Grasshopper Lawns, Inc

Grasshopper Lawns Lawn Care… As Michael Kravitsky IV tells the story, his grandfather was the chief of police in town and also sold aluminum awnings. After the business declined in the early 1960s, Kravitsky’s father, Michael Kravitsky III took over. He soon added lawn care to its repertoire by purchasing two Lawn-A-Mat franchises from his aluminum supplier, the first one in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton territory and the second in Allentown. The initial Lawn-A-Mat franchise offered services to approximately 300 customers. “For two cents a square foot, a technician would spray on weed control, aerate, roll, and apply seed and fertilizer in one pass,” Kravitsky remembers. “Customers, we call them clients now, signed up for four applications.” He continues, “Lawn-A-Mat developed the application equipment. It was a neat system, but with lots of moving parts that required maintaining. I learned how to fix equipment, and running the machines honed my driving skills.” The family operated the two franchises until Lawn-A-Mat (the corporation) ran into financial difficulties in the mid 1980s, at which time the Kravitskys changed their company name to Grasshopper Lawns, Inc. A service change accompanied the new nomenclature.