.neFileBlock {
margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
padding-bottom: 5px;
padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
font-size: 85%;
}
By Wayne Allen
On Monday, local officials, along with officials from Fluor B&W Portsmouth, attended brief ceremonies as nearly $70,000 was awarded. Grants were awarded to Patter Fam Sauces and Tri-America Contractors of Wheelersburg, to aid in expansion efforts.
Sam and Joyce Peters have owned and operated Patter Fam Sauces, since 2009.
“When we started the company, I made a Jerk Sauce that people fell in love with; people started calling me at home wanting to buy it. I started making it on my stove and the next thing I know I’m spending eight hours a day making it,” Sam Peters said.
At that point, Sam Peters said that, with a lot of encouragement from family and friends, they decided to start a small business.
“Since that time, our sauces have won over 50 national and international awards. We’ve grown very quickly because of that,” Peters said.
He said the opportunity arose to start a bottling facility, with a target towards small businesses.
“We started contacting sauce makers we know from across the county and they were asking when we would be open,” Peters said. “We have people from as far away as Kansas, Florida and New York wanting to bottle here.”
With the grant received from the Fluor B&W Portsmouth Opportunity Fund and the Joint Economic Development Initiative of Southern Ohio (JEDISO) Patter Fam Sauces was able to expand to a space that will include a bottling factory.
“We plan to use it [grant funds] to purchase a key piece of equipment for our expansion plans. In addition to allowing us to expand our market across the country, our expanded facility will fill a local need to provide local food processors with a place to manufacture their products,” Peters said.
He said once the factory us up and running it will be a, “resource local farmers can come to. At the end of harvest season, they have crops leftover. They may like to turn that into tomato sauce or other kinds of sauces. Instead of having to throw that into the compose heap. They can now bottle it and sell it at local farmers markets,” Peters said.
Peters said once the factory is up and running they expect to hire 8-12 employees who will work three 12 hours shifts Monday – Wednesday. He said one day they hope to grow to the point where they can add Thursday- Saturday shifts.
“We’re excited what the future holds for us,” Peters said.
Tri-America Contractors, Inc., 392 Keyport Rd. Wheelersburg also received a grant.
Gregory Stanley, general manager with Tri-America Contractors, said, through a released statement, the company’s grant will be used to purchase equipment to expand production facilities. “The grant will help us finish our expansion plans which will ultimately lead to more production capacity and family-supporting jobs for our community.”
According to www.triaminc.com, “Tri-America Contractors Inc., is a leading industrial contractor and pipe fabricator specializing in the petrochemical, refining, steel making, and power generating industries. Tri-America Contractors’ services range from providing a few skilled craftsman for small industrial projects to leading large multi-craft project delivering complete turnkey solutions.”
The grants are part of Fluor-B&W’s economic development initiatives of the company’s Community Commitment Plan for the four-county region (Pike, Scioto, Jackson and Ross) surrounding the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site.
For more information about Patter Fam Sauces, visit www.patterfamsauces.com.
For more information about Tri-America Contractors, visit www.triaminc.com.
To learn more about JEDISO, the Fluor-B&W Opportunity Fund, and economic development opportunities in Jackson, Pike, Ross and Scioto counties, visit www.choosesouthernohio.com.
Wayne Allen can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 1933 or on Twitter @WayneallenPDT
