Brent Brown was seeking a second career.
A co-owner of Summer Fresh Supermarkets, Brown helped sell the 10-store family grocery business to Price Cutter in November.
“It was unexpected. Obviously, we were doing something that got the attention of a bigger regional player, Price Cutter. They saw something they liked and bought us out,” Brown said, declining to disclose the sale price.
During the last several months, he’s been winding down the Summer Fresh operations – a business that generated $60 million in annual sales – and preparing to write the next chapter to his career.
Spurred to action by an Ellen Rohr column – “
Leave last year’s accounting baggage behind,” published Dec. 10 in Springfield Business Journal – Brown said he began to chart his next course of action.
“It struck me because it was within a month of my selling, and I was going through the process of ‘I’ve done retail grocery my whole life, what’s next for me? What can I do to give back? How can I do something that I enjoy doing, and what did I learn that I can take and help others with?’” Brown said.
He soon reached out to friend and small-business owner, Lee Fraley, co-owner of Ozark-based Fraley Masonry. The two met through a mutual friend two years ago and discovered their skill sets could work together.
With Fraley, and former Summer Fresh Accounting Manager Courtney Bowman, Brown is planning to launch Bookkeeping Plus Advisors LLC on May 1.
The business is structured in three areas: bookkeeping, consulting and outsourcing. Brown said Fraley would help generate clients, focusing largely on contacts in the construction industry, while Brown and Bowman would handle day-to-day operations.
“What I bring is a network of people that I see need this bookkeeping in their life,” Fraley said. “My job is to find those people and communicate with them on my level – then get them into the office with Brent and Courtney, where they’ll handle the nuts and bolts.”
Brown, who also co-owns Bair’s All-American Sports Grill on South Kimbrough Avenue, said he’s discovered a need for bookkeeping and consulting services by restaurants and other small businesses. The company would charge a flat monthly fee for services, starting between $250 and $500.
After he was promoted to Summer Fresh president in fall 2007, Brown led an effort to bring its day-to-day accounting in-house.
“Hire people that are smarter than you, and get out of their way,” Brown said of his philosophy as it related to launching accounting services ahead of what he saw as a ramping up of competition in the local grocery market. He said he also worked with several outside individuals and firms, including Business Solutions and The Payroll Co., that helped him determine the time was right to grow, despite new competition such as Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart Stores’ Neighborhood Market concept coming to town.
He is drawing on those experiences with the plan for Bookkeeping Plus. “The idea behind it is that good business starts with good bookkeeping, first. Second, is the consulting piece. OK, you’ve got good bookkeeping, now what do you do with it?” Brown said. “The third step is the business networking, because that is really what helped me.”
The networking aspect is focused on human resources, marketing, payroll, compliance and technology services.
Bookkeeping Plus has signed on three service partners – Human Resources Advantage, The Payroll Co. and Business Solutions – to outsource tax and payroll, accounting software and information technology, or human resources.
Jeff Hunter, co-owner of the firm in Springfield, said The Payroll Co. handled Summer Fresh’s payroll processing and year-end taxes dating back to 2008, after Brown was named president. “That’s one of the reasons we’ve teamed up with Brent, because he isn’t necessarily an expert in payroll laws and taxes. He has expertise in other areas,” Hunter said.
Bookkeeping Plus operates in Kickapoo Corners on South Campbell Avenue in the office space Summer Fresh occupied for its headquarters.
