by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
Trash. We all produce it, every home, every business, and every store and restaurant. It’s got to go somewhere, and if it doesn’t, well, then all business and daily life as we know it would grind to a halt.
Garbage-N-More has worked hard to build their reputation for reliable service, and they aren’t going away. However, as of March 1st, there’s a new set of hands on the wheel with a new owner. Judd Sopoci has purchased Garbage-N-More from Jeff and Julie Schreurs.
Sopoci hails originally from Mitchell, SD. He attended the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and got his MBA at the University of Sioux Falls. Since then he’s lived in both Arizona and Texas, working in technology and fiber optics. Looking for a change and looking to come back home to South Dakota, he decided to take the plunge into small business ownership.
“I met Jeff and Julie thanks to a mutual friend back in October,” he said. “They’ve been looking to sell their business to the right person. I came up to Garretson and saw what a great business they’d built and as a business opportunity it was a no brainer.”
When we asked Jeff Schreurs how things had changed since he started the company back in 2008, he said, “Boy I’m not sure how to answer that… other than to say a lot. We’ve gone from just 130 customers to over 3,500 customers. More trucks, more people, more schedules. We could not have gotten as far as we have without our great customers, the people who’ve believed in us and believed in Garbage-N-More. We’re truly grateful.”
“I don’t plan on changing anything about Garbage-N-More and the way we do business,” said Sopoci. “When I met Jeff and Julie, I saw right away that they were solid, salt of the earth people who built a business based on their own strong work ethic. I believe in what they’ve done and I want to continue it into the future. We’re a Monday through Friday operation, with some weekends as needed. We have an excellent team, all our drivers and staff, great people with good energy and a solid work ethic. In the last few months we’ve picked up a lot of new clients from our most direct competitor because we’ve made the effort to get out there, even with the storms and horrible conditions, and people see that. This is the kind of company that Jeff and Julie have built and I’d be a fool to change anything about that. Jeff and Julie aren’t going anywhere, they’ll be at the company for as long as they want to be here.”
In fact, Jeff Schreurs is starting a side business in roll-off dumpsters.
“Roll-offs are larger containers, usually deployed when there is a major construction project or housing remodel going on with a lot of demolition/construction type trash produced for a job site. With the large amount of construction going on in the area, this will be a going venture that I can specialize in and do comfortably until I’m ready to fully retire.”
And if a customer calls up Garbage-N-More looking for a service like that, Sopoci said he’ll happily pass the request along to Jeff.
Sopoci is divorced with two sons, one in high school and one finishing his last year of tech school, who will be coming up to join his dad in the new family business once he finishes school this summer.
“It’s been about a week since we signed the official paperwork, but it’s been great so far,” Sopoci said. “Getting an SBA (small business loan) and working with the local bank and interacting with small business community has so far been very rewarding. I’m working on getting my CDL license and a whole lot of other things, but I’m looking forward to all of them, and to being a part of the business community in Garretson.”
“It’s a process that maybe couldn’t happen in a big town,” said Schreurs. “Things in Garretson can get settled on a promise and a handshake and you can count on them to get done, whereas in the big city it doesn’t work out that way.”
One final thing, Jessie Koob (Jeff and Julie’s daughter), from her spot at the front desk at Garbage-N-More asks readers to follow them on social media, as that way they can get up to the minute details posted to Facebook during the big storm events on route changes and if there will be delays in service.
