Sunrise Foods is a family owned food manufacturer. They make processed protein and sauces, mostly Asian varieties, and everything they make is frozen. They sell into the food service channel: university dining halls, grocery hot bars and grab and go cases, and military meal kits they have supplied for more than twenty years. Owner and president Mark Pi Jr. runs the business his father started, which began as one kitchen behind a group of restaurants.
The Evolution of Sunrise Foods
- Early 1980s: Mark Pi Sr. comes to America with less than $100 and builds a restaurant group.
- About 30 years ago: He opens a central kitchen to keep the food consistent across every restaurant, so anyone he trained could cook a high quality meal the same way every time.
- Over time: The kitchen outgrows the restaurants and becomes a manufacturer serving food service.
- 2016: A fire in a neighboring unit destroys the building and the operation inside it, after almost 30 years in that space.
- Late 2018: Sunrise buys and opens its current plant with help from its bank. Then the pandemic hits.
- Today: The company supplies universities, grocery chains, and the military, with a team in place to grow.
I really think of Sunrise Foods as being resilient. We've been through a plant fire and plant rebuild.
— Katie Cunningham, Director of Business Development
During the rebuild, Mark and Katie talked seriously about handing production to co-packers. They collected samples and met with vendors for months. Nobody could do what Sunrise did.
We just couldn't find someone that did exactly what we did. So it was so important for us to open back up as a food manufacturer and create our own product with our eyes on the product every day."
— Katie Cunningham, Director of Business Development
The Challenge: Numbers That Showed Up Too Late
Sunrise runs its financials through its ERP system instead of bookkeeping software. That left the company waiting months to find out how it was doing.
- Reports ran far behind. Financial statements arrived when three quarters of the year was already gone.
- Tax season was the only checkpoint. Mark waited to hear whether the return would be filed on time or extended, then got an email asking him to sign it.
- Signing meant guessing. He signed returns without the information to know what he was signing.
- The bank asked for current numbers. The most recent statements Mark could hand over were four months old.
- R&D credits went unclaimed. Mark kept reading about the credit and could tell Sunrise qualified. Nobody had ever walked him through it.
I kept getting information about the R&D tax credit, and everything I look at is like, we definitely can qualify for this. I just don't know why nobody told us or pushed me to do it.
— Mark Pi Jr., Owner & President
The Solution: Partnering with Arvo
Mark called Arvo about the R&D credit. He found out Arvo also does bookkeeping and tax work, and decided to move all of it at once.
- One partner for all three. Bookkeeping, tax, and R&D credits in one place instead of spread across vendors.
- Problems arrive with answers. When something looks off in the financials, Arvo brings what it found, how it traced it, and how to fix it.
- A guided credit process. Arvo's platform tells a small team what to enter and flags anything missing right away.
- A fast catch up. Arvo got Sunrise current and learned the business along the way.
When we've had issues come up on financials, it's been like: here's the discrepancies, best of luck, find them and let us know what you find. And that's not been the case with Arvo. They have been like, here's what we found, here's how we traced it, this is what our suggestion is to fix it. We found a problem, but we already have a solution. It's exactly what I want to hear.
— Katie Cunningham, Director of Business Development
It can be a daunting process because there's a lot of information. However, the platform that was presented to us of how we enter information was super clear, and we were able to populate and get very quick feedback on anything that was missing. They really made a daunting process more feasible for our small company and our small team.
— Katie Cunningham, Director of Business Development
The Impact
- Sunrise beat the bank to the ask. Mark sent August financials in the first week and heard back right away.
- Katie got ten hours a month back. She spends them calling customers, selling product, and building new items.
- Decisions run on current information. The team reads cash flow as it happens instead of months later.
- R&D is worth funding. Knowing the credit is there makes the case to put more money into product development.
Arvo saved me so many hours, ten hours a month minimum over the last couple months. It's more time to make calls to customers. What I really enjoy is talking to customers, selling product, making new items, and pushing the envelope with our team on what we can do, how much we can produce. Those are the fun things. I don't want to work on financials.
— Katie Cunningham, Director of Business Development
It's a little embarrassing when the bank asks for your most current financial statement and you say, 'I have it from four months ago.' That's a big difference now.
— Mark Pi Jr., Owner & President
Knowing that there's opportunity for us in that area, we definitely would spend more time and effort and energy and money doing R&D and product development and improvement.
— Mark Pi Jr., Owner & President
Conclusion & Future Outlook
Sunrise Foods has rebuilt a plant and opened it into a pandemic. The business was never the problem. The numbers were, and only because they came too late to use.
Now the books are current, cash flow is clear, and the R&D work the team was already doing earns credits. Mark and Katie can plan the next few years on what the business is doing today.
I'm very excited at the opportunity that Arvo is there to help me in our next five to ten years.
— Mark Pi Jr., Owner & President
Asked whether he would tell another food manufacturer to call Arvo:
I would most certainly, if I have to drag them here myself, yes.
— Mark Pi Jr., Owner & President
