Transition Time

Transition Time

Tony Leung made Sanwa Growers a successful agricultural business and now believes a transition to food distribution makes sense.

by Dave Szymanski | Tampa Bay Editor

When Tony Leung's college friends were studying to become doctors and lawyers, Leung had a bigger goal: Go to Third World countries and help them raise crops.

"I grew up poor, very poor," says Leung, a Hong Kong native and president of Sanwa Growers in Tampa. "I wanted to feed the hungry, help the people."

Life changed a little when Leung got married after graduating from college in 1977 with a horticulture degree. There were student loans to pay back, an apartment to rent, a car to pay for.

"I had to get a job right away," he says. He began working in a greenhouse in Toronto doing indoor landscaping.

Leung's business life didn't take him directly to the poor, but in a way, he was able to fulfill some of that goal.

After starting a farm in Canada growing Chinese vegetables for Canadian customers, he needed to find another farm farther south to grow vegetables in the winter. So he followed a college professor to Sun City in eastern Hillsborough County and eventually gained access to some farms and rented 168 acres.

After meeting some large land owners, in 1981 Leung created Sanwa Growers Inc., a successful vegetable growing firm in eastern Hillsborough County. He eventually grew his farms to 500 acres in Ruskin and Riverview.

But as canker moved in and infected crops, government regulations grew. Infected crops had to be burned. Chemicals needed to be applied. Labor became harder to find.

Land values also rose, making farmland attractive to builders. Leung sold some of his land to them.

And he slowly transitioned out of the growing business.

Today, other than growing palm trees, Sanwa is a food distribution company handling vegetables, dry goods and meat for stores and restaurants. It has warehouses in Tampa and Atlanta.

"I think the farming industry in Florida has declined in the last few years," says Leung, 56. "Acreage keeps shrinking."

Revenues have held steady at $85 million to $90 million the past two years. Five years ago, they were up every year.

When the business began, revenues were around $6 million to $8 million a year in the early years. That grew to $100 million annually as the business reached east to serve Orlando.

"I never thought the business would get this big," he says. "Every time we made a move, it got bigger."

Despite the change to food distribution, Leung did it without layoffs in Tampa.

Ownership transition

Leung is now working three or four days a week and is preparing a succession plan for his business. He is leaving open the option that his adult children may want to run the business, but he's not sure they will.

His oldest, Emily, is an attorney in Boston. Son Stanley is in business school at Emory University. His youngest, Wesley, is going to Emory in the fall.

"When they finish college, they can get involved," Leung says. "I don't want to get them away from college. They have got to focus on school first."

Leung splits his time between homes in Ruskin and on Harbor Island in downtown Tampa. He likes driving his boats, golfing and fishing when not working. He just took his sons to China.

Leung praises his staff often. That includes his sister, who ran Sanwa's Miami operation for 11 years. The company promotes from within, so many employees have been with the company for as long as 10 to 15 years.

"One of reasons I stopped growing was that business grows faster than your staff," Leung says. "You can never train enough people."

What motivates Leung is seeing how he can make a difference, serve a customer.

"There's a challenge for everything," Leung says. "My wife tells me I'm crazy. It's about the excitement to see things going well, doing the right things."

Leung's advice to other entrepreneurs: Enjoy what you're doing. "That way, you can have fun every day," Leung says.

Leung also reflects on his original goal, to feed the poor. In a way, he has done it, passing on savings to small business customers and donating food to organizations such as Tampa Bay Harvest.

"In a way, we're still doing the small things that count," he says.

SUMMARY

Company: Sanwa Growers

Industry: Food distribution

Key: Getting fresh items to stores and restaurants.