BusinessReport.com

Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the nation suggests that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.

From construction and manufacturing to IT services and business services, companies on the list enjoyed a combined revenue of $185.4 billion last year for a growth rate of 334%.

Baton Rouge is no exception. The metro area boasts 14 companies on this year’s list, and it also has more companies on the list than any other city in Louisiana, which as a state totals 35. [Metro New Orleans has 10, and Lafayette has four.]

More significant, perhaps, is with median company revenues of $18.8 million, Baton Rouge ranks third on the list of top 10 markets nationwide. That puts it ahead of cities like Houston, Cincinnati and St. Louis, and behind only Grand Rapids, Mich., and San Antonio.

Two local companies also landed on the list of the Inc. 5,000 top 100 fastest-growing companies: pipe distributor Edgen Murray, which ranks 18th with revenues of more than $900 million, and specialty construction company The Newtron Group, which ranks 94th with revenues of some $263 million. Both also rank among the top 100 fastest-growing companies by gross dollars of growth.

As in the past, the Inc. 5,000 is ranked according to percentage rev-enue growth over a three-year-period. To qualify this year, companies had to have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2004. Additionally, they had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent—not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies.

So what is it that these Capital Region companies are doing to accelerate growth? Business Report asked each of the 14 companies to single out the secret to their success in appearing on the Inc. list.

#713

Arkel International

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Construction

Founded: 1955

Growth: 479.9%

2004 revenue: $4.3 million

2007 revenue: $25.2 million

Employees: 300

What it does: An international construction company offering construction, life support and logistics services for large-scale commercial, industrial and military projects

What’s their secret? Capitalizing on experience

When Arkel International constructs a building in Iraq, it’s not the construction part of the project that makes it so difficult; it’s the logistics associated with working in a war-torn region.

But after 53 years of practice, Arkel International is good at figuring out logistics, and capitalizing on that experience is the biggest factor behind the success of this international construction firm, which has seen revenues skyrocket from $4.3 million in 2004 to more than $25 million last year.

“I’d say we figure it out better,” says Claire Major, the company’s vice president of business development. “We also have really good connections in many parts of the world.”

Those connections have been cultivated over more than five decades. They were forged by company founder Homer Knost, who began his business building sugar mills. His son, George, who is now the company’s president, has continued to build those relationships with suppliers and vendors throughout the world, especially since he redefined the company’s international work by entering Iraq in 2004.

It has made a difference. Consider that Arkel is in the construction, logistics, life support and prime power business. Relatively speaking, doing that kind of work in the U.S. would not be terribly difficult; typical projects involve building temporary or semipermanent camps.

But in a conflict or postconflict region, it’s a whole different ballgame. Sources for materials can come from numerous locations around the world, and selecting the source might depend on lead time for delivery, price, how a vendor requires payment, the reputation of these suppliers in the market, whether civil unrest or other conflict factors will play a part and cultural norms, to name a few.

“As they say in this industry, the boots on the ground have to be the best and most experienced,” Major says.

Arkel was one of the first private companies to enter Iraq, and in the last three years it has grown to service a number of the larger prime contractors and a whole raft of military operations covering life support, billeting, security, communications, power supply and maintenance and camp construction.

Closer to home, the company has been heavily involved in rebuilding temporary homes for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Company officials say it’s a top priority. But as they look to the future, they see plenty of growth potential in markets overseas.

“There is a lot of work out there in soon-to-be postwar or reconstruction Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa,” Major says. “It’s all work that is well suited to our core services and experience.”

#1,096

Edgen Murray

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Energy

Founded: 1983

Growth: 341.6%

2004 revenue: $207.8 million

2007 revenue: $917.7 million

Employees: 510

What it does: Distributes high-performance steel and alloy products for use in energy infrastructures and other industrial markets

What’s their secret? Growth by acquisition

Edgen Murray is not a name you hear much around Baton Rouge. Though it’s one of the top private companies in the area, the specialty steel pipe distributor flies conspicuously below the Capital Region’s radar, and its top executives prefer to stay behind the scenes rather than on the society pages.

But while Edgen Murray keeps a low profile in these parts, it’s not so subtle on the international scene. In recent years, the company has emerged as a major player in the world steel products market, thanks to an explosive growth that has been fueled by smart acquisitions and high global demand for products it is consistently able to deliver.

Last month, Edgen Murray filed a $250 million initial public offering, which it intends to use to pay off debt and fuel further growth. Revenues are expected to top $1 billion, up from $918 million last year, and it has 25 locations worldwide, with more than 2,700 customers.

Edgen Murray officials can’t discuss the company or its success because of regulations governing its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But industry observers attribute its growth to smart acquisitions.

“They went global at the right time, and they’ve become one of the big players,” says Paul Vivian, who tracks the steel pipe market for The Preston Pipe Report, an industry trade publication.

Edgen Murray is a distributor of specialty steel and alloy pipe, plate, sections, piping components and valves. It supplies products for the entire value chain of the energy market—exploration and production, transmission and processing and refining. In recent years, the company has also moved into supplying to power generation facilities.

Much of its growth has come from making the right acquisitions at the right time. With each addition, the company has been able to expand into new segments of the industry, a new geographic region or both. In 2005, the company went international.

Timing has been important, too. Edgen Murray’s growth has come at a time when there has been tremendous global demand for its products, and consolidation of both manufacturers and suppliers.

“They were ahead of the curve,” Vivian says. “Somebody saw this coming and they went global at the right time and built this company around heavy metal consumption worldwide and they’ve been one of the big players as a result.”

#1,299

Christian Street Furniture

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Retail

Founded: 1992

Growth: 295.0%

2004 revenue: $1.3 million

2007 revenue: $5.1 million

Employees: 29

What it does: Sells a diverse collection of international furniture and accessories, with design focused on the middle market

What’s their secret? Selling merchandise for the middle market

With its signature location on Corporate Boulevard just a stone’s throw from upscale subdivisions, you might think that Christian Street Furniture caters to a well-heeled clientele. But even though its furniture looks fashionable and its marketing is stylish and trendy, the store’s merchandise is solidly priced for the middle market.

“We’re right around the corner from Bocage but Bocage generally doesn’t shop with us,” Manager Louis Schaff says. “Because we’re not expensive.”

That approach that has led to the company’s impressive growth over the past few years. Revenues topped $5 million last year, up from just $1.3 million in 2004. Though that doesn’t make Christian Street Furniture one of the biggest retailers on the Inc. 5,000 list, it does make it one of the fastest growing.

The company began in the early 1990s selling gifts and accessories from a storefront on Christian Street near Southdowns. Gradually it branched out into furniture, and when it moved to its present location it began selling furniture items exclusively.

The company’s promotional literature describes its handcrafted, hardwood pieces as “rustic” and “eclectic,” but Schaff believes they’re popular because they’re transitional, meaning they work well in casual rooms or mixed with antiques and more formal furniture.

They’re also affordable, and they appeal to a broad market that wants a chic, upscale look at furniture-store furniture prices.

“Our product is middle market, but it looks trendy,” Schaff says. “It’s different, but not so far off the path that we only appeal to 5% of the population.”

The company’s merchandise comes from several manufacturers in China, India and Indonesia with whom it has established good working relationships. Though the pieces are handcrafted from solid wood, they’re also mass produced and purchased from a catalog. It’s quality merchandise but relatively inexpensive.

Another factor behind the success of Christian Street Furniture is its marketing campaign, which zeroes in on the needs of its young professional, first-time-homebuyer and decorating-on-a-budget clientele. The company has online decorating consulting, for instance, which offers advice on mixing and matching wood tones and will even make house calls to customers of the shop for free.

“We know what our customers want,” Schaff says, “and we can help them have an upscale look that belies our prices.”

#1,610

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Food & Beverage

Founded: 1996

Growth: 235.6%

2004 revenue: $29 million

2007 revenue: $97.4 million

Employees: 2,350

What it does: A fun fast-food restaurant chain of 70 locations/franchises in 13 states, specializing in quality chicken finger meals

What’s their secret? Concept: doing one thing and doing it well

If you ask Raising Cane’s CEO and founder Todd Graves what the secret is to his company’s success, he will tell you it’s being committed to a vision and having a quality product and a cool corporate culture with great “crew members.”

But there’s an even simpler and more fundamental reason that the chicken-fingers chain has grown to a $97.4 million company with 73 stores in 13 states and limitless plans for expansion: It focuses on one thing and doing it well.

“We stay focused and committed to that one love,” Graves says. “We do one thing, and we do it better than anyone else.”

That was Graves’ intent when he founded the company: to sell just one product, but to do it right. That product was a high-quality meal of fresh fried chicken fingers, and the target market was the college crowd. Back then, however, Graves and partner Craig Silvey had their eye on just a single location outside the North Gates of LSU.

The rest of the story is the stuff that has become local lore. A business school professor told Graves, then a student, his plan had no future. Local banks wanted no part of it, either. He worked 20 hour days as a commercial fisherman in Alaska to raise the seed money to launch his dream.

From those humble beginnings in 1996, the company has grown exponentially, particularly in recent years. Employees now number more than 2,300, and the chain has an expanding presence throughout the South and West, with a mix of company- and franchise-owned stores.

When the company moves into a new market, it seeks to establish itself through aggressive promotional campaigns. It advertises heavily on local airwaves and, more important, gives away copious amounts of its chicken fingers, banking that once people try their product they’ll come back for more.

“Then, once we get them in the door, we’ve got them,” Graves says.

While focusing on a limited menu has been one of the biggest factors behind Cane’s success, another key has been the fun ambience of the restaurants, which are decked out with ceiling fans and sports or movie posters, and the playful attitude of its employees.

“If we had people who didn’t care and weren’t inspired, our sales wouldn’t be nearly where they are today,” Graves says.

The company recently announced plans to relocate the bulk of its corporate operations to Dallas, though Graves maintains Baton Rouge will remain the company’s headquarters. It’s a move designed to fuel even more growth and enable Cane’s to join the ranks of the big-time, fast-food chains, which have thousands of outlets around the world.

“We want to be international,” Graves says. “This is the next logical step.”

#1,642

D. Honoré Construction

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Construction

Founded: 1998

Growth: 230.7%

2004 revenue: $4.4 million

2007 revenue: $14.5 million

Employees: 27

What it does: General contracting in Louisiana, primarily for commercial and government projects

What’s their secret? Employee incentives

In the construction business, big growth comes from winning big contracts. And in the past three years, D. Honoré Construction has been awarded numerous lucrative jobs from state and local government. It has fueled the 10-year-old company’s growth from $4.4 million in 1994 to some $16 million this year.

But company founder Dwayne Honoré attributes his company’s success to something more than just big contracts. He chalks it up to an employee incentive program that keeps the staff motivated and committed to finishing projects on time and under budget.

“We measure goals and follow through with them,” says Honoré, who grew up in the construction business. “We have a rewards program that is specific by position, whether you’re a project manager, superintendent or office specialist.”

Under the rewards program, employees are given specific goals, which they are encouraged to meet within a specified time. Those who meet their goals receive points. At the end of the month, those points are translated into bonus dollars on paychecks.

The system is self-reporting and motivational and helps Honoré track company performance. Another method he uses to measure productivity is through a 15-minute morning huddle. At the daily meeting, the company sets its top three goals for the day, then reviews how it did meeting the goals from the previous day.

“We meet our goals about 90% of the time,” Honoré says. “And it’s a way for me to assess our performance.”

It’s an approach that is working for the company. D. Honoré Construction has a variety of large projects on which it is currently working. They include renovations to the Baton Rouge Zoo, Burbank Drive soccer complex, North Oaks Medical Center parking garage in Hammond and three projects on the LSU campus.

Honoré believes it’s important to create a corporate culture in which employees enjoy their work. That’s why the company has implemented a 38.5-hour work week, which ends at noon on Fridays. It gives staff extra personal time, and makes them all the more willing to show up at the office at 7:30 a.m. Monday.

“We call it our Road Home program,” Honoré says. “It rewards people who show up on time and get their work done so they can get out on time.”

#1,679

Oxford Alloys

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Business services

Founded: 1983

Growth: 224.4%

2004 revenue: $7.0 million

2007 revenue: $22.6 million

Employees: 19

What it does: International supplier of corrosion-resistant welding wire and electrodes

What’s their secret? Ability to adapt to a changing marketplace

When Mark Ashworth’s father founded Oxford Alloys in 1983, the company was a local retailer of welding wire and parts with a customer base limited to southeast Louisiana.

A quarter-century later, Oxford Alloys has become a leading international supplier of specialty welding wire and electrodes, and it maintains one of the largest inventories of exotic welding alloys in North America. The company boasts customers in all 50 states, exports products to more than 60 countries and distributes its own brand of product, which it has developed and markets aggressively.

The move from the retail to wholesale and distribution level is what has enabled the company to experience a 224% growth in revenues over the past three years—from $7 million to more than $22 million—and is the key to its recent success, according to Ashworth, who now runs the company with his wife, Kelly.

“Our ability to adapt to the changing marketplace and transform our business model into a dynamic private-label wholesaler has been the catalyst for our growth,” Mark Ashworth says.

Oxford Alloys moved into the distribution business several years ago when Ashworth noticed a shift in the market for welding products. Retailers no longer wanted to maintain stock because of its cost, and local distributors were dealing in so many projects they didn’t want to stock specialty items. Ashworth saw an opportunity.

“There was a bigger need higher in the supply chain at the wholesale level,” he says. “We decided to take advantage of it.”

In a nutshell, he contracted mills in southeast Asia to create a private-label brand of material for Oxford Alloys. Then, he and Kelly began an aggressive campaign to market the products to retail distributors around the country, which included doing a lot of the branding themselves—everything from logos to packaging to approval processing with users.

The company also built a large-scale distribution network, stocking products retailers couldn’t find elsewhere. As the company has grown, so has the network. It now operates a 60,000-square-foot service center in Baton Rouge, and it also has full-stocking distribution centers in Houston and Indianapolis, with plans to open another center on the West Coast in the near future.

“We’re poised for more growth, especially in the Middle East and Asia,” Ashworth says. “As the market changes, we want to be ready to take advantage of it.”

#1,974

System Resources Telecom

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Telecommunications

Founded: 1998

Growth: 188.5%

2004 revenue: $4.4 million

2007 revenue: $12.6 million

Employees: 126

What it does: Installs wireless and broadband engines to drive and maintain major cable and communications networks across the nation

What’s their secret? Persistence in business development

With clients such as industry giants AT&T, Cisco Systems, Verizon and Time Warner, System Resources Telecom Inc. has a lot riding on its reputation as a network integration company that can get the job done.

“When you have million-dollar deals that involve millions of subscribers on a network, you don’t want Darryl and his other brother Darryl handling the deal,” says Shane Breaux, founder and president of the 10-year-old company.

But while building a reputation as a company that can play in the big leagues has been an important factor in SRI’s success, Breaux says the real key to his company’s growth has been persistence in business development—aggressively going after major deals that have led to more major deals.

“It boils down to persistence in business development more than anything else,” Breaux says. “We’re not a company that sat back and waited till the phone started ringing. We got out there and started knocking on doors.”

With considerable success. From 2004-07, revenues jumped from $4.4 million to $12.6 million. They’re expected to approach $17 million this year, and the company now has 120 employees in 17 states.

As a network integration company, SRI provides engineering, installation and project management to the telecommunications and broadband industries. Essentially, that means it helps large telecommunications companies upgrade and employ new technologies.

AT&T, for example, has contracted with SRI to implement a new service it is offering to its customers: the ability to watch TV over the Internet. That will require creating 70 new communication hubs, which are the command centers that house the technological equipment.

“We go in and put in the major backbone servers and stuff into their main communications systems,” Breaux says.

The company has also been awarded contracts to rebuild cable networks for 18 metropolitan areas around the country, including such major cities as Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Orlando, Fla., and Dallas. Wireless services comprise a smaller but growing portion of the company’s business.

“When you do good work, credible work, your reputation attracts a lot of opportunity,” Breaux says. “Our credibility and performance have a lot of the clients out there saying they want to trust their network to companies like ours.”

#2,498

ShoppersChoice.com

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Retail

Founded: 1998

Growth: 147.0%

2004 revenue: $5.5 million

2007 revenue: $13.5 million

Employees: 25

What it does: Sells household, personal and recreational items online

What’s their secret? Diversification

Many retailers tell you the key to their success has come from carving a niche in one area and focusing on it. For online retailer ShoppersChoice.com, it’s been something of the opposite.

The company has experienced explosive growth over the past three years by branching out from its signature gas grills into hundreds of household, personal and recreational product lines with a total of some 1.8 million pieces of merchandise.

“We’re increasing our products and categories all the time,” says Mike Hackley, the company’s founder and president. “Our success has really come from diversification.”

Among the newest categories offered by the online retailer are embroidery goods, home appliances and patio furniture, each of which is sold from its own specialty Web site. It’s a model Hackley pioneered in 2001, when he took his gas grill business and put it on the Internet.

Today, ShoppersChoice.com is a wholesaler and also a manufacturer, and it stocks more than $1 million of inventory in four area warehouses. Revenues last year approached $14 million, considerably more than reported by Inc., and are expected to top $20 million this year.

Much of the company’s growth has come from its signature category of high-end grills, some of which it manufacturers itself, some of which it distributes for other manufacturers. But over the past couple of years, revenues have grown exponentially because of all the other product lines it is constantly adding to the mix—mailboxes and patio furniture, to name two of the most popular.

“We launched Ultimatepatio.com in March and it has gone nuts,” Hackley says.

While diversification may be the secret to the success of ShoppersChoice.com, almost as important is the company’s concentration on search engine optimization, which in the world of Internet retailing means figuring out how to get your company’s name to be the first one that pops up when a user does a Google search.

Hackley’s company has 26 employees, including five marketing staffers and four programmers who do nothing but refine the company’s many Web sites. They receive reports on a daily basis of what keywords attracted shoppers to a site and, more important, what prompted those shoppers to purchase once they’d made it past the home page.

“People think the Internet is easy, but it’s not,” Hackley says. “I’ve got people, and all they do all day long is evaluate our Web presence and make sure we’ve got good pictures, good content and good information so a customer can make a good decision.”

#2,666

Garcia Roofing and Sheet Metal

Location: Prairieville

Industry: Construction

Founded: 1992

Growth: 136.8%

2004 revenue: $3.8 million

2007 revenue: $9.0 million

Employees: 25

What it does: Installs, repairs and replaces all types of residential and commercial roofs, including shingles, metal, Spanish tile and slate

What’s their secret? Carving a niche in the high-end market

There’s no denying that a string of damaging storms over the past few years has helped fuel growth at Garcia Roofing and Sheet Metal. From hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 to a hailstorm in April and Gustav in September, roof after roof in the Baton Rouge area has been damaged or destroyed—and Garcia has been among the roofing companies to benefit.

But chance favors a prepared mind, and company officials say the real reason for its success is the niche the 16-year-old company has carved in the high-end market, which typically has bigger houses with more complicated roofs that are often made of materials like slate and Spanish tile—materials many roofing companies wouldn’t touch.

“There’s more craftsmanship involved in working with those materials, and there aren’t many high-end roofers in Baton Rouge doing that,” Sales Manager Hugo Andricain says. “So there’s definitely a market there, and we’ve established ourselves in it.”

The company established itself in the market by getting in the right time—in the early 1990s, when there was rapid growth locally in new home construction. Founder Gabriel Garcia, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador in the late 1980s, took advantage of the residential building boom, focusing on high-end subdivisions and quickly developing a reputation for quality and specialty services.

Before the 2005 storms, the company’s growth was a steady 30% a year. Since then, it has been closer to 50% annually. Revenues jumped from less than $4 million in 2004 to more than $9 million last year. This year promises to be even better: The company has a waiting list of more than 150 customers—and in many instances those customers have few other options.

“A lot of roofers are going into these nicer homes and telling people their homes are too complicated,” Andricain says. “These companies are looking for easy money and don’t want to do anything that’s too complex or steep.”

Because steeper roofs take longer to put down, roofers, who get paid by the square, are often inclined to do easier jobs for which they can get paid more quickly. Garcia has taken the opposite approach. While that’s created demand for the company’s services, it’s also caused its own set of challenges.

“The volume of work coming in has made it impossible for us to do things the way we like to do them,” Andricain says. “We’re trying to be as responsive to potential customers as we like to be, but it’s more difficult than usual.”

The company is dealing with the demand, in part, by hiring additional employees. Garcia thrives on referrals; 95% of its business is by referral, so failing to meet customers’ needs isn’t an option.

“There’s willingness on the part of the Garcias to staff up when necessary, which many companies are not willing to do,” Andricain says. “That has set us apart and enabled us to enjoy so much growth.”

#2,926

EMCO Technologies

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: IT services

Founded: 1962

Growth: 122.3%

2004 revenue: $13.9 million

2007 revenue: $30.9 million

Employees: 465

What it does: Designs IT infrastructures and security systems, and distributes two-way radios

What’s their secret? Flexibility

When EMCO Technologies was bidding on a lucrative three-year contract in 2005 to provide desktop support to all of NASA’s space centers, among the specs in the RFP was the need to provide help-desk services to the some 40,000 PC users at the space agency.

At the time, EMCO didn’t offer tech support services over the phone. But the 43-year-old company badly wanted the deal. So within just a few weeks, it created a PC help-desk operation, a move that helped it land the multimillion-dollar contract, which was recently extended for three more years.

That kind of flexibility and quick action is what has helped fuel the phenomenal growth over the past decade for EMCO Technologies, a company that provides services in communications, IT and emergency notification systems.

“Flexibility is really the key to our success,” says Janice Pellar, the company’s CEO and the daughter of its founders. “Each customer has a different set of needs, and rather than having a one-size-fits-all program we can truly offer services and staffing requirements that fit each client’s particular needs.”

In the past three years, EMCO has more than doubled its revenues, jumping from nearly $14 million in 2004 to more than $30 million last year. The contract to provide desktop support to NASA, which was awarded by Lockheed Martin, is a big catalyst behind the recent growth. But Pellar has aggressively pursued new opportunities for EMCO since she took over in 1988.

Under her leadership, the company has grown from a mom-and-pop shop that serviced Motorola two-way radios to a nationally respected company that designs IT infrastructures, provides IT managed services and designs and services two-way communications systems for clients in the energy industry, business and government.

Besides flexibility, Pellar attributes EMCO’s success to finding the right mixture of key employees, coming up with a vision, and not being afraid to try new things. Pellar points out there were no guarantees when the company branched into the IT world in the early 1990s.

“But we committed to it and were successful,” she says. “Part of that is because you have to surround yourself with people who share your vision, and then you give them tools to work with and give them support and let them do their thing.”

#2,932

The Newtron Group

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Construction

Founded: 1982

Growth: 122.1%

2004 revenue: $118.6 million

2007 revenue: $263.3 million

Employees: 100

What it does: An electrical and specialty construction company for U.S.-based industries including refining, power generation, mining and pharmaceuticals

What’s their secret? Management efficiency

After more than three decades in business, The Newtron Group has become one of the largest electrical and specialty construction companies in the U.S. Revenues have more than doubled over the past three years, from more than $118 million in 2004 to $263 million last year, growth that company officials attribute in part to favorable market conditions.

But it’s not just a boom in industrial construction that has propelled The Newtron Group to the forefront of its industry. The company has capitalized on opportunities and succeeded, say top managers, thanks to efficient management practices that have been honed over the past 35 years.

“Efficient management of labor, schedules and materials is of key importance in industrial construction,” says Duff Schempf, the company’s marketing vice president. “Our clients choose us because they feel our management techniques give them a better product.”

Specifically, those techniques include a proprietary cost control system the company has developed that enables it to keep a tight rein on schedules and productivity. The company also has very little turnover, with the average employee tenure exceeding 15 years.

Company officials credit their employee rewards program with helping to cultivate that culture of corporate dedication. The company has a generous profit-sharing plan, through which all employees get a share of pre-tax profits. Managers also enjoy a bonus plan. Additionally, the company provides quality-of-life benefits for its employees, including a camp in Grand Isle and a company gym.

The Newtron Group also works hard to cultivate good relationships with vendors and contractors.

“If we use somebody to do a bid with us, we’re going to use them to get the job done,” Schempf says. “We try to play fair, and our suppliers and contractors know we’re not going to use them then shop their price.”

It’s an approach that has landed the Newtron Group contracts to do electrical work on several major refinery expansion projects, including the Marathon Petroleum expansion in Garyville and the Motiva Port Arthur expansion in Port Arthur, Texas. The company also has several subsidiaries that provide such services as mechanical contracting, heat tracing, control-panel fabrication and fiber-optic networking.

“The secret to management efficiency is dedication to the company,” Schempf says. “Everybody works hard for the company and to accomplish our goals because we know we’re all going to share in it one day.”

#3,059

Environmental Waste Solutions

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Business services

Founded: 1995

Growth: 115.1%

2004 revenue: $5.8 million

2007 revenue: $12.4 million

Employees: 25

What it does: Provides waste-management consulting services

What’s their secret? Providing a service that saves the client money

Some companies succeed because they’ve got a great product or service. Other companies succeed because they happen along at a time when the market is ripe for what they have to offer. Environmental Waste Solutions’ success can be attributed to both sets of circumstances.

Consider that most businesses today find themselves under increasing pressure to cut costs at every turn. They’re also concerned with trying to engage in environmentally friendly practices. Enter Environmental Waste Solutions, a waste management consulting firm that teaches clients how to both save money and “be green” at the same time.

“Every company in America right now is looking for ways to reduce costs, and they’re laying people off and cutting back,” says Darwyn Williams, the company’s founder, president and CEO. “We’re on the scene helping these companies reduce their operating expenses long before they’re to the point of having to lay off people.”

And they’re doing it by teaching such clients as Coca-Cola, American Airlines, Ritz-Carlton and Winn-Dixie how to save in the area of waste disposal. It works like this: EWS has hundreds of affiliate consultants around the country who perform on-site assessments for clients, which include analyses of where companies are losing money and suggestions of how they can save.

Savings might come from changing disposal containers or switching to a different landfill. They can also involve more complicated measures—implementing new technologies, for instance, or a waste-to-energy program.

“We have some clients that generate wood waste, and we have other clients that need wood fuel,” Williams says. “We will put people together in a relationship that will work for both of them.”

One thing that makes EWS particularly attractive is that it signs up new clients on a risk-free basis. The firm doesn’t get paid until its clients start saving money. Once that happens, EWS gets a handsome 50% of a client’s savings for five years.

“It’s a huge win for both parties involved,” Williams says.

Indeed. The company has experienced 115% growth over the past three years. Revenues jumped from $5.8 million in 2004 to $12.4 million last year. Williams expects them to top $15 million this year.

The good news is they’re likely to keep climbing. Waste-disposal costs are expected to continue their steep rise, while businesses will be more challenged than ever to save money.

“Some of these costs are spiraling out of control and businesses have nowhere to turn,” Williams says. “So they’re turning to us—and we’re an easy company to hire because we don’t cost them anything.”

#3,414

Slumber Parties

Location: Baton Rouge

Industry: Consumer products

Founded: 1993

Growth: 97.4%

2004 revenue: $29.2 million

2007 revenue: $57.7 million

Employees: 72

What it does: Distributes lingerie, lotions and bedroom products at women-only slumber parties; top sellers include a cream called “Nympho Niagra”

What’s their secret? Finding the right sales approach

One of the oldest adages in marketing is that sex sells. So it’s not surprising that a company that peddles adult entertainment products, including sex toys, lingerie and massage oils, would find a healthy market for its wares.

What is surprising is that Slumber Parties is one of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., with revenues that have nearly doubled in the past three years from some $30 million in 2004 to nearly $58 million last year.

Company officials did not return calls for comment, and perhaps its reluctance to take advantage of publicity opportunities adds to its mystique.

But based on the company’s promotional material and the considerable national media attention it has received, Slumber Parties’ success is due in large part to the way it sells its bedroom toys—at private, in-home parties exclusively for adult women. In other words, in a setting that makes customers feel comfortable about buying stuff they probably otherwise would not.

Helping the process along is a network of some 14,000 trained distributors. During in-home parties, they make presentations to guests, highlighting best-selling products and answering questions. They also take orders confidentially and deliver products directly to customers in discreet packages.

Now 15 years old, Slumber Parties was founded by Baton Rouge native Kim Brecheen, who left her job as a legal assistant in 1987 to become a distributor for a similar company. Realizing the tremendous potential in the market, she went out on her own in 1993.

#3,669

PacTec

Location: Clinton

Industry: Manufacturing

Founded: 1989

Growth: 86.2%

2004 revenue: $8.0 million

2007 revenue: $15.0 million

Employees: 146

What it does: Designs and manufactures waste packaging, primarily for nuclear and industrial waste

What’s their secret? Custom designing and manufacturing

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was trying to plug the breaches in the New Orleans levees following Hurricane Katrina three years ago, it air-dropped superhuman-size sandbags in an attempt to stop Lake Pontchartrain from flooding the city.

Those bags were manufactured by PacTec Inc., and even though they were custom-designed to handle hazardous waste—not massive quantities of sand—they did the trick.

“All of a sudden we got a call in the middle of the night and the Army Corps ordered something like 2,000 of those bags,” says Mike Sanchez, the company’s vice president of business development. “We got our crews in working round-the-clock.”

That the Army Corps knew to turn to PacTec for the specialty bags says something about the company and why it is so successful. In nearly 20 years in business, it has established itself as an industry leader by custom designing and manufacturing a variety of waste packaging products for industrial and, more recently, low-level nuclear waste.

“We have a team that does research and development, so when a company comes to us with a specialty need, we’ll develop it,” Sanchez says. “We’ve developed many patented products that have been customer-driven.”

Among those products are specialty liners, filters and bags in a variety of sizes and strengths. Originally, all of that work was done from its facility in East Feliciana Parish. But two years ago, it opened another factory in the Philippines. Products are distributed from one of several distribution sites scattered strategically across the country.

It has helped fuel the company’s impressive growth. Revenues nearly doubled from 2004-07, jumping from $8 million to $15 million. Sanchez expects sales to top $18 million this year.

And with tougher regulations throughout the developed world governing waste cleanup and disposal, PacTec officials expect more growth in the future. The company is currently pursuing a nuclear cleanup deal with the United Kingdom, and is looking at opportunities in other countries as well.

Says Sanchez: “There’s a lot of opportunity out there.”

What the Inc. 5000 companies do Nationally

IT Services11.6% [579 companies]

Business Services 10.6% [532]

Construction 9.2% [459]

Manufacturing 8.1% [405]

Advertising & Marketing [361]

Software 5.5% [277]

Retail 4.5% [227]

Consumer Products 4.3% [214]

Health 4.1% [206]

Human Resources 4.1% [203]

Financial Services 3.8% [189]

Food & Beverage 3.0% [148]

Government Services 2.8% [138]

Telecommunications 2.6% [128]

Computers & Electronics 2.5% [124]

Transportation 2.6% [113]

Engineering 1.7% [85]

Environmental Services 1.6% [81]

Energy 1.6% [78]

Real Estate 1.5% [74]

Consulting 1.4% [72]

Media 1.4% [72]

Logistics 1.4% [70]

Education 1.0% [52]

Insurance 0.9% [46]

Security 0.9% [43]

Travel 0.5% [23]

Capital Region

Construction 29.0% [4]

Business Services 14.0% [2]

Retail 14.0% [2]

Consumer Products 0.7% [1]

Energy 0.7% [1]

Food & Beverage 0.7% [1]

IT Services 0.7% [1]

Manufacturing 0.7% [1]

Telecommunications 0.7% [1]