Moving is hard. So when Harrisburg’s Brother and Sister Food Service moved to the area from Bayone, New Jersey in 2001, they knew it would be a while before they moved again. Nine years later and the meat wholesaler has begun to outgrow its current digs. As any apartment dweller will tell you, lack of storage space is a huge problem and the last thing the company wants to do is leave Harrisburg. So the company is primed for a $700,000 expansion to add warehouse space, expand the packing floor and add an upstairs. But before the building can begin, the business needs to raise a bit more capital. Moving may be hard but renovation is expensive.
Just because B&S doesn’t have an extra $700,000 laying around doesn’t mean bottom lines are struggling. Quite the opposite, in fact. With orders streaming in and storage space filling up fast, President Aziz Sahovic needed a short-term solution while he puts his expansion loan together. It must have seemed like fate when an industrial building just a few plots over came up for sale earlier this year. This week, Brother and Sister Food Service secured a $190,000 loan from the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and CREDC, which helped them purchase the warehouse space while the company continues to expand its canning and dried meat operations and saves for the great expansion.
“Every year since 2002, I have grown about 20-25 percent,” says Sahovic. “Even with this recession, this year, we have grown by 40 percent. With this new space, I think I have the opportunity to grow even more.”
The Harrisburg Regional Chamber and CREDC agrees. Through a partnership with M&T Bank, the chamber’s Small Business First loan program financed the total project cost of $422,180. The project is expected to add four jobs and keep Mr. Sahovic in Harrisburg for years to come. And Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson believes this is exactly why Brother and Sister were the right company for this loan.
“Small business is the backbone of the economy and of Pennsylvania’s capital city,” says Thompson. “By helping now, we hope to help make this a bigger business with future employment opportunities for more of our citizens.”
Source: Aziz Sahovic, Brother and Sister Food Service
Writer: John Steele