NOVEMBER 21, 2018 | VOL. 7 ISSUE 39
FOOD& BEVERAGE ISSUE
Presented by
Conversations with UpstateProfessionals
Foxcroft Wine Co. 631 South Main Street, Greenville
Wednesday, November 28 5:30pm to 7:00pm Network, Network, Network
Drop in and network‌
first drink is on us.
TOP-OF-MIND AND IN THE MIX THIS WEEK
| THE RUNDOWN
VOLUME 7, ISSUE 39 Featured this issue: Eggs Up Grille: A franchise on the rise ................................................................... 11 Two decades of Larkin’s Restaurants........................................................................12 Mexican snacks producer opens Upstate plant....................................................16 Ten at the Top announced the recipients for the 2018 Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Community Vibrancy Grants. The two recipients, each receiving $5,000, are the NinetySix Mill Village Association for their Movie Night at the Park project and Spontaneous Productions for the First Annual Charles Townes Arts & Technology Experiment. Pictured are Toccoa “Coie” Switzer, Piedmont Physic Garden; Phil Hughes, Hughes Investments; Mary Ann Goodman, Ninety Six Mill Village Association; and Jeff Sumerel, Spontaneous Productions. Photo provided by Ten at the Top
WORTH REPEATING “If you think that we’re just going to go open a Husk and it would be packed from day one, it would be a mistake, because I never, at no time, did I believe that because we’d been successful in other cities and we had a terrific brand that we’re just going to show up and the restaurant’s full and we’re going to live happily ever after.” David Howard, Page 8
“Doing something a little bit different. Not just bringing wine to market but developing relationships and working with certain producers that we thought would work in Greenville.” Matt Tebbetts, Page 14
“Our strategy never was to grow the business to support Mexico. We have an American business, American company, and we will grow here in America.” Miguel Cardín Rodriguez, Page 16 11.21.2018 | upstatebusinessjournal.com
3
NEWS |
INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW
TECH & DESIGN
GHS developing mobile app to help visitors navigate hospitals
ANDREW MOORE | STAFF
amoore@communityjournals.com Greenville Health System (GHS) has partnered with Atlanta-based technology company Gozio Health to develop a mobile app to help patients and visitors find their way around its hospital campuses. The wayfinding app will provide step-by-step directions to any destination within the health system’s eight hospitals, seven parking decks, and 200 satellite clinics, according to a news release. It is expected to be released to app stores next spring. “As GHS and Palmetto Health join together, we look to innovations in technology to better the health and well-being of the communities we serve across South Carolina,” said Rich Rogers, senior vice president of information services and chief information officer for GHS, in the release. “A wayfinding mobile app with distinct patient engagement features allows us to improve the overall patient experience and access to care of our combined health systems.” People who download the new app to their smartphones will be able to view their location on a floor 4
UBJ | 11.21.2018
map of each hospital building or parking deck, helping them locate key offices and services such as labs, pharmacies, cafeterias, restrooms, and the gift shop, according to the release. The app will also provide users with immediate access to physician directories, MyChart medical records, and wait times for urgent care, the release said. GHS officials said the app will eventually include Palmetto Health System’s six hospitals across the Midlands. The two companies announced a partnership last year and will unite under a new brand, Prisma Health, in early 2019. “We are excited for the opportunity to partner with a growing Southeastern health system whose primary goal is to deliver exceptional care to their communities,” said Joshua Titus, CEO and founder of Gozio Health, in the release. “Gozio’s wayfinding and patient engagement technology is a perfect fit for expanding health care systems looking to support new patient outreach and improvements in patient experience with mobile platforms.” For more information, visit www. goziohealth.com or www.ghs.org.
Keeping your leadership at the leading edge of health.
You know healthy leadership is essential to business success. So do we. We’re PartnerMD, Greenville’s leading concierge care practice specializing in executive physicals and primary care to equip progressive businesses like yours with the latest advancements in medicine and holistic wellness for you and your leadership. We tailor our programs to your exacting needs, providing customized control that enables executives to perform
Greenville’s leading concierge care and corporate health provider.
at the peak of health and excel every day through care so personal,
it’s like having a doctor in the family.
12 Maple Tree Ct. Ste 103, Greenville, SC 29615
NEWS |
INFORMATION YOU WANT TO KNOW
EDUCATION
North Greenville University to establish new College of Business and Entrepreneurship ANDREW MOORE | STAFF
amoore@communityjournals.com North Greenville University is consolidating its business undergraduate and graduate academic programs under a new College of Business and Entrepreneurship. The college will launch on Jan. 1, 2019, according to a news release. Academic majors to be offered in the new college include accounting, business administration, international business, and marketing, the release said. The college will also house the Graduate School of Business, which will offer the Master of Business Administration at North Greenville University’s Tim Brashier Campus in Greer. John B. Duncan, currently the associate dean of the College of Business
6
UBJ | 11.21.2018
and professor of accounting at Anderson University, has been named founding dean of the college. Gene Fant, North Greenville University president, said in the release, “North Greenville University is making a major move to enhance its academic quality as we consolidate our business programs at the graduate and undergraduate level under the visionary leadership of Dean Duncan. He is a nationally recognized thought-leader in the integration of faith and business and brings a marvelous, proven track record as a dean. We are grateful that he has accepted our invitation to launch this new initiative that will serve the business community in the Upstate and the nation for the next generation.” Before joining the Anderson Uni-
versity faculty in 2016, Duncan served as dean of the School of Business for 13 years at Charleston Southern University, the release said. He has also served as assistant professor of accounting at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where he held the John Luffey Endowed Professorship in accounting; and served as dean of the School of Business and director of the Church Finance Institute at William Carey University. Duncan, who is a licensed certified public accountant in South Carolina, holds an MBA from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and a doctorate in accountancy from the University of Mississippi, the release said. “It is a privilege and a true blessing to have been selected to serve as the founding dean of the College of Business and Entrepreneurship at
North Greenville University. I’m excited about working with Dr. Fant and the accomplished leadership team that is being assembled to serve the students, faculty, staff, and other constituents of NGU,” Duncan said in the release. For more information, visit www. ngu.edu.
FOOD& BEVERAGE ISSUE
Husk • Eggs Up • Larkin’s • Mission Grape
Husk Greenville
Photo by Will Crooks
FOOD& BEVERAGE ISSUE
Husk Greenville LEARNS FROM DIFFICULT FIRST YEAR, ‘OPTIMISTIC’ ABOUT YEAR TWO
STORY BY ARIEL TURNER | PHOTOS BY WILL CROOKS
O
One year ago, Husk Greenville, the most anticipated Upstate restaurant in recent history, was days away from opening. James Beard Foundation award-winning chef Sean Brock, then executive chef of all of the Husk locations, was in town working with his new team at the nearly finished location at 722 S. Main St. Between 80 and 90 staff members gathered for orientation, where David Howard, president of the Neighborhood Dining Group, which owns Husk, remembers addressing a main assumption about the restaurant prior to the Nov. 28, 2017, opening: “If you think that we’re just going to go open a Husk and it would be packed from day one, it would be a mistake, because I never, at no time, did I believe that because we’d been successful in other cities and
we had a terrific brand that we’re just going to show up and the restaurant’s full and we’re going to live happily ever after,” Howard says. In other words, success in this industry is not a guarantee, even for a restaurant from the team of a seasoned restaurateur like Howard and celebrity chef like Brock. “It takes time for the restaurant to settle in and provide efficient service, timing of food,” Howard says. “A restaurant has to have rhythm, and that’s something that’s the most attractive about old-school restaurants because they’re just in a rhythm, and it’s easy. When you open a new restaurant, that’s not the case.” And his cautionary words would prove true over the last year as the celebrated brand founded in Charleston on Brock’s core values of honoring locally sourced, historic Southern cuisine initially strug-
gled to gain traction in its new market. “I would be dishonest to say it’s been an easy first year,” Howard says. “We’re not hitting our projected anticipated sales goal, but we’re also ambitious and very optimistic.” Several months later, Brock’s announcement on July 30 that he was stepping down from the Neighborhood Dining Group caused fans and leadership alike to wonder what impact his absence would have. The answer: not as much as they anticipated because NDG restaurants, which also includes McGrady’s, McGrady’s Tavern, and Minero, boasted a 600-strong staff dedicated to the foundation Brock had laid, Howard says. Howard says that despite the perceived challenges, they are committed to those core values Brock established and to staying the course in Greenville, noting that
Husk’s second location – Nashville, Tennessee – also had a slower start. But after listening to the diners there and being patient, they made adjustments as necessary without compromising. Now the restaurant is thriving. They’ve made similar changes in Greenville – offering a “Local’s Menu” with four courses for $39 and adding a private dining room upstairs. Howard says 30 percent of diners are ordering from that new prixe fix option when it is offered, and the dining room is getting regular use. A main difference between the Greenville market and Husk’s other homes in Charleston; Nashville; and Savannah, Georgia, is that the ratio of local versus tourist diners is much higher. “That’s not a problem, it’s just a difference for us,” Howard says. And while tourists will seek out restaurants like Husk, or seek to dine where a prominent chef has cooked, locals may not be familiar with the brand. “We’ve been blessed with a lot of success with Husk, and Husk has a fairly well-known name,” Howard says. “But it would be easy to assume that everybody knows what Husk is, and that would be crazy to think that people do. I would say that 99.9 percent of the population of a 20-mile radius of this location has never heard of Husk and has no idea what it is.” Now that the restaurant has hit its stride, with former chef de cuisine Jon Buck assuming the exec role when Brock announced his departure, the leadership has some specific goals in mind for year two. “Our focus for the next year has to be improve our communication as to what [Husk] is,” Howard says. “We have to let people know we’re here, what’s important to us, and the type of food and experience they [can] expect. We need to let people know we’re here, and we’re here to stay, and we want to be part of their rotation when they think of dining out.” A key is dispelling the misperception that Husk should be reserved for special occasions
Husk Greenville
Photo by Will Crooks
FOOD& BEVERAGE ISSUE
FOOD & BEVERAGE |
HUSK GREENVILLE
or that it’s more highbrow than it is, he says. “We’re serving fried chicken and hamburgers in a casual place,” Howard says. “Servers are casually dressed and there’s the open kitchen and friendly faces.” For Buck and the kitchen staff, it means learning from the last year, and keeping the menu approachable for the newcomers and adventurous for the seasoned regulars and experience-seekers. “Now we’re at that pivotal moment where you’re looking back at a year of work, and a year of relationships with the staff and the cooks, really just trying to settle in to that family philosophy of ‘what is your story now,’ ” Buck says. “There’s a fine line between trying to be super approachable and then trying to be a little bit outside the box. That’s why you’ll see a lot of dishes written on the menu for the adventurous person and a lot written for the safe person. And as we develop our
relationship in the community and cultivate trust in our guests, then we’re going to have more of an opportunity to explore the outer fringe, scientific, creativity aspects of the culinary world.” Buck recognizes the challenge that presents to a creative kitchen staff wanting to push the boundaries and experiment but also provide a hospitable environment for a variety of diners. “ There’s always that line between food being the reality of sustenance,” Buck says. “We all must eat calories to maintain life. Food to me has always been about memories, and about sustenance with love and care, and I think the longer we continue to say the message here in Greenville, the more captive our audience will become. That’s been kind of my mantra from day one. Just stay the course, be honest with what we do, do what we do, and try to do it as well as we can.”
David Howard President of Neighborhood Dining Group
One of the area’s most desirable retirement communities, The Springs made its campus even more inviting with a recent expansion.
We’re golden. Meet the bank behind The Springs at Simpsonville.
T HE BA NK BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS Member FDIC
Greenville_Springs_UBJ.indd 10 FCBUBJ | 11.21.2018
1
7/26/18 12:51 PM
Eggs Up Grill keeps expanding with attention to quality and hometown feel STORY BY SARA PEARCE | PHOTO BY WILL CROOKS
As food trends change, Eggs Up Grill proves that there is still a place for family-style home cooking in every neighborhood. The restaurant has over 30 existing franchises, with 20 more set to open in 2019. Current locations span Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, where the franchise was founded in Pawleys Island. The company is expanding the franchise into a greater market, including Florida, but plans to stay in the Southeast for the foreseeable future. The restaurant has been franchising for six years. The first corporate location will open in Spartanburg in the spring. NAI Earle Furman’s Gaston Albergotti represented Eggs Up Grill in f inding its Spartanburg space, which will be located at 551 E. Main St., Suite 101. The franchise prides itself on offering exceptional ser v ice along with fresh, made-to-order, home-cooked, quality food at a reasonable price. But what makes it different from any other breakfast-and-lunch diner at a time when some franchises are struggling to stay af loat? The focus of each Eggs Up Grill is on the people that each restau-
rant serves. Ricky Richardson, who took on the role of CEO in July, said the success of Eggs Up Grill is tied directly to its ability to connect with the local community. Each franchise naturally feels like neighbors serving neighbors, and that allows the franchise to grow in new communities. The company supports franchisees by working with them on their location and f inancial structure in order to maximize the local connection and find the ideal setup. The company accepts franchisees who have no prior business ownership, or even experience in the restaurant industr y. On average, each franchise costs between $421,810 and $611,870 to open and opens in under a year. There are no closures in the restaurant’s history. A s t he c ompa ny g row s throughout the Southeast, it plans to continue its focus on the “neighborhood” and “hometown” markets that thrive off of a sense of community in each restaurant. The company strives to support both the franchisees in their finances and plans, as well as the communities surrounding the new restaurants.
FOOD& BEVERAGE ISSUE
Tis the Season…
RECEIVE A FREE COOKIE TRAY WHEN YOU MENTION THIS AD THRU DECEMBER 15
Let us cater to you…at your place of business or in your home. Freshest scratch-made food to satisfy all your holiday needs. 1054 E. Butler Road, Greenville | Café Open Monday – Friday 864-297-6516 | SeasonsCafeAndCatering.com Info@SeasonsCafeAndCatering.com 11.21.2018 | upstatebusinessjournal.com
11
FOOD& BEVERAGE
O
wning and operating a single successful
ISSUE
Larkin’s Restaurants continues to thrive and grow after 20 years STORY BY ARIEL TURNER
restaurant for more than 10 years is quite an accomplishment these days, with the threat of an oversaturated market and staffing challenges. But how about an owner/operator with eight restaurants representing a variety of concepts, spread across Columbia, Greenville, and North Carolina; a catering operation; and an events venue, the
PHOTOS BY WILL CROOKS
first of which opened 20 years ago? That’s a legitimate success story. Such is the story of Larkin’s Restaurants. The first restaurant from food and beverage industry veterans Larkin and Mark Hammond, Larkin’s on the Lake, opened in 1998 in Lake Lure, North Carolina. It also includes a downstairs concept called Bayfront Bar & Grill. In 2005, the group expanded to Greenville and opened Larkin’s on the River. Then came three Grill Marks burger joint locations; the Carolina Grill in Columbus, North Carolina; the Italian concept Limoncello; and the full catering and event operations segment. They’ve also signed a lease for a new space in the Camperdown development that is under construction. It’s no accident they’ve remained successful and competitive in a restaurant market that has seen the number of participants double in the last 10 years.
12
UBJ | 11.21.2018
Larkin’s on the River
FOOD& BEVERAGE ISSUE
WHAT’S A MAIN FOUNDATION OF A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS? “A really important part of the conversation of running a successful business is looking at the numbers. That’s something that we spend a lot of time doing – analyzing where we’re being successful [such as] food costs, and menu construction. There’s a good focus on that, because if you don’t do that, you aren’t going to be around. And it’s a constantly changing scene as different costs rise or fall, to make adjustments to growth and new demographics that are coming in, and what’s interesting to the food scene in downtown Greenville.”
Bruce Wise, vice president of restaurant operations for Larkin’s, recently shared his insights into the group’s continued success a day after the executive team met to discuss successes, failures, and goals.
IN THOSE EXECUTIVE MEETINGS, WHAT ARE YOU DISCUSSING? “We’re not just talking about financials. We’re discussing what’s most important to us in the course of the year, and things that we look at really closely now is staffing, and so what are we doing as far as acknowledgement for our staff, for staff retention, and just creating an environment where we’re the employer of choice. That’s really important to us.”
HOW ARE EMPLOYEES GIVEN CREATIVE FREEDOM WITHIN THEIR ROLES? “It’s encouraged, and not just from management, but from anyone that’s in our company that has an idea. We listen to the people that work for us, and I think that that’s something that makes us appealing as an employer because everyone’s voice gets heard.”
WHAT ABOUT FAILURES OR OPPORTUNITIES TO GROW? “Sometime you feel like your list of failures can become longer that your list of successes, but when you look at it, and during our discussion yesterday, it becomes really apparent, that anything that’s a failure is also a positive, because it’s something that you look at and say ‘Well, I’ll never make that mistake again.’ In looking at your failures it can actually help you grow your business.”
HOW DOES THE EXECUTIVE TEAM PLAN FOR THE NEXT YEAR? “We do a corporate retreat every year based down in Sanibel [Florida] where Mark and Larkin have a home and we go down there for a week. And that’s a week of really clearing our minds, getting together, planning, a recap, but also more of a planning event. We start off with what our plan’s going to be. We also mix in a good bit of fun with that. There’s a little wine, and boating, and a lot of cooking, which is really great. One of the cool things that we get together and do is we’ll go out to some dinners because we like to observe and we like to look at other companies and see what they’re doing well but also, the time that’s really most valuable to us is that we’ll get together, and sometimes we’ll team off and sometimes we’ll make it a little bit of a competition kinda within the kitchen but working together with someone in our team, we’ll prepare these meals that are just amazing for ourselves, so it makes you look at things from a slightly different perspective.”
HOW DOES LARKIN’S ADAPT TO A CHANGING MARKET? “You make changes to things that perhaps historically have been standard practices. The restaurants have to shift with changing challenges . . . I think change has become a constant, so if you don’t change, you don’t stay competitive. In downtown Greenville, the number of choices that people have to dine in your segment — there are far more places to have a steak now than there were 10 years ago downtown Greenville. But the way that we approach it is that we focus on ourselves. We don’t focus on others. So if a new restaurant opens up, we look at what we do and make sure we’re staying true to our beliefs, staying true to our service standards and our food quality, and if we do that we know that we’re going to be fine.”
WHAT’S THE KEY TO LARKIN’S SUCCESS? “The key to our success has been maintaining the strong team that we have that stays hands-on, including the owners. Restaurants that I’ve seen fail, and it can occur for many reasons, so often it occurs from people losing focus on what their core values are, so we often remind ourselves and remind our staff why we do what we do, which is to create an amazing experience for people that come to our establishments. Our values started years ago, and that’s part of the conversation that we have when we get together as a group. The basis of what’s important to us doesn’t change. How we get to where we want to go changes slightly. There’s no substitute for hands-on, being there, working with your people. If you get away from that you start to not understand what’s important, both to your staff and to the guests who are coming in. Creating relationships is huge in a successful business.”
FOOD& BEVERAGE ISSUE
brings wine distribution to the Upstate STORY BY ARIEL TURNER | PHOTOS BY WILL CROOKS
Mission Grape is a go. Aptly named, the relatively newly formed Mission Grape is the only Upstate-based wine distributor delivering imported bottles and cases to some of Greenville’s most popular restaurants and retail locations. With a 4,000-square-foot, truck-accessible, climate-controlled warehouse housing at least a thousand 14
UBJ | 11.21.2018
cases of wine from 75 or more international producers less than 10 miles from downtown Greenville, Mission Grape is poised to do what other Charleston-based distributors can’t. Here’s a common scenario: It’s Saturday afternoon, three popular bottles sold at The Community Tap are out of stock, and co-owner Ed Buffington needs to fill those spots or lose sales. For a small business, even a small loss can impact profit margins significantly. Enter Matt Tebbetts, founder of
Mission Grape, who can retrieve those bottles from his warehouse and have the Tap’s shelves stocked in less than two hours. The same applies for Jianna, Larkin’s by the River, Husk, and others who buy wine from Mission Grape and need same-day service. “That happens if a restaurant sells through their wine,” Tebbetts says. “They not only want a good wine and a relationship, but they also need to have quick response.” Buffington calls the wine distrib-
utors he works with at the popular North Main community bar “unsung heroes,” qualifying that “hero” might be too strong of a word, but without them wine wouldn’t get on shelves and in glasses. “Distributors are the nuts and bolts of the beverage industry,” Buffington says. And Tebbetts, a longtime Community Tap supporter, has kicked the distribution game up a notch in terms of locale, leading to quicker response time.
Where to find Mission Grape’s wines AND WHAT BOTTLES TO BUY
ISSUE
THE COMMUNITY TAP n Ti Amo by Monte Bernardi Italy. 1 liter organic Italian red blend and under $20 n Lise Jouset: (French) Exile Rose Pet-Nat. Very popular bubbles, just slightly above $20 n Anne Pichon: (French) Grenache Noir. Juicy red with nice fruit and under $20 n Anne Pichon: (French) Vermentino. Crisp and refreshing and under $20 n Domaine Jean Fournier: (French) Burgundy Pinot. $35 and drinks like a $60 bottle
HUSK n Cerbaiona Rosso di Montalcino (Italy) Cerbaiona is a “Unicorn” wine producer of Brunello and served by the glass. Very affordable for one of the hardest wines to find in the U.S.
JIANNA n La Palazzetta, Rosso di Montalcino. Italian red with a lot of red fruit and very affordable
LARKIN’S ON THE RIVER n Domaine Fichet, (French) Burgundy white n Chateau Bonhoste, (French) Bordeaux rouge n Both are being served by the glass
ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS n TR Tasting Room n WineXpress in Five Forks
FOOD& BEVERAGE
n The Chocolate Moose n Sushi Go n The Lazy Goat
Matt Tebbetts
n D’allesandro’s Pizza n Bouharoun’s Fine Wines & Spirits
Founder of Mission Grape
Local and regional distributors work with importers and then sell bottles or cases to restaurants and retail outlets. In South Carolina, distributors are most often based in Charleston, but with Greenville’s growing restaurant scene and expanding palate for a wider variety of wine, there is a need for a local distributor, Tebbetts says. After years of appreciating wine more seriously than the average imbiber and multiple conversations with a couple of interested friends, one of whom had started a similar business in Colorado seven to eight years ago, Tebbetts acted on those casual talks in 2017 and formed an LLC. The goal: “Doing something a little bit different. Not just bringing wine to market but developing relationships and working with certain producers that we thought would work in Greenville,” he says. Tebbetts then partnered with importer T. Edward Wines in New York City. Through their relationships, he has traveled to France and Italy to meet producers to learn about and select the wines he includes in the Mission Grape portfolio, which is kept strategically small and includes bottles in the $40-50 range to remain accessible. The vice president of marketing for Greenville Federal Credit Union, Tebbetts continues his fulltime day job while hustling for Mission Grape, arriving at the warehouse by 6 a.m. most mornings before work and running around after hours delivering wine to his accounts. Mission Grape has recently expanded to add both full-time warehouse and delivery employees and is looking to hire its first sales reps. “We’re growing much quicker than expected,” Tebbetts says. 11.21.2018 | upstatebusinessjournal.com
15
INNOVATE |
MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUP TORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE
Oscar Betancourt & Miguel Cardín Rodriguez Photos by Jason Massey
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Mexican Snacks Producer Moves First U.S. Plant to the Upstate NEIL COTIAUX | CONTRIBUTOR
Century-old Cardín Foods Inc. almost didn’t set up shop in the Upstate. Last year, the 106-year-old family business based in the Yucatan city of Mérida began pushing product out the door at its first U.S. facility in Charlotte, North Carolina. But a surprise from the company’s landlord changed everything. “It was a mistake,” said Oscar Betancourt, Cardín Foods’ U.S. CEO. “We thought we had an agreement with the landlord that he would give us a long-term lease, but he decided to sell the property.” With orders mounting, Betancourt started exploring
16
UBJ | 11.21.2018
the market for an alternative food-grade facility, a search that eventually led him to Spartanburg County. In the end, he worked with a four-person team from Lyons Industrial Properties – founder Bobby Lyons, Adam Padgett, Dillon Swayngim, and Jordan Skellie – and found a lease-toown 48,000-square-foot property in Orchard Business Park once occupied by Spartan Foods of America. That company, which specialized in pizza crusts, was acquired by B&G Foods Inc. in 2015. In Mexico, Cardín Foods employs more than 500 workers engaged in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of snack foods,
pork rinds, peanuts, salsa, and candies for sale in-country. The facility in Spartanburg County will focus on private-label potato chips, with production scheduled to begin in late November, so product will again find its way onto shelves at supermarkets and convenience stores in the New York City area, Betancourt said. The company, which holds a kosher certification, is also a supplier for Groucho’s, the Columbia-based delicatessen chain with franchises throughout the Carolinas. “Potato chips continue to be the most popular savory-snack category in the U.S.,” said Elizabeth Avery, president and
MOVERS, SHAKERS AND DISRUP TORS SHAPING OUR FUTURE
CEO of SNAC International, a snack food association, with sales reaching more than $5.8 billion for the year ending June 10, according to market research company IRI. Led by millennials and Generation Z-ers, “Consumers are snacking more frequently than ever before,” Avery added. In addition to domestic distribution, Cardín Foods’ new Upstate operation will ship potato chips to Mexico. Delivery to the port of Panama City, Florida, will be done by truck, with bags of chips arriving at the home port used by the company. Production of a second U.S. wholesale item, tortilla chips, is planned for late 2019, and the Spartanburg operation already has a buyer in metro New York. In the Big Apple and elsewhere, the market for tortilla chips is “huge,” Betancourt said. Combined tortilla/tostada chip sales in the U.S. during the last three years averaged 3.2 percent, according to IRI.
“Tortilla chips are a great example of a traditional snack that has benefited from a lot of innovation, with new flavors and healthy inclusions such as ancient grains,” said Avery. Further diversifying its line, Cardín Foods expects to market a no-salt, flavored potato chip that it has developed for health-conscious consumers. “And that’s a market that’s not a bit competitive, so we know we can go to that market and grow faster,” Betancourt said. The company is now wrapping up its hiring of two dozen workers who will take in raw potatoes and, with the help of equipment, clean and peel them, discard spuds that don’t make the grade, slice them, remove their starch content, place the product in a fryer, season it, and then pass it along to a machine that bags chips at 100 packages per minute. Betancourt, who once worked for Frito-Lay, is one of only two corporate directors of Cardín Foods
| INNOVATE
Photo by Jason Massey who is not a member of the family that founded the eponymous company in 1912. In Mérida, the man at the top is Miguel Cardín Rodriguez, the company’s owner, chairman, and CEO, who runs the business along with his sons and nephews. “We are going to increase our business here for a long time,” Cardín said as he surveyed the Spartanburg facility in October. “Our strategy never was to grow
the business to support Mexico,” he said. “We have an American business, American company, and we will grow here in America.” As Cardín Foods continues ramping up in the Upstate, Betancourt has his hands full, doing business three weeks a month in this country and one week a month in Mexico and finding time to spend with his wife and children there. Eventually, he said, he hopes to bring his family here.
Delta Dental of South Carolina Small business. Big benefits. We know you wear a lot of hats as a small business owner, including benefits administrator and human resources executive. But choosing and administering dental benefits shouldn’t be your full-time job. We’re here to make dental plans hassle-free so you can focus on what really matters to you—your business, your customers and your employees. Offering a dental plan is a great way for small business owners like you to attract and retain top talent and stand out from the competition.
For more information on how Delta Dental can benefit you and your employees, visit SmallBusiness.DeltaDentalSC.com or contact your broker or insurance professional.
11.21.2018 | upstatebusinessjournal.com
17
ON THE MOVE |
PLAY-BY-PLAY OF UPSTATE CAREERS
HIRED
HIRED
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT. NATIONAL FOOTPRINT. We evolve to meet our clients’ needs. Our merger with Smith Moore Leatherwood adds six offices in the Southeast and grows Fox Rothschild to more than 900 lawyers.
ELLIS BURNETT
LUCAS BLACK
We’re always looking for bright, creative
has joined Clemson University as the director of Experience Clemson on Main Street in the ONE building. With experience in hospitality and event management, Burnett will continue to transform the space into a welcome center and event venue.
has been hired as International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) marketing coordinator at Jackson Marketing, Motorsports & Events. Black will be responsible for marketing and execution of client activation programs at IMSA events across the country.
attorneys who know how to solve problems and deliver results. Better lawyers. Happy clients. We like the sound of that.
AWARDED
PROMOTED
900 attorneys | 27 U.S. offices
ELIZABETH DAVIS
LESLIE ERIKSSON
has been recognized by the National Society of Experiential Education as the 2018 recipient of the William M. Burke Presidential Award for excellence in experiential education. Davis is the president of Furman University.
has been promoted from digital media planner to digital strategist at Infinity Marketing. In her previous role, Eriksson specialized in producing campaign plans and strategies for clients. She earned her degree in marketing and economics as a double major at Clemson University.
HIRED
Downtown Greenville
Main St. from Augusta St. to North St.
18
UBJ | 11.21.2018
HIRED
KRIT HUTCHINS
DAVID MERHIB
has been hired as creative director at Crawford Strategy. In her new role, Hutchins leads the agency’s creative team to develop and implement innovative ideas. She brings more than 20 years of industry experience.
has been named the president and CEO of the Greater Greer Chamber of Commerce. Merhib was the president and CEO of the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce in Brookings, South Dakota for the last four years.
| ROUND UP
BRIEFS, TIDBITS, BLIPS, DATA & MORE
UP NEXT DEC. 7
FINANCE ISSUE UBJ PUBLISHER
Mark B. Johnston mjohnston@communityjournals.com
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
DEC. 21
DESIGN ISSUE
Susan Schwartzkopf susans@communityjournals.com
EDITOR
Claire Billingsley
COPY EDITOR Rebecca Strelow
Got any thoughts? Care to contribute? Let us know at upstatebusinessjournal.com/submit.
STAFF WRITERS
Ariel Gilreath, Cindy Landrum, Andrew Moore, Sara Pearce, Ariel Turner
MARKETING & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR OF SALES
Earn your Master of Business Administration degree in a program created specifically for active professionals. Offered fully online, completed in less than a year, and competitively priced under $20k, the 10-Month MBA at Gardner-Webb University is designed to be completed at the speed of life.
EVENTS: Submit event information for consideration to events@ upstatebusinessjournal.com
Emily Yepes
MANAGERS OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Ed Ibarra | Donna Johnston
IN THIS WEEK’S ISSUE OF UBJ? WANT A COPY FOR YOUR LOBBY?
The 10-Month MBA will strengthen your leadership skills and increase your knowledge in a wide range of key business functions.
MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES
Heather Propp, Meredith Rice, Caroline Spivey, Liz Tew
1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
UBJ milestone
UBJ milestone
CLIENT SERVICES
jackson Marketing Group’s 25 Years 1988 Jackson Dawson opens in Greenville at Downtown Airport
1988
Anita Harley | Rosie Peck
>>
Chairman larry Jackson, Jackson marketing Group. Photos by Greg Beckner / Staff
ART & PRODUCTION VISUAL DIRECTOR
1997 Jackson Dawson launches motorsports Division 1993
1990 Jackson Dawson acquires therapon marketing Group and moves to Piedmont office Center on Villa.
Jackson Marketing Group celebrates 25 years By sherry Jackson | staff | sjackson@communityjournals.com
Solve. Serve. Grow. Those three words summarize Jackson Marketing Group’s guiding principles, and according to owner Larry Jackson, form the motivation that has kept the firm thriving for the past 25 years.
Jackson graduated from Bob Jones University with a degree in video and film production and started his 41-year career in the communications industry with the U.S. Army’s Public Information Office. He served during
Vietnam, where he said he was “luckily” stationed in the middle of Texas at Fort Hood. He left the service and went to work in public affairs and motorsports at Ford Motor Company in Detroit. After a stint at Bell and Howell, where he was responsible for managing Ford’s dealer marketing and training, the entrepreneurial bug hit and he co-founded Jackson-Dawson Marketing Communications, a company specializing in dealer training and product launches for the auto industry in 1980. In 1987, Jackson wanted to move back south and thought Greenville would be a good fit. An avid pilot, he
learned of an opportunity to purchase Cornerstone Aviation, a fixed base operation (FBO) that served as a service station for the Greenville Downtown Airport, providing fuel, maintenance and storage. In fact, when he started the Greenville office of what is now Jackson Marketing Group (JMG) in 1988, the offices were housed on the second floor in an airport hangar. “Clients would get distracted by the airplanes in the hangars and we’d have to corral them to get back upstairs to the meeting,” Jackson said. Jackson sold the FBO in 1993, but says it was a great way to get to know Greenville’s fathers and leaders
>>
with a majority of them utilizing the general aviation airport as a “corporate gateway to the city.” In 1997, Jackson and his son, Darrell, launched Jackson Motorsports Group. The new division was designed to sell race tires and go to racetracks to sell and mount the tires. Darrell Jackson now serves as president of the motorsports group and Larry Jackson has two other children and a son-in-law who work there. Jackson said all his children started at the bottom and “earned their way up.” Jackson kept the Jackson-Dawson branches in Detroit and others in Los Angeles and New York until he sold his portion of that partnership in 2009 as part of his estate planning. The company now operates a small office in Charlotte, but its main headquarters are in Greenville in a large office space off Woodruff Road, complete with a vision gallery that displays local artwork and an auditorium Jackson makes available for non-profit use. The Motorsports Group is housed in an additional 26,000 square feet building just down the street, and the agency is currently looking for another 20,000 square feet. Jackson said JMG has expanded into other verticals such as financial, healthcare, manufacturing and pro-bono work, but still has a strong focus on the auto industry and transportation. It’s
2003 motorsports Division acquires an additional 26,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space
1998 1998 Jackson Dawson moves to task industrial Court
also one of the few marketing companies in South Carolina to handle all aspects of a project in-house, with four suites handling video production, copywriting, media and research and web design. Clients include heavyweights such as BMW, Bob Jones University, the Peace Center, Michelin and Sage Automotive. Recent projects have included an interactive mobile application for Milliken’s arboretum and 600-acre Spartanburg campus and a marketing campaign for the 2013 Big League World Series. “In my opinion, our greatest single achievement is the longevity of our client relationships,” said Darrell Jackson. “Our first client from back in 1988 is still a client today. I can count on one hand the number of clients who have gone elsewhere in the past decade.” Larry Jackson says his Christian faith and belief in service to others, coupled with business values rooted in solving clients’ problems, have kept
2009 Jackson Dawson changes name to Jackson marketing Group when larry sells his partnership in Detroit and lA 2003
2009-2012 Jackson marketing Group named a top BtoB agency by BtoB magazine 4 years running
him going and growing his business over the years. He is passionate about giving back and outreach to non-profits. The company was recently awarded the Community Foundation Spirit Award. The company reaffirmed its commitment to serving the community last week by celebrating its 25th anniversary with a birthday party and a 25-hour Serve-A-Thon partnership with Hands on Greenville and Habitat for Humanity. JMG’s 103 full-time employees worked in shifts around the clock on October 22 and 23 to help construct a house for a deserving family. As Jackson inches towards retirement, he says he hasn’t quite figured out his succession plan yet, but sees the companies staying under the same umbrella. He wants to continue to strategically grow the business. “From the beginning, my father has taught me that this business is all about our people – both our clients and our associates,” said his son, Darrell. “We have created a focus and a culture that strives to solve problems, serve people and grow careers.” Darrell Jackson said he wants to “continue helping lead a culture where we solve, serve and grow. If we are successful, we will continue to grow towards our ultimate goal of becoming the leading integrated marketing communications brand in the Southeast.”
2011 Jackson marketing Group/Jackson motorsports Group employee base reaches 100 people
Fast, affordable, and worldclass the Gardner-Webb University 10-Month MBA will ignite your career at the speed of life.
2008 2012 Jackson marketing Group recognized by Community Foundation with Creative spirit Award
pro-bono/non-proFit Clients American Red Cross of Western Carolinas Metropolitan Arts Council Artisphere Big League World Series The Wilds Advance SC South Carolina Charities, Inc. Aloft Hidden Treasure Christian School
CoMMUnitY inVolVeMent & boarD positions lArry JACkson (ChAirmAn): Bob Jones University Board chairman, The Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center board member, Gospel Fellowship Association board member, Past Greenville Area Development Corporation board member, Past Chamber of Commerce Headquarters Recruiting Committee member, Past Greenville Tech Foundation board member David Jones (Vice President Client services, Chief marketing officer): Hands on Greenville board chairman mike Zeller (Vice President, Brand marketing): Artisphere Board, Metropolitan Arts Council Board, American Red Cross Board, Greenville Tech Foundation Board, South Carolina Chamber Board eric Jackson (Jackson motorsports Group sales specialist): Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club Advisory Board
November 1, 2013 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal 21
20 Upstate bUsiness joUrnal November 1, 2013
AS SEEN IN
NOVEMBER 1, 2013
Will Crooks
LAYOUT
Stephanie Orr
ADVERTISING DESIGN
Michael Allen | Amanda Walker
VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS
DARCY CRAVEN, ‘07
Order a reprint today, PDFs available for $25. For more information, contact Anita Harley 864.679.1205 or aharley@ communityjournals.com
Holly Hardin
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
FATHER
Kristi Fortner
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE STORY IDEAS:
upstatebusinessjournal.com/submit
publishers of
EVENTS:
events@upstatebusinessjournal.com
NEW HIRES, PROMOTIONS, AND AWARDS:
onthemove@upstatebusinessjournal. com UBJ welcomes expert commentary from business leaders on timely news topics related to their specialties. Guest columns run 500 words. Contact the editor at editor@communityjournals.com to submit an article for consideration.
Circulation Audit by
581 Perry Avenue, Greenville, SC 29611 864-679-1200 | communityjournals.com For subscriptions, call 864-679-1240 or visit UpstateBusinessJournal.com Copyright ©2018 BY COMMUNITY JOURNALS LLC. All rights reserved. Upstate Business Journal is published biweekly by Community Journals LLC. 581 Perry Ave., Greenville, South Carolina, 29611. Upstate Business Journal is a free publication. Annual subscriptions (26 issues) can be purchased for $50. Postmaster: Send address changes to Upstate Business, P581 Perry Ave., Greenville, South Carolina, 29611. Printed in the USA.
gardner-webb.edu/mba10
11.21.2018 | upstatebusinessjournal.com 10MBA-Ad1-Print-UBJ-DC-v1.indd 1
19
11/5/18 1:55 PM