Just about every home has a family room. For the Chews, that room was the garage.
Nearly 20 years ago, the Chews started K+D Graphics, Printing & Packaging Inc. in tiny garage in their Anaheim home. Today, the company resides in a 72,000-square-foot facility in Orange and has grown from husband and wife, Don and Kim Chew, to 40 employees.
K+D is a commercial printing and paperboard-packaging firm serving customers throughout California. Most of K+D’s clients are in Orange County. The firm’s commercial printing division produces business cards, stationery, posters and annual reports. The paperboard-packaging division produces videotape covers and boxes for computer modems.
K+D expects to generate $7 million in sales for 2000, according to Don Chew, president and chief executive. Last week, the company was the small-business winner of the Family- Owned Business Awards presented by the Orange County Business Journal and the Family Business Council at California State University, Fullerton.
“Since 1981 our family has put a lot of hard work into this firm, and we have enjoyed watching it grow,” Don Chew said. “This is a family business, and everyone works well with each other.”
Kim Chew serves as senior vice president of K+D. Son Montri is chief financial officer, while daughter Bebe is vice president of sales. Son Gus is vice president of production.
“We are very fortunate to have a family that enjoys working with each other,” said Montri Chew. “Our temperaments allow us to respect each other professionally and personally.”
The Chews are ethnic Chinese who came to the U.S. from Thailand in the early 1970s. For the first three years, the Chews ran their business exclusively from their garage on $5,000 borrowed from a friend. Even though the Chew children still were in high school then, they helped their parents after school.
“After we finished our homework, we helped,” said Montri Chew. “We enjoyed helping and never felt as if we were doing work.”
In 1984, they family moved the business to a 3,000-square-foot facility in Orange, and three years later jumped to an 11,000-square-foot facility in Irvine. From 1987 to 1995, the company saw sales grow from $1 million to $6 million, according to Don Chew. This growth led K+D to have its own facility built in Orange in 1996.
The Chews said their business has grown along with the Orange County economy and sometimes has done better. Today, technology is a driving force for the business.
“When we first started the business, a majority of our clients were in the pharmaceutical industry,” said Montri Chew. “Yet today, the Internet and computer revolution has shifted our client base to those industries.”
To serve technology clients, K+D has invested $6 million in new equipment. Don Chew said he expects the company to double sales within the next ten years, with technology leading the way.
“We built our current facility to accommodate future growth,” he said.
While most of K+D’s clients are in Orange County, the company counts customers in Los Angeles and San Diego counties. The Internet has brought in clients from as far away as San Francisco. n
