Gruber Pallets Inc. was founded in 1987 by Dale R Gruber and has been in the family ever since. Read our story.
Gruber Pallets began in the mid 1980s with one man, an old pickup truck, and a garage. Dale R. Gruber had spent ten years driving semi trucks and was working to save for a house. On the side, he collected stray pallets from St. Paul businesses, repaired them in his garage, and sold them to truckers. He had no plan to build a company. He just worked hard and did what he said he would do.
Forty years later the company is still in the family, still in Lake Elmo, and still built on the same idea: trust is earned. Here is how we got from there to here.
Six chapters, one garage to a 40,000 square foot plant.
Mid 1980s
A former long haul driver, Dale rebuilt his life one pallet at a time. He fixed them in the garage of his apartment building and sold them to truckers, with Diane behind him the whole way. They founded the company on perseverance and integrity.
1986
When Dale's cousin Charlie Kuhl was laid off, Dale gave him a room in his home and a job repairing and delivering pallets. Charlie lived at the Gruber house and did everything. Demand grew fast.
1988
Sales doubled, and Dale left his day job to run Gruber Pallets Inc. full time. He and Charlie rented a small corner of a building in Lake Elmo. Today Gruber Pallets runs more than 40,000 square feet in that same town and a fleet of six or more semi trucks.
Mid 1990s
Fast growth and the wrong managers left the company deep in debt and two days from being sold. Then the father of an employee Dale had helped years earlier offered a loan that kept the doors open. Dale insisted on paying it back with interest, and did. We believe God brought that relationship at exactly the right time.
2000s
Dale built a pallet tracking system so customers got full credit for every pallet they sent us, and he sold value instead of a cheap price. With an A+ team the company grew beyond pallets into wood mulch and animal bedding made from recycled material, so nothing usable goes to waste.
2023
Dale and Diane sold Gruber Pallets to their sons, Luke Gruber and Dale Gruber Jr., fulfilling their dream to keep it a family business. The values did not change. The way we build did.
Left to right: Luke, Dale Sr., Dale Jr.
Luke and Dale are eager to uphold the family name and extend the legacy their parents began. They know Gruber Pallets is a gift from God to their family and intend to honor Jesus in everything they do.
We run the plant on lean manufacturing, which means we hunt down wasted motion wherever we find it. A used pallet can go from sorted, to torn down, to rebuilt as a remanufactured pallet in about three minutes, with no forklift trips in between. Every team member is cross trained and paid hourly, so quality always comes before speed.
“Luke and Dale will take the business a whole lot farther than I would have ever dreamed it could be.”Dale Gruber Sr., founder
A tribute to Dale and Diane, and the company they built.
Pallet Enterprise, the industry's leading trade magazine, has covered the company twice.
Minnesota Brothers Seek Continuous Lean ImprovementsHow Luke and Dale are charting a new course with lean manufacturing, streamlined processes, and a culture that hunts for two second daily savings everywhere.
We are proud of what this company stands for and the people who helped build it. We would love for you to be a part of it soon too.
