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Chuck Banta, president and CEO of Banta Foods, shows off the company's test kitchen, where manufacturers demonstrate their products for sales representatives. The company has continued to grow despite rising costs of health care, wages and fuel.
Chuck Banta, president and CEO of Banta Foods, shows off the company's test kitchen, where manufacturers demonstrate their products for sales representatives. The company has continued to grow despite rising costs of health care, wages and fuel.

2008 Dynamic Dozen, No. 3: Banta Foods Inc.

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Banta Foods Inc. has earned another nod as one of the Ozarks’ fastest-growing companies – in spite of what President and CEO Chuck Banta calls a “tough environment” for everyone.

This is the fourth time Banta Foods has been honored among Springfield Business Journal’s Dynamic Dozen. The company also garnered positions on the list in 2007 (No. 11), 2006 (No. 7) and 2004 (No. 2).

Inflation, wages, health care and especially rising fuel costs continue to exert pressure across the industry of food service distributors, Banta said, but continued focus on efficiencies is key to Banta’s ongoing growth.

The company’s 2007 revenues were $197.6 million, up from $172.6 million in 2006 and $143.4 million in 2005.

Fuel costs remain the wild card for Banta Foods.

“It’s caused a totally different dynamics of how you look at things … because you can’t control it, and we use a lot of it,” Banta said. “You’ve just got to focus on efficiencies and pulling in your horns.”

To that end, Banta Foods established BFI Trucking in 2006, covering 600 miles in 10 states where the company routinely travels to serve its regional and national clients, which include Panera Bread and Applebee’s.

“We were just going out so far from our own distribution center, so we wanted to get a license so we were hauling for other people (and) we weren’t coming back empty,” Banta said. “We just kind of grew into (BFI Trucking). We had always done a little bit of what’s called backhauling. We just got a little more aggressive about it the last few years.”

Banta Foods also is in the midst of updating its warehousing operations from a manual count-and-entry system to a computerized method that reveals product location and amount with a simple scan.

“We’re on a major bar coding and warehousing project right now … to try to eliminate as many inefficiencies as we can,” Banta said.

The company’s sales force covers a range between 150 and 200 miles of Springfield, from Joplin and Fayetteville, Ark., to Lake Ozark, Jefferson City and Columbia.

Banta Foods traces its roots to 1895 when W.P. Stewart and W.H. Jezzard formed Stewart Produce Co. The name changed to W.H. Jezzard & Sons in 1922 when Paul and Frank Jezzard joined the company and bought out Stewart.

In 1945, Charles T. Banta, Chuck Banta’s father, married Paul Jezzard’s daughter, Margaret. Charles T. Banta bought the business in 1962; the company was named Banta Foods in 1984, and Chuck Banta bought the business five years later.

During the 1960s, Banta Foods shifted focus from retail to the food service industry, and by the 1980s was into full-line food service distribution – everything from food products and supplies to paper items and equipment.

National chains remain a growth area for Banta Foods.

“There still continues to be consolidation of more and more chain-type restaurants. They continue to grow. … It continually seems to be a trend. That’s not stopping, as you can see here in Springfield,” Banta said.

The company also works with smaller “mom-and-pop” restaurants, but the focus is a little different.

“We still do a good share of our business in that respect, but you have to consult them, help them to compete with the chain-type restaurants,” Banta said.

Providing additional services to customers while working to control costs is the company’s focus for 2008, he said. His customers are feeling the heat because raw food costs are up and disposable dollars for eating out are down, and at the same time, Banta Foods must evaluate how far it’s driving and for how much.

“They understand that, and they want to keep us well,” Banta said.[[In-content Ad]]

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