Israel’s Solel Solar Systems Ltd. plans to open its U.S. headquarters in Newport Beach this year.
Solel generates more than $200 million in yearly sales building solar power plants and selling solar energy to utility companies such as San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The company also makes equipment used to build solar power plants such as mirrors and vacuum tubes.
The company employs about 300 people at its offices and factories in Israel and Spain. Its Newport Beach office should have about half a dozen employees by the end of this year, according to Kevin Swartz, president of Solel USA Inc.
The company is looking for an office and could settle on a space in the next few months, Swartz said.
Solel opted to open its U.S. headquarters in Newport Beach because it’s making a push to sell more solar power to companies in California, Arizona, Nevada and possibly New Mexico.
Newport Beach is close to San Diego and San Francisco and near major airports, which makes the city a convenient stop for Solel’s traveling executives and clients, Swartz said.
Orange County’s technology and engineering climate, educated workforce and scenery were other factors that attracted Solel, he said.
Solel got its start in 1991 by designing and building equipment for large-scale solar power plants. The company, which is privately held, has sought investors over the years including private equity firms such as London’s Ecofin Ltd., which funded Solel with $105 million in January.
Solel’s financial backing is helping it embark on large construction projects.
Earlier this month, Solel said it would spend $140 million to build a plant in Andalusia, Spain. The company also is in the early planning stages for its next big project: a $1.5 billion solar power plant in the Mojave Desert dubbed the Mojave Solar Park. Pacific Gas & Electric already has signed a 25-year contract to buy power from the plant, according to Swartz.
The Newport Beach headquarters will oversee the project, according to Swartz. The plant could take anywhere from four years to six years to complete, he said.
Local Brew
It looks like OC’s got a taste for beer.
Newport Beach-based Academy of Fine Beers LLC is among a growing number of alcohol companies to emerge from the county.
Others include Newport Beach’s Hope Wine LLC, tequila makers 4 Copas Tequila and Trago International Inc. of Newport Beach and Santa Ana’s Boz Spirits Inc., which makes fruit infused liquors and was recently acquired by Florida private equity firm Falic Group.
Academy is privately held and doesn’t disclose revenue figures.
The company makes craft beers under the Josef Bierbitzch Golden Pilsner, Wing Man American Lager, Birra Bella and Shenanigan’s Irish Red brand names.
The beer is made under contract at a brewery in El Monte and is sold through distributors to stores such as Beverages & More, Hi-Time Wine Cellars, Whole Foods and smaller, independently owned shops in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, Nebraska, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Academy is the brainchild of Joe Ryan and Ted Balis, beer enthusiasts who started developing the company as a side venture in 2000 after seeing a need for unique beers with quirky labels. Right now it’s just Ryan and Balis running the show. The company plans to bring in more employees this year to help with sales, Ryan said.
Having an unknown brand made it difficult to attract large distributors with big retail connections, according to Ryan.
“Specialty distributors are usually too small to really make a dent in sales and large distributors don’t want to spend time developing a new unknown brand,” Ryan said.
Academy owns its brands but licenses them out, which means profit margins for its beer are thin, Ryan said.
The company is trying to battle the problem by selling through more stores or taking on production itself, Ryan said.
Spa Story
Huntington Beach-based Skin Deep has survived a recession before and is gearing up for another one, according to founder Deborah Woods.
Woods started Skin Deep in 1991 fresh out of high school in a 980-square-foot space in a shopping center off Beach Boulevard and Warner Avenue.
Today the spa generates more than $1 million in yearly sales by offering facials, waxing, massages and other spa treatments at its headquarters, which has expanded to about 7,000 square feet over the years.
In today’s market, Skin Deep is betting on new services and promotions to generate sales, as many consumers are strapped for cash for luxury services.
The company recently started an in-house bonus program where employees who attract more customers than the minimum monthly requirement get to keep the extra money they bring into the spa, Woods said.
“We’re trying to motivate our employees to get out there (and) make those follow-up calls,” Woods said.
The company is also trying to carve a niche by offering unique services, Woods said.
Skin Deep recently unveiled zen water experience: a do-it-yourself mud and mineral treatment.
The company renovated about 1,000 square feet of space to look like a cave decked out with showers, steam rooms, a mudroom and a mineral bath where patrons can lather up, scrub or soak at their own pace.
The zen water experience is supposed to mimic bath houses found in Japan. It’s also targeted at people that don’t like to be touched during spa treatments, Woods said.
Building out the zen water experience section was expensive, according to Woods.
The company had planned the build out since 2005 and officially finished construction earlier this year, Woods said.
