The county’s 50 largest minority-owned businesses saw a modest pullback in sales last year.
For 2008, sales from the group were nearly $9 billion, down about 6% from the previous year as the economy began to weaken, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
This is a sharp change from 2008’s list when the group posted an overall 29% jump to $9.6 billion in 2007 sales as they benefited from a stronger economy. For 2006 they grew 15%.
The declining economy didn’t hit all of the companies on the list as 15 posted gains. Thirteen companies saw declines and 22 were Business Journal estimates.
The local workforce from the group decreased by about 9% to 8,188. Companywide, employee count shrunk by nearly 8% to 17,784.
Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co. posted the largest decrease in sales in terms of dollar amount with an 11% drop to $4 billion.
As the largest minority-owned company here, the computer memory products maker accounts for about 45% of the list’s revenue.
Without it, the remaining 49 companies on the list would have had a revenue decline of a little more than 2% at $5 billion.
David Sun, who is Taiwanese, and John Tu, who is Chinese, own Kingston, which buys memory chips and assembles them onto circuit boards or in cards for computers.
Although for 2008 the company reported a record 41% increase in shipments from the previous year, it succumbed to lower prices on its products amid falling memory chip prices.
A year earlier, Kingston saw a 22% rise in sales and accounted for about half of all sales on the list.
The company cut its local workforce by 50 to 850. Companywide its workforce stayed steady at 4,000.
The minority-owned list includes OC-based companies that are at least 51% owned by Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians and American Indians. In general, we follow federal guidelines on minorities, which exclude Arabs, Iranians, Armenians and others.
Another Taiwanese immigrant runs the No. 2 company on the list.
William Wang heads Irvine-based Vizio Inc., which saw sales of its flat screen TVs about flat last year at $2 billion.
The company that designs and markets flat TVs saw rapid growth in recent years as it competed against major names in the industry with its lower-priced offerings.
For 2007, it posted a 181% rise in sales from the previous year despite losing market share to other brands that lowered their
prices.
TV sales have sagged across the industry, as consumers stay defensive in a weak economy.
Vizio’s all-local workforce increased by about 18% to 139 workers.
Technology companies faired better than tourism-related businesses, as No. 3 Tarsadia Hotels in Newport Beach was estimated at a 20% drop in revenue to $400 million.
Its local worker count was also estimated down 20% to 800 and its total count was estimated down 19% to 1,625.
Future plans for the hotelier founded by Indian B.U. Patel include two Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. projects in Anaheim.
Big Gainers
The largest percentage gainer for sales was No. 11 Westminster-based Carrillo Business Technologies Inc., which grew revenue more than 83% to about $84 million.
The technology consultant to aerospace companies saw a boost from sales to a single customer that it wouldn’t name. It also added some customers and products.
But reduced budgets from companies have also hindered it recently, the company said.
Carrillo gained one employee for a local total of 15. Its total employee count is 19.
Another big gainer was No. 5 Tawa Supermarket Inc., a Buena Park-based grocer that operates under the name 99 Ranch Market. It saw a nearly 22% jump in revenue to $290 million.
The company opened two stores outside the county last year and has plans to open more this year.
Roger H. Chen opened the chain’s first store in Little Saigon in 1984. It has since grown to 28 stores, marketing mostly to Asians.
Ten employees were added locally, bringing its total to 420; companywide, it increased its workers 61% to 1,800.
No. 9 Pacific Rim Capital Inc. in Aliso Viejo brought its revenue up more than 30% to $134 million.
The company, which does equipment leasing for businesses, was cofounded by African-American Marc Mills, who is president.
Its workforce held steady at 40.
No. 14 APR Consulting Inc. in Irvine had a 21% revenue gain to $59.8 million, as newly recruited salespeople helped boost its business of helping companies find IT, technical and clerical workers.
“We were lucky enough to be in industries that didn’t fall apart,” said Manager of Business Development Aaron Stone, whose Philippines-born stepmother Linda Stone founded the business.
Its total worker count was off 10 to 660 as its local count held at 23.
No. 18 Dr. Fresh Inc. in Buena Park had a nearly 23% gain in sales of its dental products to $43 million. Little changes were made to its local workforce, which held at 65.
No. 24 Alar Staffing Corp. in Santa Ana grew revenue by more than 11%. It added a couple workers for a total of 21.
The staffing company and consultant to manufacturers started by Mexico-born Patricia Cinkle said it saw more demand for its services as businesses looked to save money.
Feeling the Economy
No. 17 AlPunto Advertising Inc. in Tustin saw an 8% drop in revenue to $45 million. It cut about a quarter of its workforce to 37 as the industry suffered from fewer ad dollars being spent.
Santa Ana-based Wahoo’s Fish Taco saw sales at its Mexican food restaurants down about nearly 9%, as it fell two spots to No. 23.
Last year it added about 15 jobs locally to 370.
This was a stark change from 2007, when it grew sales 44% by opening restaurants and added 190 jobs.
Off the list for next year will be No. 24 Garden Grove-based car dealer Union Dodge Inc., which closed this month. n
