Top 100 Leaders Still Slam-Dunk Sales

In basketball parlance, 10 percent can be the difference between winning and losing when it comes to shooting percentages. In the quick and small commercial printing arena, unlike the 10 percent growth in 2012, sales at shops reporting took a collective dive last year. Combined sales of 2014’s Top 100 small commercial printers dropped some 11 percent to just over $472 million compared to the 2013 ranking.

There are several “Most Valuable Printers” bucking the downward trend, of course. Most companies in the Top 10 had single- and double-digit percentage increases in year-over-year sales. Topping the QP list of top printers again this year was CPS Gumpert, rebranded as Ironmark, with 2013 sales of nearly $20 million. A new name came in at #2: Detroit-based Wolverine Solutions Group (WSG), a versatile print provider founded in 1978 with sales last year approaching $19 million – a 16 percent leap over its 2012 revenues, reports owner Jeff Ostenso. Nipping at WSG’s heels, with $18 million in sales, is Connolly Printing of Woburn, MA, up 8 percent over last year.

Additional highlight “footage” comes from:

Alphaprint (#6), Chuck Stempler’s Alphagraphics franchise in Seattle grew sales by almost 16 percent, to nearly $15 million.
Team Concept Printing (#9), a single-shop location in suburban Chicago, dropped down three spots but still had sales of nearly $11 million.
Jumping up to the tenth slot (from #23) is Raintree Graphics of Jacksonville, FL, which has experienced dramatic growth: sales of $10.5 million last year: an increase of more than 60 percent (see percentage growth chart).

The other 90 entrants all posted sales below the $10 million mark. John Tatham’s PIP franchise in Anchorage, Alaska (#28), featured sales of more than $5.7 million in 2013, but that number actually was down about 2.5 percent. Allen Printing in Nashville (#11) surpassed $9 million in sales last year, marking a 23 percent increase over 2012’s $7.37 million, which represented more than a 29 percent jump over 2011, when the firm came in at #30.

Sales per Employee

While total sales are telling, sales per employee is more of a clue to profitability. The vast majority of our Top 100 firms fall into the $100,000 to $200,000 per employee range. Plum Grove Printers (#41), Hoffman Estates, IL, exceeded this average, posting 2013 sales of $226,000 for each of its 20 employees. Insight Communication (#43), Bountiful, UT, enjoyed per-employee sales of $278,000 (16 employees). Some superstar performers include:

#42 Press Sure Printing, Minneapolis, has 13 employees, each of whom averaged $347,000 in sales in 2013.
#100 Five Star Printing, Denham Springs, FL, had total sales of $2.37 million but only employs three people. That comes out to a healthy $790,000 per.
#55 Allesk Enterprises, Traverse City, MI, also only has three employees. But its sales approach $4 million, translating to a whopping $1.3 million per.
Nobody got close to #3 Connolly Printing when it came to sales per its 10 employees, each whom averaged an incredible $1.8 million.

What Is a ‘Quick Printer?’

“What is the definition of a quick printer?” one owner asked via email. Once we weeded out the trade printers, in-plants, and wide-format print specialists that applied, we had our list. “We are really not a walk-up printer,” wrote Barney Smith, CEO of Smithprint in San Antonio, TX. “We are business-to-business. I started the company as a broker, [then] bought a small two-color shop. We have evolved it into four-color offset, digital, wide format, and marketing.” With 2013 revenues of $4 million, he reported, Smithprint would have made a nice addition to QP’s list. But alas, its owner couldn’t spare the time to devote to survey, he said.

While a fairly reliable barometer, this annual ranking is by no means comprehensive and is far from perfect, of course. For example, we used 2012 figures for 11 firms, including Apollo Printing & Graphics/S&S Printers on this year’s list of Quick Printing’s Top 100. The Anaheim, CA firm ranked 22nd last year with sales of $6.6 million, proudly displaying the QP seal at the bottom of its email correspondence among other places. But owner Dann Ratanjee also chose not to participate this year. “We get so many sales calls from this and our sales revenue has been the same as previous year, so basically flat,” he told me, as was the case in 2013.

Ratanjee started the business as a franchise in 1979 with only about 1,000 square feet. His brother Ken joined the business in 1984. They grew to be a top ten franchisee worldwide, becoming an independent nine years ago. The shop has grown to approximately 10,000 square feet with 22 employees.

Meanwhile, in Mission, KS, Jose Ramirez, owner of Moss Printing, wanted to complete a Top 100 survey, “but I’m only doing $250,000,” he said of the firm he purchased four years ago. Keep on plugging, Jose: We all need to start somewhere. Maybe we’ll see Moss on the list in 2016 or 2017.

Classic Plus may make the list as well. The Frederick, MD print firm is on track for 75 percent growth in 2014, reported Jamie Tremper, VP of fixed operations. Tremper said he had good intentions of filling out this year’s survey, but he ran out of time as he and his colleagues were too busy making money. But Jamie, it’ll take less than 15 minutes of your time in 2015. This year’s respondents spent an average of only 13 minutes each completing theirs.