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SMALL BUSINESS
There's no skimping on space for Susan's Healthy Gourmet, which is looking for a bigger building.
For the past 12 years, the Irvine-based company has been making healthy refrigerated and frozen soups, sandwiches, salads and entrees out of its 4,000-square-foot kitchen.
Now with $6 million in yearly sales and 50 employees, owner Susan Johnson says it's time for the company to grow into something a little bit roomier.
Johnson said Susan's Healthy Gourmet could move into a bigger building or take on additional space at its headquarters, which rests in a nondescript business park near John Wayne Airport.
"We've got a lot of people squeezed in here. We need more room," she said.
Johnson started Susan's Healthy Gourmet in 1996 after noticing there was a void of companies that made gourmet and nutritious packaged meals.
Rather than trying to sell her food in grocery stores, which is an expensive move for startups, Johnson opted to sell her food through weekly and monthly meal plans where customers can pick and choose meals and have them delivered to their doors every week.
Unlike other weight management companies such as Carlsbad-based Jenny Craig International Inc. and New York's Weight Watchers International Inc., Susan's Healthy Gourmet first carved its niche by selling only refrigerated foods that were ready-to-eat or microwavable.
"I wanted to stress the importance of freshness," Johnson said.
But getting started wasn't easy.
The...