www.temkininternational.com

Payson, Utah

Founded: 1980

Privately owned

Employees 600 (400 in Utah)

Temkin International makes packaging for just about every food category at mass-market retail, and continues to insource as much production to Utah as possible.

CEO Danny Temkin started his eponymous company is a 1,200-square-foot building in Los Angeles.

The first target was packaging materials for florists. Danny sold polypropylene wrap as an alternative to pricey cellophane.

It was a hit, and he grew the company in California for more than a decade before relocating the operation to Utah for the quality of life in 1993. “The move to Utah was personal which became a smart business move, so I got lucky there,” Danny says.

Temkin International now occupies about 500,000 square feet in three countries and makes a wide range of packaging for foods, flowers, produce, pet, and other products, with a focus on bags made of flexible films.

“From our start 35 years ago until now, we have been able to be very good in making decisions for the benefit of the company — changing course, adding routes, and listing new venues,” says Danny. “I am sure that the speed in making those decisions has attributed to our growth.”

Without naming names, Noam Temkin, the company’s marketing consultant and Danny’s son, says the company’s materials sheath a wide range of household-name products “everyone sees at every supermarket chain.”

“Food packaging is the biggest growth industry for us,” adds Noam, pointing to innovative recyclable pouches and proprietary innovations that extend the shelf life of various edible products.

The company now has manufacturing facilities in Payson and Bogota, Colombia — about two-thirds of flowers in the U.S. are grown in the country, Noam notes — as well as operations in Miami and Toronto.

The Payson facility supplies all of North America and exports to Europe, and Bogota handles Latin America. “Bogota is a self-sufficient facility,” says Noam. “They do everything the Payson facility does.”

The company’s growth accelerated in the 1990s and continues on an impressive trajectory. “Every year has been a growth year since 1980,” says Noam, noting that capital investments since 2010 dwarf those made in the previous 30 years

Part of the strategy has been to make Temkin International as vertical as possible to maximize production and jobs in Utah. The company mixes its ink in-house and has its own printing division, Current Print Marketing. “We try to insource everything,” explains Noam. “We take a lot of pride in that.”

Challenges: Offshore competition from China, Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic. “We have to continue to innovate,” says Noam.

Senior Vice President Lynn Abplanalp recites the company’s unofficial motto: “Even if you are on the right track, you have to keep moving. If not, you’ll get run over.”

“Nothing comes easy,” Noam adds “It’s 600 people working hard.”

Opportunities: Loft 213 is Temkin International’s “consumer products brand,” says Noam, that makes unique gift wrap and other materials. “It’s not made out of trees,” he explains. “It’s made out of stone.”

Launched in 2012, the eco-friendly brand has taken off quickly. “People love it,” touts Noam. “It’s made a ripple in the industry.”

Needs: “Qualified people,” says Noam. “Utah’s unemployment rate is almost negative.”

Once hired, employees tend to stick around, he notes. “The loyalty is ridiculous.” Case in point: there are more than 100 employees in the company’s “Lucky 13” club who have worked at the company for more than a dozen years. “You don’t hear about that too often,” Noam says.

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