open Ponderosa. The brothers co-owned it until 2000 when Tom, who died five years ago, sold his half to Dave Hull.
Though he’s no longer manager of Ponderosa, he still spends a lot of time there doing the bookwork and making many of the decisions.
“It’s been a challenge doing both because I really haven’t gotten my system down yet. So I’ll do a lot of Hull Brothers and then let Ponderosa go, and then I’ll do a lot of Ponderosa and let Hull Brothers go,” he said. “I haven’t got that nice balance when they’re both moving equally together but I’m working on it.”
Add the duties of being a father to four, a husband and serving on Fort Recovery School Board, and Hull’s plate is full.
“Some weeks will go by and I don’t have one single free night,” he said. “It’s just like I always have to pick someone up, drop something off, run here, run there, so it’s been challenging.”
Owning Hull Brothers has involved lots of learning about the business and the equipment. Having only worked there during high school and college, he’s found that much of the technology related to farm equipment changed in the last 20 years.
“I was the odd-job guy. I did a little bit of everything,” Hull said of his time working for the business as a young adult. “Now things are so different. Now everything is run by computers. It’s been a real change for me just going back into it, the farming is so different.”
But the business that seems unfamiliar to him now is what he imagined he might do. He never thought he’d own a restaurant.
He spends most of his time at Hull Brothers, which is his full-time job, but recently he’s been spending more time at Ponderosa as the restaurant prepares to roll out some changes Hull and his managers plan to implement. And the differences between the two businesses are similar to the differences between night and day.
At Ponderosa, customers come to eat and socialize, but at Hull Brothers, they’re there to do business. And the employees are different too.
At Ponderosa he’s the boss to many high school and college students, and at Hull Brothers, he’s working with adults who have families and larger responsibilities.
“It’s a different atmosphere,” he said. “It’s a whole different set of problems, a whole different set of expectations … The pay is different. The amount of money you’re dealing with is different. Everything is different.”
Those same employees, however, are making his transition away from Ponderosa and into Hull Brothers easier. Managers at Hull Brothers have stepped up, and the people he works with at Hull Brothers are understanding.
He’s a busy guy, and for now he has no plans of adding more to his plate, though he jokes he’s slowly taking over one area business at a time.
“I just rely on my phone to tell me where I’m going most days,” he said.