Accelerate your Start Up Company in Buffalo Niagara

Canadian-headquartered Pride Pak processes fresh vegetables, making ready-made salads in a bag and chopped vegetables. The company also sources raw vegetables from both the US and Canada. Pride Pak was started in 1984 and has their main office in Mississauga with another facility in New Foundland. They currently employ over 200 people and sell to grocery retailers and into the restaurant industry.

With growing sales in the US, Steven Karr, CEO sought a new facility across the border to grow his business. In 2014, Pride Pak reached out to multiple regions within New York State to locate their new facility.

Surmet is a Massachusetts-based advanced materials manufacturer with operations in Buffalo. The company produces high-tech transparent ceramic powders and coatings used in aerospace and defense applications. Surmet was investing in new technology and equipment in order to consolidate its forming and heat-treating capabilities into one location where it would produce transparent ceramic windows, lenses and armor. For this expansion of capabilities, space, and workforce, Surmet considered several options including Buffalo Niagara and at its headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Incentives: Empire State Development Excelsior Jobs Tax Credit award, New York Power Authority expansion/retention power allocation, Erie County IDA sales tax abatement

Microart, a company out of Markham, Ontario, manufactures circuit boards used in the aerospace, medical device and electronics industries. The company has a growth mindset, which has allowed the Canadian headquarters to grow to 279 employees and helped drive the need for a U.S. expansion. Acquiring a U.S. company was Microart’s preferred way to start their U.S. operations and they identified a company in Buffalo that was well suited to their operations and needs.

Lynch Fluid Controls Inc. is a manufacturing company based in Ontario, Canada producing hydraulic and control products.They supply the aerospace, military, and material handling industries. In Canada, they own a 60,000 sq. ft. building and employ upwards of 90 employees. They started to see potential in the U.S. market in rising sales numbers on this side of the border. They were also bringing nearly half of their raw materials over from the U.S. Rather than purchasing an existing business in the area, Lynch decided on an expansion project.

Larkin Express Logistics is a startup third party logistics (3PL) company, providing traditional 3PL logistics services, focused primarily on connecting shippers with carriers (truck owners). The team in Buffalo will include business development, operations, and account management professionals. The Larkin Express Logistics equity holders have experience starting and growing 3PL companies in the past. Several of the project decision makers are based in Knoxville, Tennessee, which was strongly considered for the company’s location. However, Buffalo Niagara’s talented and dedicated workforce helped convince decision makers that the project should be in Buffalo. The company has leased 2,500 square feet of office space in the City of Buffalo and expects to hire over 50 people.

Kemper System, a German-based manufacturer of Kemperol, a liquid resin based waterproofing and surfacing system, sought to establish a North American-based production headquarters to increase its competitiveness in the U.S. market. Location, specifically market access, was crucial in their site location decision as Kemper desired to significantly shorten the eight-week lead time to ship product from Europe to the United States. The company also wanted to be close to their large customer base in the U.S. Northeast.

Kemper required a move-in ready site and a competitive incentive package as they were also considering Florida and North Carolina. Furthermore, the availability and cost of the local workforce was a key factor in the decision-making process. The company requested detailed labor statistics to familiarize itself with the availability and cost of labor in Buffalo Niagara.