Aabaco Environmental Industries

By Shavantay Minnis

Long time business owner Daniel Hannon moved to a new state and was overwhelmed trying to find a new business to buy. Thanks to the Florida Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), he purchased Aabaco Environmental Industries and took it to a whole new level.

As a resident of New York, Hannon previously owned and operated a commodity trading company selling plastic and chemical materials. When he and his wife relocated to Florida in 2015. Hannon immediately began searching for a business that he could obtain and grow.

With the help of the consultants from the Florida SBDC at FAU, Hannon’s company grew. It went from just him and his wife, one part-time warehouse employee and six national distributors, to eight full-time employees, five warehouses, an e-commerce site and contracts with the military, state and local government.

“Debbie has been invaluable, an absolute rock star always figuring out what we needed to make the business work” Hannon said. “The amount of market information on this business she provided was amazing.”

Opened in 1984, Aabaco was owned by two long-time friends, who sold oil, chemical and safety spill kits only to local businesses. In 2017, Hannon took over with plans for expansion. And he made it happen.

Today, Aabaco Environmental Industries offers products to local businesses, and to consumers online at sites like Amazon. The company’s products have expanded to include carpet cleaners, personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectants and fertilizers for lawns.

“I originally did not know much about this particular type of business, but with the help from the SBDC at FAU, we now have a customer relationship management software program, a business plan, inventory systems and ways to operate an online site,” Hannon said.

In the last year alone, Aabaco Environmental Industries went from a monthly revenue of 200 orders to a monthly revenue of 34,000 orders. Even as the pandemic struck, Hannon and his team joined the prevention fight and donated PPE and respirators to the local police department and the hospital in his community.

Hannon will continue his work with Lanford, but also work with other consultants at the Florida SBDC at FAU, who can help him network and grow his business. To further his connections with the government, he is currently working with Mike Bell.

“The volume of work and products that we are selling right now through the pandemic could not have been possible without the SBDC at FAU,” Hannon said.