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In 1990, the owners of Slakey Bros. discovered one of the keys to the company's future success: Share the wealth.
That was the year the company switched over to employee ownership, which gave workers a powerful incentive to make the company grow.
And it did. In the past seven years alone, the Elk Grove-based company, a wholesale distributor of heating, cooling and plumbing products, has seen its annual revenue nearly double, from $120 million to $233 million. During the past few years, growth has averaged about 7 percent.
Slakey Bros., which serves Northern California, western Nevada, Oregon and Washington, does 63 percent of its business in heating and cooling products and 37 percent in plumbing products. It employs 149 locally and 449 companywide.
Company president Frank Nisonger attributes some of the company's success to several internal factors, including improving and expanding its inventory service capability, modernizing its equipment, consolidating its sales territories and launching The Plumbery, a highend kitchen and bath appliances retail showroom...