California Latino Firms Grow, but Lag Florida’s, Survey Says
A group of California’s top-grossing Latino companies grew 15.5% last year, but lag far behind their Florida counterparts, Hispanic Business magazine reported in its June issue.
California and Florida each contributed 111 companies to the magazine’s list of the nation’s top 500 Latino enterprises. California’s companies earned $2.6 billion but were bested by Florida companies, which earned more than double that amount, $5.7 billion, much of it in exports to Latin America.
The 14th annual list was culled from surveys returned to the Santa Barbara-based magazine. While many high-grossing companies choose not to participate, analysts said the list is nevertheless a good barometer of the booming Latino business economy.
“It points out there is a continued strong growth in the Hispanic business community,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Los Angeles Economic Development Council. “Most people, especially outside Los Angeles, don’t quite recognize that.”
Orange County contributed 15 companies to the list. The top local firm was La Pizza Loca Inc. in Buena Park, which ranked 131st. Other top county companies were Burtin Urethane Corp., Santa Ana, No. 159; Western Switches & Controls Inc., Santa Ana, No. 247; Savala Construction Co. Inc., Irvine, No. 252, and Aranda Tooling Inc., Huntington Beach, No. 257.
Although incomplete, the list offers a preview of trends that will probably be substantiated by upcoming U.S. Census data, Kyser said. The most recent government figures showed Latino small business growing three times faster than overall small business between 1987 and 1992 when “we were still in a free-fall in the local economy,” Kyser said.
The combined 1997 revenue of the companies on the list totaled $17 billion, up 5% from last year, outpacing 3.8% overall growth in the U.S. economy. Of the sectors growing fastest, financial services topped the list at 24%, followed by the service industry at 22% and construction at 18%.
“I think people are really waking up to the growing affluence of the Hispanic community, and that’s reflected in the growth in the financial sector,” said Joel Russell, senior editor at Hispanic Business. Many of the companies provide financial services and insurance to Latinos here or in Latin America, he said.
Service sector growth was driven in part by business services such as accounting and personnel, Russell said. For example, the list’s top company was Vincam Group Inc., an employment services company based in Coral Gables, Fla., that posted $984 million in revenue. As for construction, Russell said increases are parallel to construction growth in the overall economy.
“A lot of companies on the list are involved in residential construction and infrastructure projects in telecommunications,” he said. “They are participating in the much larger wiring of the world that’s going on.”
Molina Medical Centers, a Long Beach-based health-care services company, topped the list for Southland companies, placing 23rd with $115 million in revenue. The company provides managed-care medical services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. They were followed in 28th place by TELACU Industries, a Los Angeles economic development company with $100 million in revenue. Complas Inc., a Corona telecommunications equipment and sales company, followed in 30th place with $98.5 million in revenue.
Other Southland companies on the list included C&F; Foods Inc., an Industry-based agricultural commodities distributor, at $65.5 million and Vernon-based specialty coffee roasters F. Gavina & Sons Inc. at $55 million.
For a complete list of the nation’s top 500 Hispanic enterprises, see https://www.latimes.com/smallbiz on the World Wide Web.
