Amish Country Products

Amish Country Products

“I feel fortunate to work with the down-to-earth people of Rea & Associates. I draw peace of mind knowing they’ll do the job right.”

David Kuhns, Owner

Amish Country Products

Client Since 1999

Amish Country Products is a growing business located in Bolivar, Ohio, that produces, packages and distributes snack foods such as dried fruits and nuts to more than 1,500 grocery and convenience stores in 20 states east of the Mississippi. David Kuhns, owner and operator for more than 11 years, is currently looking to increase market share by building networks with other distributors to take his products across the country.

The Issues

While continuously growing, Amish Country Products remains a relatively small business with just 17 employees, including Kuhns and his wife, Earlyn, who manages the company’s finances. Because he didn’t have the resources for a large internal finance department, Kuhns knew he must have an accounting firm he can trust. In 1999, Kuhns was unhappy with his current accounting firm and reached out to Rea to step in.

The Objectives

During the past five years, Rea & Associates has offered counsel to Kuhns with the objective of acting as financial advisors in all endeavors while Amish Country Products continues to grow and expand.

The Strategy and Tactics

Rea provides Amish Country Products with a variety of services that save time and money and create a competitive advantage including:

·Cash Flow Projections

·Tax Returns

·QuickBooks® Consulting

Up until 2002, Amish Country Products outsourced its packaging function to a third party. When Kuhns decided that he could save money by bringing the packaging function in-house, Rea & Associates helped prepare the cash flow projections that secured the bank loan necessary to purchase resources to successfully implement the change.

The Results

By cutting out the middleman, Amish Country Products has been able to save a substantial amount of money that has allowed Huhns to grow the business even more. As a result, Amish Country Products could no longer keep up with manual invoicing and payroll so Rea worked with Kuhns and Earlyn to implement QuickBooks®, a financial management software program for small businesses, which has saved the company a great deal of time and human resources. The Kuhns use the tool to enter customers, invoices, payments and payroll information.

“My experience thus far has been very positive. Rea helped us immensely with the implementation and their knowledge was the key to our success,” Kuhns said. “QuickBooks gives us the capability to generate detailed reports with a click of a button.”

Thanks to its success thus far, Amish Country Products is now seeking to expand its market by networking with other distributors who can deliver their product beyond the Midwest. Kuhns knows Rea will be able to ease any growing pains.

“If there’s one thing I can say about Rea, it’s that I feel like I’ve made friends.” Kuhns continued. “It’s not all about business, and that makes it a joy to work with them.”