BLOOMINGTON, MN (BRAIN) Wednesday June 27 2012 8:43 AM MT—Jason Grantz, brand manager for Quality Bicycle Products’ Foundry Cycles and Whisky Parts Co. carbon fiber brands, left QBP last week, ending his second stint with the company. He described his departure as a mutual agreement between him and QBP.
“QBP is an amazing place to work, and I’ve grown personally and professionally during my time there,” Grantz said in an email to BRAIN. “It is with sadness that I depart QBP, but I am proud of the work I’ve done with Jagwire and most recently creating and launching the Whisky and Foundry brands. But, as (founder and president) Steve Flagg once told me, QBP isn’t for everyone. I’m not sure if I will remain in the bicycle industry; I’m weighing my options and have interviews in adjacent industries already.”
His duties are currently being handled by Jason Gaikowski, director of brand, marketing and sales, and Rich Tauer, director of product development, until a replacement is found, Gaikowski said.
Grantz first started work for QBP in marketing in 2003. In 2004, he was charged with rebranding QBP-distributed cable brand Jagwire and focusing the strategic direction of its aftermarket products.
In April 2009, Grantz left QBP to join Cane Creek as marketing and brand manager as the company braced for the expiration of its patent on the threadless headset the following year.
He returned to Bloomington in January 2011, lured by the prospect of conceptualizing and launching a new QBP-owned bike brand and working under Gaikowski. “He was a guy I knew I could learn a lot from,” Grantz told BRAIN this week. “I’d had a lot of good mentors, but not a good marketing mentor.”
Foundry ran into delivery issues during its first year, including the scrapping of its Router 29er frame due to ovalized headtubes, but Grantz said his departure was not related to that—as did Gaikowski.
Gaikowski praised Grantz’s service to QBP. “There was good work done during his time here. The visibility and differentiation of the brand is really encouraging and really exciting,” he said. “I would have preferred that Jason not leave the position, but that said, I think the brand is positioned really, really well.”
Grantz can be reached at jasonggrantz@gmail.com.
