Allied Plastics Inc. will be saluted as 2012 Business of the Year by the Kenosha Area Business Alliance (KABA) and the Kenosha Area Chamber of Commerce.
The 2012 Kenosha County Business Excellence Awards will be presented Thursday, Nov. 14, at the Student Center University Ballroom at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
Founded in 1995, Allied Plastics is a full-service custom thermoforming manufacturer specializing in vacuum-forming, twin-sheeting and pressure-forming medium to heavy gauge plastic sheets. The company manufactures and sells products primarily to the automotive industry and creates custom products and reusable packaging for a wide variety of industries including the transportation, food service, health and beauty, and recreational industries. Allied Plastics currently operates a 100,000-square-foot engineering and manufacturing facility in Twin Lakes, Wis. The company also maintains sales offices throughout the United States.
The company expanded in 2006, adding more than 24,000 square feet and connecting their production and distribution centers. The firm expanded its administrative offices and added a sales showroom and conference area in 2010 and leased an additional 46,000 square feet of distribution space in Genoa City last year.
The firm recently entered the agriculture market, now producing cab roofs, interior components and skirts for tractors. The company’s sales have grown from $11.8 million in 2009 to $27 million projected for this year. The firm’s employment has grown from 56 in 2009 and to 151 today, making it one of the largest employers in Western Kenosha County.
Tenuta’s Delicatessen will be honored by the Kenosha organizations as the 2012 Small Business of the Year. Italian immigrant John Tenuta and his wife, Lydia, opened Tenuta’s Delicatessen on April 1, 1950. At that time the small corner store was just a bit larger than a two-car garage. They served malts and sundaes, had a small deli counter and a single aisle of grocery items.
Their son, Ralph, soon took over. Since then, a third generation of Ralph’s seven children has been involved and have helped in the store from the time they were old enough to sort bottles.
Tenuta’s has expanded and remodeled over the years and today has an expansive selection of specialty merchandise and gourmet items.
Ralph Tenuta has been instrumental to many local organizations and initiatives helping to guide the development of Kenosha’s downtown lakefront and create the Kenosha Area Development Corp. which was later to become the Kenosha Area Business Alliance. He was integral in the founding of American State Bank, now part of Johnson Bank, and is a past president of the UW-Parkside Benevolent Foundation. He has been a Carthage College Trustee since 1992.
Jim Kettinger, president, CEO and Owner of Engendren Corp., which formerly did business as IEA Inc., will be honored as the Entrepreneur of the Year. Kettinger took over the helm after working with the company as a consultant for several years. He purchased the company from the Newells in May of this year.
KABA and the Kenosha Area Chamber of Commerce also will present their “Fastest Five” awards to companies that have made a significant economic impact in Kenosha County over the past year. Those companies are: Albany-Chicago Company LLC; Bio Fab Technologies Inc.; Kitchen Cubes LLC; Mikrotech LLC; and Specialized Accounting Services LLC.
The panel of judges who select award recipients include winners from past years, a representative from BizTimes Milwaukee, as well as representatives from the business school programs at UW-Parkside and Carthage College.
For more information about the 2012 Kenosha County Business Excellence Awards, visit http://www.kaba.org/email-blasts/eblasts/BEA_winner_archives.htm.
