When a business has served the same city for three generations, something changes about how it gives back. The company stops having to go looking for ways to help. After a while, the community starts bringing the opportunities to them.
That is where Choate's Air Conditioning & Heating sits today. Brian Choate's grandfather started the company in Memphis in 1958. Sixty-eight years later, the family is still running it, still living in the same community, and still showing up when a neighbor needs a hand.
"We've been local in the Memphis area for so long," Brian says. "I'd say the common theme is just community."
A Family Business, in the Most Literal Sense
Choate's is now third generation. Brian's father, Chris, remains the current owner, while Brian and his older brother, Sol Choate, run day-to-day operations. Sol plays a key role in directing the course of the company and its charitable work. What started in HVAC has grown to include plumbing and, over the past couple of years, electrical, serving both residential and commercial customers across the Memphis area.
The company motto is "Let our family serve your family," and Brian is quick to point out that it is not a slogan they borrowed.
"Us saying we're a family business isn't a business owner that just has a family. It's literally a mom, a dad, a brother," he says. "We're all working in individual roles."
For Brian, staying in the family trade is about carrying something forward. "It's an incredible opportunity to be able to have a legacy," he says. "God willing, we'll be able to continue that down to our kids."
A Servant Heart, and Not Much Fanfare
Ask Brian how the company thinks about giving, and he does not reach for a strategy deck. He talks about the way he was raised.
"It's kind of just ingrained in us and who we are," he says. "Our family has always been one to help out others. The core of our business is a lot of having a servant heart, a servant mindset, being able to take care of others."
A lot of that work happens quietly, and on purpose. "There are a lot of things we do that a lot of people don't know about," Brian says. "We're not always trying to shine a light on, look at us. It's more about the situation."
Over the years that has meant supporting organizations across Memphis, from Life Choices to St. Jude to Memphis Athletic Ministries and Best Buddies, along with first responders, police, and veterans. Sometimes the help is a check. Often it is showing up in person. The team has cooked out for local first responders and had them over for lunch, and they turn out for city events around Town of Collierville Square and Cooper Young.
"Those are always kind of cool times to be able to bring that community together," Brian says.
When You're This Rooted, the Giving Finds You
Because Choate's is so established in Memphis, a lot of its giving is not planned in advance. It arrives.
A recent example: a local family lost their air conditioning entirely. A news station that had worked with Choate's before reached out with the situation. The answer was immediate.
"They reached out to us, given us the situation, telling us what's going on," Brian says. "And we said, yes, we'll be happy to help." Choate's went in and installed a whole new air conditioning system for the family.
Then there are the stories nobody could plan for. One customer let the company know that their young son had become obsessed with a Choate's commercial, to the point that he would mimic Chris Choate's line word for word: "I'm Chris Choate with Choate Air Conditioning."
"It just kind of honed in and kept being a thing," Brian says. So Choate's reached out and sent the boy and his family to a Memphis Grizzlies game. "They got to go see an NBA game, and they wrote us a wonderful letter about their experience. It's cool things like that."
Brian had not really framed it this way before it came up in conversation, but he agrees the community roots are the engine behind all of it.
"There are a lot of great companies out there, and it's not a high percentage of businesses that beat the odds to make it past the first three or five years," he says. "I think we're fortunate enough that we've had multi-generation establish such a relationship in our community that we've been able to not only survive and thrive, but give and help out. Having a legacy and good reputation has allowed us to continue on and help others."
A Cause Close to Home
Among the organizations Choate's supports, one carries extra personal weight for Brian: Life Choices, a Memphis organization that comes alongside mothers in difficult circumstances and helps them raise their children.
"It's one that I personally connect strongly with," Brian says.
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Building the Next Generation of the Trades
The other side of Choate's community work looks past today's customers and toward the people who will serve them next. Brian is candid that the trades still carry an unfair reputation, and he wants that to change.
"Being in the trades is a really great opportunity, and I don't know if everyone understands that," he says. "People not only have a lifelong skill, but they can take it to many different places and live a very comfortable, happy life. Trades doesn't need to have a negative stigma. You can provide for your family with this."
Choate's backs that up at its own facility. The company built a full training house, a mocked-up home where technicians can practice both the technical work and the part that is harder to teach.
"Literally, we can turn and break things on the units," Brian says. "From technical training to customer service training, ringing a doorbell and walking in, looking around and seeing different situations, learning how to connect with the customer."
That focus on soft skills is deliberate. "Not everyone has the same soft skills as before," Brian says. "So there's actual training on learning how to communicate, not just somebody being really good at tech work. Take care of the problem, but take care of the person too."
The company has teamed up with local community, trade, and tech colleges, and recently hosted a graduating class for a tour of the facility. Brian's longer-term hope is bigger still.
"Someday in the future, to do our own little tech college," he says. "Not only are they learning the technical aspect, but they get to actually apply it with a master watching over them, so they can learn the craft while they learn the knowledge."
It is the kind of investment that tends to compound. A stronger bench of technicians builds a stronger business, and a stronger business has more room to give back to the community that raised it. For Choate's, that cycle has been turning for 68 years, and Brian intends to keep it going for the next generation.
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