Room & Board: John Gabbert. A Broken Deal, a Family Rift, and the Birth of a Furniture Giant
From How I Built This with Guy Raz by Guy Raz | Wondery
May 11, 2026 · 1h 2m · Episode 834
About this episode
John Gabbert shares the story of how he built Room & Board, a furniture brand, despite family disagreements and industry challenges.
John Gabbert built a massive furniture brand. But in order to do it, he had to defy his family. John grew up working at his dad’s furniture store in the suburbs of Minneapolis. It sold classic, American-made furniture, with flowery prints and curved legs. But in 1972, John took a life-changing trip to Sweden, where he discovered an obscure store called IKEA. It was selling an entirely different type of furniture: simple, modern, and inexpensive, with a manufacturing process they controlled. To John, it looked like the future of furniture. The only problem, his dad didn’t agree. That disagreement led to a 10-year family rift—but also a new business. In 1980—zafter a deal to buy out his dad broke down—John spun out his own furniture brand, Room & Board. Today, it sells hundreds of millions of dollars of furniture in its own classic designs, mostly made by small American manufacturers. This is the story of how John did it, without outside investors, and without chasing growth for growth’s sake. What You’ll Learn Why the right thing for your business might be the hardest thing for your family How John connected with young boomers—not their parents …
People in this episode
Host: Guy Raz
Guest: John Gabbert
Topics covered
- furniture industry
- family business
- entrepreneurship
- IKEA influence
- employee ownership
Keywords
- furniture
- business
- family rift
- IKEA
- entrepreneurship
- employee ownership
- Room & Board
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Room & Board, IKEA
Places: Minneapolis
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