BUSINESS FINANCE PROGRAM

The Business Finance Program provides flexible financing to new or existing businesses in the seven-county Arrowhead Region with the goal of helping retain or create high-quality jobs and sustain the economic vitality of northeastern Minnesota.

Premier Plastics moved its operations to northeastern Minnesota in 2003. Production runs 24 hours a day.

Premier Plastics
Hoyt Lakes

If the story of Premier Plastics is one most people haven’t heard, they should, for it is a success story about hard work and partnerships – not only Premier Plastics’ but also that of the region’s economic development community.

In 1997 Bob Menne, III and his father, Bob Menne, Jr., launched Premier Plastics, manufacturing plastic parts for boats and recreational vehicles. With experienced father/son partners at the helm, and a guaranteed customer in Premier Marine (owned by Menne, Jr.), the company seemed destined for big things.

Big is right. Premier soon outgrew its Twin Cities-area plant. But Metro real estate was pricey and reliable labor was scarce.

The City of Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota Power, the Northland Foundation, and others partnered to attract Premier Plastics to move north. Today, the company occupies 35,000 square feet in Laskin Energy Park and employs 47 local people. Now, that’s big.