Lance Rantala

Hello BLUE HAWK Community,

How are you doing now? Through the first half of 2021, the BLUE HAWK Members have been experiencing phenomenal growth. Our co-op’s Members increased their average and median year-over-year purchases by 29.9% and 24.5%, respectively.

What is more, according to our Benchmark BLUE data, the BLUE HAWK Members’ median sales growth was 29.2%, and median EBITDA margins skyrocketed to 10.6% over the second quarter of 2020. The new high water market for median EBITDA is the highest since launching the financial benchmarking tool. The highest result was 6.8% in the third quarter of 2020.

Suppose your company is not participating in BLUE HAWK’s financial benchmarking platform. In that case, it is time to get your head out of the sand and to start submitting your quarterly trial balances to Benchmark BLUE’s third-party administrator CoMetrics. Your company’s results are anonymous and secure. You and only you will know how you stack up against the group’s key performance metrics.

Are you ready to sell your business? BLUE HAWK has a program that can assist. The Growing Forward Acquisition Program confidentially connects Members interested in selling their businesses with Members expanding through acquisitions. Please consider selling to another independent before selling to a competitor of BLUE HAWK.

Fact: Growing Forward has matched
27 sellers and buyers since 2009.

Want to help us celebrate BLUE HAWK’s 16th anniversary? All we ask is for each BLUE HAWK Member to identify a Vendor Partner, Alliance Partner, and Solution Partner, and support them before the end of the year. Here is a quick list to get you started

• The Dashboard: Complete the purchasing and rebate analytics tool’s onboarding process; contact Jessica Jones, Data Analyst, at (480) 499-4426 or jjones@bluehawkcooperative.com.
• BLUE HAWK Retirement: Significantly reduces your 401(k) costs and fiduciary liabilities; contact Andrew Thompson at Andrew.Thompson2@lfg.com or (608) 287-3024.
• IMARK Health Insurance Captive: Lower costs and control future increases of your employees’ healthcare costs by joining Pareto Health Captive; contact Dee VanSchoick, Jr., Managing Director of Risk Strategies Company, at (936) 582-5205 or dvanschoick@risk-strategies.com.
• BLUE data: Sign-up for the industry’s best rich product content for your customer’s online experience; contact Bob Stone at Robert_Stone@tradeservice.com or (858) 775-9829.
• BLUeCommerce: Create online revenue with a complete and turnkey Amazon-like webstore solution; contact the Second Phase Sales Team at secondphase@billtrust.com.
• BLUE HAWK University: Promote BHU Essentials to your employees; if you forgot your username and password, email bhu@bluehawkcooperative.com.
• Benchmark BLUE: Anonymously and securely benchmarks your financial performance against other Members; contact Paul Giudice at paul@cometrics.com or (857) 472-4711.
• Growing Forward: Confidentially matches buyers and sellers of businesses; contact Lance Rantala at lrantala@bluehawkcooperative.com or (773) 525-7200.

Thank you in advance for your support and trust in our vetted programs and services.

GROW WITH BLUE,