The 50 largest minority-owned businesses in Orange County posted a healthy gain in sales last year, led by the group’s dominant company, Kingston Technology Co.
Sales at the companies grew 15% to $5.6 billion in 2005 versus a year ago, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
No. 1 Kingston accounted for more than half the revenue on the list. The Fountain Valley-based memory products maker saw 2005 sales jump 25% to $3 billion.
Taking Kingston out, the other companies recorded a 6% gain in sales.
This list is among the harder ones to compile. Nearly all of the businesses are privately held. Revenue figures for 19 companies are Business Journal estimates.
As such, the list is as intriguing for who’s on it as it is for the trends it reveals. The list includes a diverse group of businesses, from ethnic supermarket chains and circuit board makers to an auto dealer and an advertising agency.
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Keeping tabs on minority-owned businesses is an inexact science. Many minority companies are small and the ethnicity of ownership isn’t always apparent. Some would rather not be categorized as minority owned. The Business Journal’s list includes OC-based companies that are majority owned by Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians, among others.
This year’s crop of companies employ 9,199 people locally, up 1% from a year earlier. Companywide, the businesses employ 15,455 people, up 6% from a year ago.
Hispanic-owned businesses are prominent. More than half of the companies, 28, are partially or wholly owned by Hispanics.
Asian-owned companies are next at 20. There are four companies owned by African-Americans.
No. 2 Anaheim-based Northgate Gonzalez Supermarkets had an estimated $300 million in sales last year. Northgate Gonzalez, OC’s largest Hispanic grocer, recently opened its first San Diego store, the company’s 22nd.
No. 3 Tawa Supermarket Inc. had $210 million in revenue in 2005, up 2% from a year earlier. The Buena Park-based operator of 99 Ranch Market Asian grocery stores recently leased more than 20,000 square feet of industrial space in Buena Park.
Tarsadia Hotels Inc., with an estimated $200 million in revenue in 2005, came in tied at No. 4 with Family Automotive Group. Newport Beach-based Tarsadia owns or runs 17 hotels with roughly 5,000 rooms in OC, Ontario, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Denver.
Tarsadia was founded by B.U. Patel, a native of India who launched the business in 1976 with the buy of a 20-room motel in Anaheim.
San Juan Capistrano-based Family Automotive Group’s estimated revenue was unchanged from the previous year. The group, majority owned by African-American Ray Dixon, runs Honda and Toyota dealerships in South County.
The list,always a work in progress,counts nine newcomers.
The largest to debut was No. 9 Award-Superstars Inc. in Rancho Santa Margarita. The Hispanic-owned company reported $101 million in revenue last year.
Award-Superstars owns two Century 21 franchises, among other real estate-related assets. It came together following a 2004 combination of two of the largest Century 21 franchises in the nation. The franchises have a combined 20 sales offices and 1,500 agents in OC, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said spokesman Dale Becker.
Demolition and engineering services provider CST Environmental Inc. of Brea debuted at No. 10 with $86.6 million in revenue through June 2005, up 50% from a year ago.
In recent years the company’s done everything from hazardous waste remediation at a B-2 Stealth Bomber plant owned by Northrop Grumman Corp. in Pico Rivera to demolition of the Hughes Aircraft Co. complex in Fullerton in the 1990s, paving the way for Amerige Heights.
Companies dropping from the list included last year’s No. 7 United PanAm Financial Corp., a Newport Beach-based auto lender.
Los Angeles financier Guillermo “Bill” Bron owned 70% of United PanAm a year ago. But in December, he announced plans to sell a huge stake in the company.
Anaheim-based Pacific Islandia California Inc., last year’s No. 32, slipped into bankruptcy in early 2003 following a dispute with its lender. A Tokyo-based unit of Ken Corp. bought Pacific Islandia’s Sheraton Anaheim last year.
Two other companies were dropped from the list: No. 40 Westminster-based grocery chain Vanco Trading Inc. and No. 17 Irvine-based Capri Capital Advisors LLC, which was sold.
Several companies on the list reported higher 2005 revenue.
No. 6 Angels Baseball LLC saw a 27% jump in revenue to $180 million in 2005. That was enough to move Angels Baseball up two spots on the list.
Arturo “Arte” Moreno, a fourth-generation Mexican-American from Arizona, owns the company, which runs the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
The biggest percentage gainer was No. 31 R.A. Duran Construction Corp., which reported revenue of $18 million, up 57%. The Yorba Linda-based general contractor moved up seven spots on the list.
Another large gainer was No. 20 Irvine-based Ortiz Enterprises Inc., which saw $36.4 million in 2005 revenue, up 39%.
Last year, budget cuts from the California Department of Transportation hit Ortiz, a Hispanic-owned public works contractor. It replaced that business with two major jobs at the Port of Long Beach.
