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“ Historically, we have focused primarily on supplying propane to the residential sector, and we still do; however, we saw an opportunity to expand into the service sector in metro areas with forklift cylinders and temporary heat for construction projects. We’ ve taken advantage of this opportunity by hiring salespeople in three metro areas: Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Green Bay, Appleton.”
Recent investments
As well as strong organic growth over recent years, Lakes has also sought growth through acquisitions. Trent expands:“ We’ ve acquired eight businesses in the past three years. We average two or three acquisitions per year, and we like to bring our philosophy to those businesses. Most of the companies that we buy are multi-generational family businesses; they’ re very important to their local communities. They are also very important to the families; they want to make sure, before selling, that their business goes to someone who will care for it and continue to be a part of the local community. The last thing they want to see is their father or grandfather’ s work dissolved into a large company, followed by the closure of its office. We take a different approach; we come in and treat the family heritage the same as we treat the Sargeant family heritage and continue to be active members of the local community.” Trent then explains how the company approaches selecting businesses for potential acquisitions:“ Through the association and networking, we are familiar with a lot of the owners in this sector. We’ re looking for quality businesses with a history of good customer service, as well as growth and stability within the operation. We seek individuals who run their companies similarly to how we run Lakes. Safety, for example, is always a priority for us when we come in. We then look at the geographic match; we will favor locations closer to our footprint over locations in Texas or Florida, for example.”
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