Beneath the Surface of Southwest Missouri with Erlen Group

Beneath the streets of northeast Springfield, headlights cut through the temperature-controlled tunnels of what looks like another world. For most people, Springfield Underground is out of sight and out of mind, but for first cousins John Griesemer and Christina Angle, it’s home turf. Together, they lead Erlen Group, a multigenerational family enterprise that began as a quarry on old Route 66 and has evolved into a diversified industrial company with divisions in aggregate materials, logistics and real estate. Among them is Cold Zone, a cold storage logistics provider owned by the Erlen Group. As newly appointed CEO and president, John and Christina are steering the legacy forward.

From Route 66 to the Underground

John and Christina’s grandfather, Joseph Griesemer, started a quarry company on what was Route 66, today’s Kearney Street, in 1946. They began mining horizontally into the rock in the early ’50s, rather than removing it from the surface, and built their first underground warehouse in the 1960s. “The decision to go to underground mining was a cost and a safety issue,” John says. “It keeps blasting to where you don’t have the rock flying.” It also saved the cost of removing what’s known in the industry as overburden, the first few layers of dirt covering the rock. It was a practical solution that eventually opened the door to new possibilities.

Long before underground warehouses were even on the radar, that instinct to spot opportunity was already there. After graduating eighth grade, estimated to be around 1916 or 1917, Joseph took a job as a highway contractor. One day, while digging a farm pond for his brother, he hit rock. The discovery made him realize there might be more opportunity in mining that very stone. That decision eventually shaped what we now know as Springfield Underground.

Louis Griesemer—Joseph’s son, Christina’s dad and John’s uncle who led the company for decades—recalls the early years of Springfield Underground. “When I came to work, it was 1977, and we had probably a half a million square feet of underground buildings,” he says. “Over the course of my career, we went from the half million to about three and a half million that exists there now in the underground development. And, of course, they’re still building that out.”

Louis puts the company’s evolution from a quarry to industrial real estate into perspective. “We adopted the slogan, ‘rocks to real estate,’” he says. “It became apparent that the underground and industrial real estate division was becoming the bigger focus, in terms of business volume, revenue generation… We became a real estate developer specializing in underground.”

While other underground storage operations existed in the St. Louis area, the Griesemer family carved a niche by combining their mining expertise with strategic vision.

The name “Erlen Group” itself reflects that sense of heritage. It honors the family’s ancestors, who emigrated from Wald Erlenbach, Germany, five generations before John and Christina. The company’s logo, with its three divisions—aggregate materials, logistics and real estate—is meant to represent growth.

Lessons at the Dinner Table

Like any business, running a family business comes with its specific challenges and quirks. John’s and Christina’s roles within the Erlen Group are inextricably tied to family, but navigating those relationships requires a healthy respect for each other’s strengths.

In February 2025, John was elected chairman of the board while retaining his role as chief executive officer. Christina stepped into the roles of president and chief financial officer, taking the lead on daily operations. The shift was prompted by the retirement of Louis, but it also felt like a natural progression in leadership.

John says he and Christina work “hand in glove.” Their roles complement each other. “Christina has a grasp of the business that I think started around the dinner table through her dad,” John says. “That makes it very easy to work with her. She also is not afraid to challenge me, which I love.”

Christina is extremely good with numbers and organizational tasks, and John often brings the big ideas. They work together to assemble all the pieces. “John pushes me to keep looking for opportunities and keep growing, which I think is awesome,” Christina says. “It’s been a really great partnership.”

Louis gives a glimpse into what shaped John and Christina’s approach to leading the company. “If you’re in the family, and you’re working at the business, you probably have to work harder than if you weren’t family, because we have to set the example for everybody else,” he says. He also stresses the value of outside experience. Christina’s years at a public accounting firm prior to joining the Erlen Group, he says, bring perspective that strengthens the business.

John and Christina rely on the Erlen Group’s board, made up of half outside members and half family members, for strategic guidance. “They set the debt-to-equity limitations,” Christina says, “and John and I both report to that.” The board meets once a quarter.

The leadership evolution in a family-owned business, however, goes beyond formal titles. Both John and Christina stress the importance of understanding the role they are playing in each moment. “Early in my career, Louis Griesemer and I started studying family businesses, looking at other family businesses,” John says. “And one of the pieces of advice I got early on, which I still to this day remember, and a lot of our team have heard me talk about, is hat. What hat are you wearing? Some days I’m a friend, some days I’m a brother, or a nephew, or a cousin, or boss or employee.” With that advice, he’s learned to see each person as a team member, family ties aside. “I also think it’s imperative that anybody in a family business be open and honest,” John says.

A Network Beneath the Surface

Today, the Erlen Group operates through three divisions: aggregate materials, logistics and real estate. Each division has its own function, but together they form a cohesive ecosystem that drives both operational efficiency and long-term growth. Aggregate materials like rock and gravel are mined from underground and sold for use in road construction and other infrastructure projects. The space left behind isn’t wasted—it’s transformed. Companies lease these underground areas for storage and back-office operations, taking advantage of the consistent temperature and security the environment provides. The Erlen Group’s real estate portfolio spans both worlds: traditional office spaces like the Frisco Building above ground, and the space below it.

Aggregate materials were the family’s original entry point. John describes it as more than a source of revenue. “We talk about mining or aggregate being an interim land use,” he says. “If you look at a quarry or an underground mine, we try to—I think it’s a Jim Collins line—‘start with the end in mind.’ So we’re thinking about, ‘what is this going to be when we’re done?’ It may be a lake with homes around it. There are a lot of examples of that around the country. How do you reclaim the mine when you’re done with it? That’s a natural fit with real estate.”

Logistics also grew naturally out of the family’s underground storage operations. Warehousing, order fulfillment and transportation became critical to supporting clients’ supply chains, especially in the food production sector. There is a lot of cold storage down there as well, which is a game-changer for businesses looking for that kind of space, to find that it already exists.

Aggregate materials drive real estate; real estate strengthens logistics and creates space for new industrial growth. Consolidation and rebranding efforts over the past decade have further strengthened the synergy across the divisions by unifying operations under the Erlen Group umbrella.

John points to Springfield’s recognition as one of the top U.S. cities for food manufacturing as proof of the system’s effectiveness. “We were part of helping Springfield get there by supporting manufacturers locally,” he says.

The Next Generation of Growth

Leading a family business comes with unique pressures. Every decision carries the weight of legacy, and the lines between family and work can blur. “We stand on the shoulders of some giants, and the key is not to fall,” John says.

Innovation is part of that responsibility. The new warehouse on Springfield’s west side—the Erlen Group’s Cold Zone—was a massive, complex project. “From start to finish, it was one of the most interesting projects I’ve ever worked on,” Christina says. John echoes that: “It’s like moving into a new apartment or a new house times one hundred.”

In November, the Springfield Planning & Zoning Commission approved a preliminary plat for a 390-acre, three-lot property above Springfield Underground. The approval was mostly procedural and tied to a larger, 600-acre area the Erlen Group hopes to develop. “It’s all intended to keep Forward SGF and city planning in mind with uses that are complementary to existing uses,” Christina says.

The Erlen Group’s work underground is an example of essential ongoing innovation. Springfield Underground is a vital hub for food manufacturing, helping companies store, move and distribute product efficiently. They are consistently evaluating the space and how they can maximize it for businesses.

When thinking of long-term growth of the Erlen Group, Christina thinks mainly of the employees. “We’ve provided a stable place where they could earn a good living, have great benefits, learn something about themselves, be part of a team that wins,” she says. “One of our values is hard work. We ask for hard work, but I would love to believe that we have rewarded it too.”

Louis appreciates the way John and Christina are steering the company into the next chapter. “Succession planning is one of the big things that you have to do,” Louis says. “You have to have the right folks with the right capabilities to be able to pass this off successfully. These two are running the company in a way that is so much better… I’ve got absolutely no regrets. They are exceeding all expectations.”

Any C-suite position can seem intimidating from the outside. Add in legacy and long-standing family history, and the complexity runs even deeper. Both John and Christina have approached that challenge with a sense of steadiness and grace. “It’s become such a part of my identity, in a way that your job always is a little bit of you,” Christina says. “Because it’s a family business, you realize that you’re speaking for the company in a different way than maybe you otherwise would. I am proud of the success, but not because of me. There’s a whole team standing behind us.”