J&C Enterprises

A pioneering, international tropical produce grower and distributor.

Client:

J&C Enterprises is a $50 million (sales), 40+ year old, Miami based tropical produce distributor. Their main products, such as yucca, avocado and Cuban sweet potato, are grown and imported from diverse countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and are sold in the US market. Customers include Publix, Wal-Mart, HEB and Loblaw.

Challenge:

J&C Enterprises transitioned its executive management team from its founder to the next generation team of siblings. While this management team had strong industry skills, it looked to Deering to provide a stronger platform, particularly in finance, to support their intended future growth. As in many family owned businesses, Deering had to balance aggressive growth with long time customary practices throughout most departments.

Services:

• Chief Financial Officer and Controller outsourcing
• Monthly and quarterly management and financial reporting
• Budget process implementation
• Financial modeling of produce growing programs
• Cash management and capital raise assistance
• Produce industry software conversion
• Sales management structuring and tracking
• Staffing assistance in finance and sales management
• Compensation structuring including commissions for sales associates
  

Solutions:

Deering Companies provided cost effective outsourcing services for the CFO and Controller functions, where a host of management solutions were implemented in order to more effectively manage the business. Deering’s team interacted regularly as advisors to the ownership group and senior management on most major decisions. Regular senior management meetings are held at Deering’s offices. The company invested heavily in farms in Latin American markets during this period and Deering played a critical role in establishing processes to efficiently grow their growing platform. Further, the company fully funded their business plan with the help Deering's capital raise services.

Benefits:

J&C Enterprises experienced revenue growth of over 20% over the previous year. Deering’s services.Growing programs in Central America were executed according to plan. Expenses also were controlled according to budget. Software optimization and reporting has provided increased visibility for decision making and investing. In addition, Deering assisted in raising over $5 million of capital. Consequently the company was on track to have its most profitable year in over 5 years.