Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
When Ernst & Young recently announced their Indiana 2001 Entrepreneur of the Year awards, Warsaw and Kosciusko County were well-represented. Out of only 18 winners statewide, four were from Kosciusko County. The other 14 winners were in larger metropolitan areas throughout the state.
The Lifetime Achievement winner was Charles E. Bertsch, Bertsch Vending Co., Warsaw. Bertsch was a pioneer in the vending machine business, having started Bertsch Vending in 1948 when vending machines were a rarity.
In the early 1960s, Bertsch was one of the first to introduce hot food in vending machines. The company has now grown to 140 vehicles and 375 employees serving 6,000 vending machines in Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. Company revenues in 2001 are projected to be about $38 million, 8 percent growth over 2000.
Bertsch's philosophy is based on two theories: that you can't do it alone and that it takes more than normal working hours. "You can't do it by yourself, you need help from somebody," he said. In his case, he received special help from a banker and a minister. "To succeed, you can't do it in 40 hours a week," he continued. "You have to be willing to commit yourself to the time and effort required to be successful."
One of the two retail business winners was Bart M. Churchward, Bart's Car Store, with locations in Warsaw, Columbia City, Roanoke, Anderson, South Bend, Larwill and Auburn. Churchward started the business in 1986 with a single Bart's Car Store in Warsaw. Bart's Car Store, with headquarters in Columbia City, expects an increase in sales of about $6 million over last year.
One of the keys to his success is a simple system that empowers salespeople to manage their own sales. This makes it possible for a customer to buy a car within an hour.
Of the four manufacturing winners, two were in Kosciusko County - Terry L. Tucker, Maple Leaf Farms, Milford, and Jim Tranter, Tranter Graphics, Syracuse.
Maple Leaf Farms is the world's premier producer of white Pekin duckling. The business, which is primarily family-owned, was started in 1958 by Tucker's father-in-law, Donald Wentzel. Tucker moved into the top spot in 1968.
With operations in Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and California, Maple Leaf expects to produce and market about 13 million ducks this year. They employ about 1,200 people and expect sales of $150 million this year, up 10 percent from 2000.
In Tucker's acceptance speech, he quickly acknowledged his great employees and family as being the solid foundation that Maple Leaf's success was built upon.
The other manufacturing winner, Tranter Graphics, specializes in paper and plastic food service products. The company's goods are distributed through 3,200 promotional distributors with approximately 20,000 salespeople in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Five new distributors were recently added in Great Britain. These distributors are not dedicated to selling only Tranter products but are required not to sell directly competitive products.
Tranter said he found out early on that salespeople aren't necessarily well-educated in the company they represent or its products. He credits a major portion of his success to training. "We provide sales seminars for 200-250 salespeople at a time throughout the U.S.," Tranter said. "Although we don't directly manage these salespeople, the seminars we provide have built a solid base of well-trained, knowledgeable and professional salespeople who represent our company and its products to our customers."
This approach was new to distributor sales forces when Tranter started the seminars 15 years ago. "Training of this type is now common practice throughout the industry," he said.
Sales in 2000 were approximately $6.9 million. Sales for 2001 are projected to be about $7.2 million. The company employs 85 people.
