Johnson Creek Enterprises LLC
Address: 455 E. Industrial Drive, Suite 2, Hartland
Year founded: 2008
Product or service offered: Manufacturer of premium Smoke Juice (e-liquid). This e-liquid is used in electronic cigarettes around the world. Johnson Creek Enterprises also produces a rechargeable ultra high capacity personal vaping device and accessories specifically designed to enhance the vaping experience of its smoke juice
Projected 2014 revenue: $8 million
Founder and CEO: Christian Berkey
Other key members of the leadership team: Michael Galesky, president; Heidi Braun, chief operating officer; Robert Kieckbusch, chief product officer
Target clientele: Current smokers of legal age
Business organization memberships: Wisconsin Better Business Bureau, Hartland Chamber of Commerce, Waukesha Business Alliance
What has fueled your company’s growth? “Philosophically, our company exemplifies what is possible when passionate people set out to make a good product better. Our growth is based on having the right people doing the right things for the right reasons. Externally, the growth of the e-cigarette industry has created increasing demand for e-liquid.”
What is the biggest obstacle to your company’s growth? “There are a number of fly-by-night companies who have jumped into the e-cig market looking to make a quick buck on what they see is a hot trend. These companies are selling inferior and oftentimes unsafe products and that is making the entire industry look bad. We fully support proper and realistic regulations that would require all manufacturers to do things a certain way, the right way, and that in turn would be a huge step to stabilizing our industry.”
Do you plan to make any changes in your company in the coming months? “Currently, we sell our products online directly to consumers and to authorized resellers around the world. We also have a white label custom blends division. In the coming months, our products will also be available for purchase in thousands of retail outlets in the United States through our new partnership with Republic Tobacco.”
Who are the business people, locally or nationally, whom you admire? And what traits do those people exhibit that make you admire them? “Locally it would be guys like Randy Sprecher. Here is a guy who discovered early on what his passion (beer) was, learned everything he could about it in college, moved to Milwaukee to learn from the pros (Pabst), and then forged out to start a company where he could make it better and make it his way. He bootstrapped it with whatever money he could gather and purchased used equipment to get it off the ground. That is the same American entrepreneurial spirit that founded JCE and that is still at the forefront of our culture today.”
What is the outlook for the business conditions of your industry over the next several months? “The next several months could be a landmark time period for the e-cig industry. For the first time ever, the FDA has given a rough blueprint of what future regulations might look like for our industry—regulations that we welcome, as we feel we are already manufacturing our products to the highest standards possible using only the finest ingredients. Once all manufacturers are required to do things the right way, we will all then be on a level playing field and the ones who benefit most will be the customers.” ?
What is your company’s most important growth strategy right now? “Our growth strategy will continue to be providing our customers with what they want and, frankly, what they have grown to expect from us: only the highest quality, best tasting American-made liquids.”
