Food distributor PFSbrands sold to employees

CEO Shawn Burchan
CEO Shawn Burchan

HOLTS SUMMIT, Mo. - Local distributing giant PFSbrands is now in the hands of its employees, thanks to a new employee stock ownership plan.

"I'm really excited to provide every one of our employees with the unique opportunity to earn stock in the company where they work," CEO Shawn Burcham said.

PFSbrands is the distributor of Champs Chicken and Cooper's Express, ready-made food distributed to retail partners like grocery stores and gas stations to the tune of 30 million pounds a year. 

Sole shareholders Shawn and Julie Burcham made the decision to sell the company to the employees after crediting the workers with the company's growth over the last 18 years, Creative Director Carl Christenson said in a news release.

The company had already been cultivating financial transparency with employees after Shawn Burcham took inspiration from the Jack Stack's book "The Great Game of Business."

"In 2011, we began openly sharing our financial results and business strategies with employees at regular weekly huddles," Burcham said. "The purpose of the huddles is to educate every individual on how they can personally impact the success of the company. In that way, we began to grow a culture of ownership thinking here."

The goal, he said, is to give employees a sense of responsibility for the company.

"The shares we allocate to our employee owners through the ESOP do not require a monetary investment on their part, but of course, the hard work these employees contribute and the results they achieve most certainly influences the value of their shares," he added.

For the last eight years, the company has been deemed one of the fastest growing companies in America by INC Magazine. Over the last three years, the company's revenue has almost doubled. 

"We are now at 120 employees, which nearly doubles the number of people on staff here from just four years ago," Vice President of Human Resources Carla Dowden said.