Article: From green thumb to greenbacks

BANFE PRODUCTS

When Jerry Banfe sold a successful business that distributed Canon office machines, why in the world did he open a new company that sold, among other things, wholesale mulch?

Jerry Banfe's son Dan, CEO of the 7-year-old Barrington-based Banfe Products, takes a not-so-wild guess.

"The fastest growing industry in the United States is the green industry," says Dan Banfe, 32. "People are spending more time taking care of their homes. The population is older and living longer and they want shrubs and flowers."

So what if neither father nor son had a background in garden products? The two men got into a growing field, developed a niche and applied sales techniques rarely used in ...

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