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While the trucking industry reels from the recession and record-high unemployment numbers, one local transportation company has been on a growth trajectory.
Leonard's Express Inc. has added dozens of staffers in the last year and recently opened a $500,000, 25,000-square-foot distribution center at its Farmington location.
One of a handful of locally owned trucking companies, Leonard's Express employs 44 people at its Farmington headquarters, as well as several others at 15 locations across the country. Its affiliate, Leonard's Transportation, has roughly 90 staffers, including 50 in Farmington; another affiliate, Johnson Equipment, employs nearly 20 people here.
In all the companies employ some 115 employees locally.
Company owners Kent and Patricia Johnson started Leonard's Express in late 2001. They expect revenue of of $75 million to $90 million this year.
"I think one of the reasons we've been as successful as we have is that the majority of the stuff we handle is freight for human consumption. I would say a good 65 to 70 percent of our business is related to grocery stores," Kent Johnson noted. "Everybody has to buy groceries."
Leonard's Express has the job of middleman, connecting manufacturers and distributors with the trucks that move products to final destinations. If a truck driver from Dallas, for example, is heading toward Rochester, he might call Leonard's Express to see if there is a shipper with a load ready to haul back to his home base.
The company has some 500 customers and roughly 5,000 trucking companies and...