Success story:
Old World Spices & Seasonings Inc.
Seasoning company adds spice to nationwide food-industry customer base
John Jungk is a seasoned business veteran. His business is spices ... developing, mixing and packaging custom-tailored blends for a long list of food-industry clients.
Entering the blending and packaging plant of Old World Spices & Seasonings Inc. in Concordia, Mo., every visitor inhales the sensational aromas of a spectrum of savory seasonings.
John founded his company in 1988. But the story starts long before then.
Walter Jungk, John's father, devoted his career to the seasoning business. Walter was vice president of sales for a national custom blending and flavor house, Basic Food Materials. In the mid-'60s Walter introduced his son to the trade, assigning him the sales territory covering Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado.
John, a quick study and natural-born salesman, learned the business and established strong relationships with his customers. A few years later John started his own seasoning supply company focusing on a then-budding branch of the food-service industry — pizza.
His company succeeded so well John (and his eventual partner Walter) sold it in 1976 to Far-Mar-Co, which later became part of Farmland Industries. John remained in the industry serving five years as director of manufacturing for Far-Mar-Co, then joining Tony's Pizza to develop a seasoning plant in Kansas.
By the late-'80s John got the entrepreneurial itch again, founding Industrial Ingredients Supply, a food and spice brokerage and wholesale distributorship in Kansas City. Within two years John renewed the family tradition in the seasoning-business by hiring his daughter Amy as his first employee. Two other daughters — Beth Benteman and Laurie Corbin — eventually joined the company along with son-in-law Russ Meinhardt.
As the company grew and added employees from outside the family, John refocused the company from brokerage and distribution to product development and blending. Also the firm's seasoning market broadened from its original baking and dairy base to include meat, deli and specialty-gourmet customers. To reflect the expansion John changed the company name to Old World Spices & Seasonings in 1996.
It was also during this time of company growth that John realized he needed to broaden his business savvy. He first turned to the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, taking several of its FastTrac™ classes for entrepreneurs. Through this connection, and because of his continuing pursuit of business development, John learned about the services of the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
For several years John relied on SBTDC business specialists for counseling advice. Eventually, as part of his company's extensive research and development efforts, John and his R&D staff sought guidance from the SBTDC to apply for a federal Small Business Innovation Research grant from the USDA. To assist its application the company received a $5,000 Missouri Technology Incentive Program — MoTIP — award. The stipend financed the complex SBIR application process.
Read this complete success story with additional photos.
FastTrac NewVenture puts Missouri entrepreneurs on the path to success by turning their ideas into workable businesses
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Two young entrepreneurs are giving Ugandan women hope for the future through sandals.
Liz Forkin-Bohannon and her husband, Ben, started Sseko Designs to help these women achieve their dreams of a college education by partnering with them to make designer sandals for sale in the United States.
in the U.S.
"For a woman in Uganda, if you don't have a university degree you won't be able to have a future in a leadership position," said Forkin-Bohannon, who learned about the limited opportunities for women in Uganda when she visited the country in 2008. "We saw an opportunity where I could build a business with a really cool product and great brand that's run by the Ugandan people we are trying to help."
Sseko is off to a sound start, thanks to a program of University of Missouri Extension's Small Business and Technology Development Centers (SBTDC). Liz and Ben spent five weeks learning how to develop their idea into a workable business through the FastTrac NewVenture program. Read the complete article on Sseko Designs with video.
Tips for entrepreneurs:
Determine your competitive advantage
What is your company's competitive advantage? A competitive advantage is a unique benefit that your company offers your primary customers (i.e. target markets) that differentiates you from your competitors (i.e. fast service, high client retention, low product returns, open 24/7, high referral rate, well trained and knowledgeable employees, etc.).
A competitive advantage enables your company to create superior value for its target markets. It can also lead to higher profits. "We have the lowest price" should not be your competitive advantage. Getting into "price" wars with your competitors will only decrease your profits.
Ask yourself, who are your best customers and what are you doing to satisfy their needs? Who are your competitors and what are they doing to satisfy customers' needs?
Read the complete article on determining your competitive advantage.
State Fair Community College hosts 22nd annual Skelton Procurement Conference June 4
WARRENSBURG, Mo. - Owners of small businesses can learn how to secure government contracts and network with potential contractors at Congressman Ike Skelton's annual Procurement Conference Friday, June 4, at State Fair Community College in Sedalia.
Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. on the lower level of the Fred E. Davis Multipurpose Center, 3201 W. 16th St. Skelton will open the conference with remarks at 8:45 a.m., and Gary Walker of Magic Touch and Bullseye International will speak at 9 a.m. on successful government contracting. Rear Adm. David F. Baucom, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy, will speak on government procurement at 9:15 a.m.
The featured luncheon speaker for the conference is the Hon. John McHugh, secretary of the U.S. Army. McHugh has responsibility for all matters relating to the Army, including manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial matters. He is responsible for the Army's annual budget of more than $200 billion, and leads a work force of more than 1.1 million active duty, Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers and nearly 500,000 civilian and contract employees.
Afternoon breakout sessions include topics such as "Choosing Veterans First," subcontracting opportunities with prime contractors, funding for technology commercialization, SBA contracting programs, ISO standards, selling to the government, contract pricing and estimating, base and post contracting, financing in today's economy, business marketing and green government contracts and grants.
The conference is open to business owners and interested individuals. The $50 per person fee includes lunch. Registration before May 28 is encouraged. To register, contact the Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Central Missouri at 660-543-4402, e-mail sbtdc@ucmo.edu, or online at www.ucmo.edu/sbtdc.
Technology Expo set for October in Columbia
The Missouri Technology Expo is set for Oct. 7, at the University of Missouri in Columbia. The event — sponsored by the Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers, the MU University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the MU Office of Technology Management and Industry Relations, and the MU Office of Research — will be held at the Bond Life Sciences Center on the MU campus.
More information on "Show Me: Technology Today Propelling the Innovations of Tomorrow" is available by calling 573-882-5016. Additional information about the event will be available after June 1 at muconf.missouri.edu/MTE2010.
IRS roundup:
IRS reaches out to millions of employers on benefits
of new health care tax credit
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service mailed postcards in April to more than four million small businesses and tax-exempt organizations to make them aware of the benefits of the recently enacted small business health care tax credit.
Included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approved by Congress last month and signed into law by President Obama, the credit is one of the first health care reform provisions to go into effect. The credit, which takes effect this year, is designed to encourage small employers to offer health insurance coverage for the first time or maintain coverage they already have.
"We want to make sure small employers across the nation realize that — effective this tax year — they may be eligible for a valuable new tax credit. Our postcard mailing — which is targeted at small employers — is intended to get the attention of small employers and encourage them to find out more," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. "We urge every small employer to take advantage of this credit if they qualify."
In general, the credit is available to small employers that pay at least half the cost of single coverage for their employees in 2010. The credit is specifically targeted to help small businesses and tax-exempt organizations that primarily employ low- and moderate-income workers.
For tax years 2010 to 2013, the maximum credit is 35 percent of premiums paid by eligible small business employers and 25 percent of premiums paid by eligible employers that are tax-exempt organizations. The maximum credit goes to smaller employers — those with 10 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees — paying annual average wages of $25,000 or less. Because the eligibility rules are based in part on the number of FTEs, not the number of employees, businesses that use part-time help may qualify even if they employ more than 25 individuals. The credit is completely phased out for employers that have 25 FTEs or more or that pay average wages of $50,000 per year or more.
Eligible small businesses can claim the credit as part of the general business credit starting with the 2010 income tax return they file in 2011. For tax-exempt organizations, the IRS will provide further information on how to claim the credit.
More information about the credit, including a step-by-step guide and answers to frequently asked questions, is available on the IRS Web site, IRS.gov.
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