With 180 employees from 37 countries, companies
Sweet Express and Sweet Logistics have found a way to bridge cultural differences and grow every year since launching 11 years ago.
Now the trucking and logistics companies, based at 3050 Breton Rd., the former Yamaha property, have several new positions to fill to keep them on the road: 10 to 15 over-the-road drivers, a mechanic, a safety compliance overseer, a driver manager, a load planner, and an entry-level accountant.
Owners Damir Vidinlic and his brother Jasmin Vidinlic came to America with their parents in 1996. They emigrated from their home country, then called Yugoslavia, to escape the
Bosnian War. They knew no English and had only one bag of belongings and little money. The parents worked hard to put Damir through Grand Valley State University, where he earned a mechanical engineering degree.
Brother Jasmin, who drove truck in Yugoslavia, saw that truck drivers in America were "at the bottom of the totem pole and were getting cheated, and he didn't like that," Damir Vidinlic says. "He wanted to start a trucking company to change that."
"In the beginning, the biggest challenge was the language barrier," Vidinlic says. "Now it's about how good are you in adapting to new things. Twenty-nine people work in the office and only one person in 11 years has quit, because we are very careful on how we put teams together."
The companies haul freight across 48 states, plus warehouse customer products in the 80,000-square-foot warehouse. Vidinlic says that in the past 12 months, the Sweet companies have added 50 new trucks and some 28 drivers.
To apply for a job, stop by the company office between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Mon. - Fri.
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Sweet Express
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.