News: SOS Staffing acquires Greeley’s Excel agency

GREELEY -SOS Staffing Services Inc. has purchased the Excel Employment Agency of Greeley, in a deal that closed July 15. Excel specialized in placing permanent workers, but emphasis will be shifted toward temporary-employment services, said Steve Randazzo, branchmanager for SOS in Fort Collins. Salt Lake City-based SOS operates about 80 offices in the West, including eight in the Denver area, and had announced plans recently to open anoffice in Loveland. Those plans, however, have been dropped, Randazzo said, because the Loveland market can be served from Fort Collins. He noted that On Call Employment Services serves the Fort Collins market from Loveland, so SOS is planning to do the reverse. “We’re going to kind of serve that [market] from here,” Randazzo said, adding that a Loveland office is “just another overhead cost that we reallydon’t need.” Excel posted annual revenue of about $200,000. Owner Dorothy Bell founded the company 19 years ago and only last year ventured into the
temporary-employment arena. “It’s kind of a different ballgame,” she said, noting that competition in the permanent-employment industry wasn’t nearly as heated. “It is a faster pace
than the permanent ones.” Bell said the death of her son in April and the fact that her husband retired from the Colorado State Patrol 10 years ago contributed to her decision to
sell the company. She said she intends to remain with SOS for “about a year.” “I’ve never gotten tired of it,” she said. Over the years, Bell has built up a loyal customer base, including Rhodes Construction, Weld County Garage, Miller Feed Lots Inc. and a number of
agents with State Farm Insurance Cos. Meanwhile, On Call will soon begin operating under a new corporate parent. The Loveland employment agency founded by Betty and John Becker
merged in February with Brewer Personnel Services Inc. of Arkansas. Now, Brewer and On Call will operate under the banner of StaffMark Inc., which has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission to go public. On Call will now be known as On Call, a StaffMark company.