Featured Clients

By 2015, they had made it. The business was profitable enough to put the dairy up for sale. There was interest from many prospective buyers, but eventually, they chose to sell to long-time employees Bobby and Carrie Routh Bradds in May, 2017. Now Steve is technically retired, though he is still invested through owner financing and helps with sales and marketing. Steve says he cannot overemphasize the role that Andy and the SBTDC played in getting to this point. “I think we would have had just to stop and then all those jobs and everything we built would have been lost. It was crucial to our success.”

I met John and Chris at the start of the SBIR grant process and they helped fine tune my proposals. The first round, we received a very favorable review with the suggestion to try again. We did and we were funded… Without those grants, I don’t know where we would be today. They’ve been great to work with and they’re nice people too. John is always coming up with ideas for the next step.

Owen helped with renewing our EXIM credit insurance policy, which has supported us for more than $2M in sales. Because our work is so specialized, marketing and finding international partners is extremely difficult, but Owen has been the most beneficial in finding programs and people that are a fit for what we do.

Our international presence began the day our international business counselor called to let us know about the possibility of obtaining an NC Step grant to support travel to a trade show in Thailand. Since participating in the Thailand trade show, we’ve traveled to Hong Kong, Beijing and South America with support from grants that SBTDC helped procure. This is the perfect example of how the SBTDC counselors are constantly thinking of ways to use the resources at their fingertips to help the small businesses in their community grow and thrive.

After Owen was contacted by a CBS 60 Minutes producer seeking a Triad export business for a show, he contacted Jenny. After receiving her permission, Owen submitted a company profile and Miss Jenny’s Pickles was selected. On October 28, 2012, the show aired nationally to a potential audience of 22 million households. That exposure has resulted in increased sales and more opportunities, including a contract for a reality show and the honor of introducing Vice President Joe Biden at EX-IM Bank’s 2013 Conference.