Energy audit helped spur expansion

'We could add more and use less energy,' Jim Hankes said

Sunday, November 4, 2007

By JOHN R. PULLIAM

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - Little did Jim Hankes know that the high cost of electricity would be a major reason for the expansion of Thrushwood Farms Quality Meats Inc.

Hankes said when electrical rates increased, he decided to contact the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, a free service the state offers to small businesses. The people from SEDAC went through the operation of 2860 W. Main St. and did an energy analysis and a recommendation as to how the business could become more energy efficient. Not only were lights and meat display cases studied but also Thrushwood's 30-year-old heating and air-conditioning system.

Much to his surprise, Hankes learned, "We could add more and use less energy."

The company's Internet business, as well as co-packing done for other companies now that Thrushwood Farms is federally, rather than state-inspected, boosted sales as the business owned by Hankes and his wife, Kae, can now ship products across state lines.

"Unfortunately, there's less people here (in Galesburg) than there were when I moved here 30 years ago," Jim Hankes said. "As a small business, we needed to look at how to grow."

The extra space will also allow more gourmet food lines to be stocked. Hankes said in traveling to various shows, they realized many products available at their store in Galesburg are the same as those sold in cities such as Philadelphia and Omaha, Neb.

"And that's exciting," he said. "We'll increase our deli meats. The meats will increase the cheeses we're offering. We'll also have an area if Kae wants to give food demonstrations and offer food samples."

Hankes is particularly excited about growth because of the Internet.

"We can honestly say that in two or three years, we may be building to meet that demand," he said. "We don't know. I see tremendous growth in that area."

While acknowledging that it has become harder and harder for small businesses to survive in the day of mega-stores, Hankes said those, such as Thrushwood Farms, that have made it suddenly have new opportunities.

"As things evolve in the food industry, the super stores have gotten larger and the mega-stores have gotten larger," Hankes said. "As that's happened, hundred of small- and medium-sized stores have been eliminated."

Hankes said that leaves larger gaps, or niches, to be filled by the businesses that survive.

"I was kidding someone the other day that I'll take the scraps," Hankes laughed.

Turning serious, Hankes said there have been many changes on Main Street and Henderson Street in the 30 years he has been in Galesburg. He said a lot of the family-owned businesses are gone.

"We're just blessed and we're still growing," he said. "In the electronic age, you can be located anywhere."

Probably less than half of Thrushwood's business is local, Hankes said, even without including Internet business.

"We hit a large area of the surrounding communities," he said.

New products possible because of additional space will help, Hankes said.

"When we started adding a lot of the barbecue sauces, we had a lot of people who came in," he said. "When people heard we added a lot of hot sauces, they were, 'how hot is it?' "

Much of the new equipment, such as a new vacuum stuffer, a state-of-the-art smokehouse, and a new, high-tech packaging machine is already being used at Thrushwood.

"We're talking five major new pieces of equipment," Hankes said. "That's a financial commitment almost equal to what we put in the building 30 years ago. We've been putting that all in place. We're just finishing putting the packaging equipment in place."

With that commitment comes responsibility.

"We're the only business in the area, the only federally-inspected plant that is offering products in its own store and we're inspected daily," Hankes said. "We do a lot of monitoring and control. ... The great thing about it is we have documentation and we have proof of all our procedures."