When Kim Silva and Amanda Simoneau purchased Porino’s Gourmet Foods three months ago, they had more than a fair amount of work to do.
The company had been in receivership for six weeks. Its former owner’s profits had been crushed by hefty overhead, which included the $12,000 per month rent for the company’s 75,000-square-foot production and warehouse facility in Central Falls, Simoneau said.
Not all of the company’s products were doing well in the market, while orders for Porino’s most popular products weren’t being filled fast enough.
The result was a failing business and a facility filled with inventory, packaging and machinery that had to be removed, since the landlord wanted the business to vacate.
“We physically had to clean [the facility] out,” Simoneau said, but it got them out from under a lease they couldn’t afford.
Neither woman imagined they would end up in the food business.
Silva was a dental assistant for 13 years before she had her second son, who is 21 months old. Simoneau graduated with a degree in marketing and communications before working in a lawyer’s office.
She said she was ready for something different when Silva and her husband, Michael – longtime friends – told her and her husband about Porino’s being for sale.
Running the company allows her to use the training she received in college, because most of what the company requires at this stage is marketing and keeping track of orders.
The loyalty of the customers was a huge draw to purchasing the company, said Simoneau.
The Porino’s brand is so popular in the New England region that even though the previous owner wasn’t filling orders on time, Silva said, it hasn’t been difficult getting Porino’s products back on the shelves in specialty stores, Stop & Shop and Shaw’s Supermarkets.
“They are just happy to have it back,” Silva said.
Porino’s is also getting business from Internet orders. Eventually, in a few years, Silva hopes they can purchase or lease space to handle production themselves again, because it allows for more control, she said.
“Our goal is to make it ourselves as soon as possible,” Simoneau agreed. Then, “we can produce as much as we want, whenever we want.”
Plus, the women are hoping to market the products nationally. If distributors carry the brand, the company will need mass-production capabilities in a facility of its own. But setting up a production facility would require at least a $500,000 investment, not including the cost of real estate, Simoneau said, and the two women would like to see the company make some good profits before they take on that project.
So for now, they’re working on strengthening the business first. They started by changing the name of the company to Porino’s Fine Foods, and they eliminated the products that weren’t doing well – the pastas, oils, olives, vinegar and salad dressings. •
