Kitayama Brothers Inc. With competition from South American and Ecuadorian growers, Deardorff, the president of one of the largest U.S. rose growers, found he simply could not compete on cost. Then the Rocky Mountain Trade Adjustment Assistance Center, a federally funded agency that helps American manufacturers stay competitive with foreign importers, stepped in. Tim Matsuno, president of Greenleaf Wholesale Florists Inc., Kitayama's sister company, said a representative of the assistance center walked in one day asking if imports had hurt the company. Four years later, the companies are thriving. The fresh-flower business is cutthroat.
People are willing to pay for quality, uniqueness.
The assistance center provides outside perspective to its small and medium-sized clients. Kitayama is working with the Rocky Mountain Trade Adjustment Assistance Center to develop new flowers that foreign growers cannot import without damage. Deardorff would not elaborate. Through the assistance center, the government shares the cost of any assistance with the company. Most companies who go through the program witness their sales and employment rise 50 percent and 20 percent, respectively, Hag said.