United Source One Named SBAs Exporter of the Year

United Source One, a customized intenational food distributor. was named the 2004 Exporter of the Year in Maryland by the Small Business Administration. United Source One specializes in exporting American beef and restaurant and food service-related American food products, primarily to nine Middle East countries.

Baltimore (PRWEB) July 27, 2004 -- People do business with people even when the seller is in the United States and the buyer is in the Middle East. At least thats the case with United Source One and its customers in the Arabian Gulf, in places such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - its three largest markets. United Source One, a Belcamp, Maryland food exporter, was recently named Exporter of the Year 2004 by the U.S. Small Business Administrations (SBA) Baltimore District Office. Michael Imgarten, president of United Source One, founded the company in 2000 with 16 employees and $250,000 from savings and personal funds. Last year the company had revenues of $45 million and now employs about 30 people. Imgarten attributes his companys success to the trust, confidence and loyalty shared between customers, staff, and its product and service suppliers.

Imgarten, 51, gained his expertise as a businessman in that region of the world selling U.S. beef in Saudi Arabia starting in the early 1980s. He would drive a truck across the desert to camps set up by American corporations with staffers hungry for American food,” reports the Baltimore Business Journal.

Today United Source One (US1) operates from its 35,000 square foot office and warehouse facility distributing frozen, chilled and non-refrigerated American foods as well as beef and poultry to importers in the Middle East. US1's customers include distributors that focus on restaurants and upscale international hotels. Popular U.S. based restaurant chains also import their products direct from United Source One.

American style casual restaurants populate the entire Gulf region, which comes as a surprise to many Americans. Fuddruckers was the first American restaurant group that approached Imgarten back in the early 1990s about providing U.S. products to its operators in the Middle East. Today, United Source One provides support to the full range of major American casual dining restaurant concepts operating in the region.
    
United Source One is required to prepare most of its food exports with Arabic food ingredient and handling translations. The US1 group has produced and applied as many as one million Arabic translations to food products during its busiest months, something most U.S. companies are reluctant to undertake.

Imgarten admits that recent beef bans, chicken bans and the war in Iraq have made the job more challenging. We were heavily involved in getting food to our troops before, during and after the war. But our long-term focus has always been and remains our customers in the commercial sector. We understand the region and weve worked hard at developing a strong bond of trust with our partners overseas. For all of us here, our responsibilities to our customers really are personal.”

Imgarten concluded, We are truly honored to be named Exporter of the Year because the award recognizes the value of people and relationships.”

United Source One was also honored in June by being named fourth on Entrepreneur Magazines Annual Hot 100 list of Americans fastest-growing new entrepreneurial companies.

For more information on United Source One:

John Quinn @ Quinn, Moutsos & Wiedorfer
Tel: +1 410 521-9557     Fax +1 410 521-9718
Email john@qmwcpas.com

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