Fanestil Meats owners Dan and Jan Smoots are the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Persons of the Year for Kansas as announced Saturday.
The SBA says Fanestil was recognized in part for surviving through multiple flood disasters with its longstanding facility in the Cottonwood River floodplain just south of Emporia, as well as the success of its Party Time Ham, distribution of its smokehouse meat products as far away as Canada, Singapore and China and its current work to build a 40,000 square-foot processing facility near its Fresh Local Market, cold storage facility and administrative offices in the 4700 block of West US Highway 50. Groundbreaking took place last fall after Fanestil received SBA 7(a) and 504 loan financing, in part through the work of Frontier Financial Partners of Emporia and RCB Bank of Winfield.
Fanestil now employs around 100 people. The Smoots have credited the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program for helping them work through supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Winners for all states will be recognized during the National Small Business Week Virtual Summit Awards Ceremony on May 5.
