Download the 2011 OC’s LARGEST WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES list (pdf)
The 40 largest women-owned businesses in Orange County combined for a slight sales gain in 2010 after two straight years of revenue declines.
Sales rose 2% to $2.2 billion last year, according to this week’s Business Journal list. The gain marked a turnaround from dips of 10% in 2009 and 3% in 2008.
The list is a mix of companies ranging from advertising and employment agencies to a seller of exotic fruits and vegetables, a maker of pool and spa equipment and an owner of a luxury Newport Beach resort.
Eleven companies saw sales increases. Nine saw drops. One was flat. Nineteen were Business Journal estimates.
Local employment at the companies was up by 1% to 3,324 people.
Twelve companies increased local employee counts, while eight cut workers. Five were flat. Fifteen companies did not provide information on employee numbers.
Companywide employment was up about 2% to 19,366 workers.
Irvine’s In-N-Out Burgers Inc. tops the list with $475 million in 2010 revenue, according to Business Journal estimates, more than twice the sales of No. 2 Mercedes-Benz of Laguna Niguel.
In-N-Out employs an estimated 15,300 people companywide. It has about 825 workers locally, including staff at its headquarters.
The fiercely private chain declined to comment for this story.
We count In-N-Out as woman-owned based on Lynsi Martinez’s staggered inheritance of trusts that own the company.
Martinez, who is in her late 20s and is the granddaughter of the company’s late founders, now owns a third of the trusts and is set to acquire full ownership when she is 35.
The burger chain opened a handful of restaurants in 2010 and rolled out an aggressive expansion plan into Texas in a push beyond the company’s core market of California and neighboring states. The company has opened a distribution center and a handful of restaurants in Texas so far.
No. 11 Carrillo Business Technologies Inc. of Westminster saw the highest revenue increase by percentage of any company on the list.
A year ago it posted the biggest percentage drop.
The computer products reseller and service provider saw sales top $63.2 million in 2010, up 58.7% from a year earlier. Carrillo saw sales plummet 54% to $40 million the year prior as clients put off technology investments.
Last year, Carrillo outfitted a data center for a major client as part of a contract that topped $10 million. The company got help from the improving economy as companies began to update equipment in the fourth quarter.
“When the economy went bad we saw that freeze,” said Kelly Ireland, the company’s cofounder. “In 2010, especially toward the end of the year, we started to see information technology budgets open up. People had some money to spend and they were spending it.”
No. 8 Villa Ford Inc. of Orange saw a substantial revenue boost from selling more vehicles in 2010 than a year earlier. The company increased its sales nearly 30% to $75.3 million.
No. 19 Santa Ana-based Alar Staffing Corp. saw revenue of $36.5 million, up 21.7% from a year earlier.
The employment agency caters to manufacturing and distribution companies looking for low-wage workers.
President Pati Cinkle, who founded the company in 1989, said Alar has gained market share in the downturn because of the staffing agency’s tough screening system.
She said the industry is lax on screenings, causing problems once employers bring on workers.
“They see it causing problems on the back end,” said Cinkle, a 2009 recipient of a Business Journal Excellence in Entrepreneur-ship award and 2008 Women in Business award. “They want more value for their money.”
Boulevards of Travel Inc. in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa’s BonTerra Consulting were newcomers to the list.
Boulevards of Travel debuted at No. 39 with sales of $12 million.
BonTerra, an environmental planning consultant, was No. 40 after hitting $11 million in sales, up 41% from a year earlier.
No. 35 Irvine-based PTS Staffing Solutions was the list’s biggest decliner by revenue, slumping 35% to $16.5 million.
PTS, formerly Principal Technical Services Inc., provides staffing services to the engineering industry.
Download the 2011 OC’s LARGEST WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES list (pdf)
