Editor’s Note:Welcome to Industry Q&A, an ongoing feature highlighting members of the industry and their companies. Interested in participating? Contact Jeff Golden at GoldenJ@bnpmedia.com or (818) 224-8035 ext. 2218.
NFTrecently spoke with Gary Hernandez, Jr., about becoming Healthier Choice Specialty Products Division vice president, after the company acquired his Flexitions stainable flexible transition molding line last August. He also talks about the origin of Flexitions, and what’s ahead for both organizations.
What is the origin of Flexitions?
Flexitions LLC was launched in 2009, but Flexitions the product line was created in 2006. Flexitions was created to solve a huge void within the flooring industry and to provide a solution to installation headaches when dealing with a curve, arch or radius within a laminate or hardwood flooring installation. We also wanted to provide a product that would allow new, innovative design options when installing flooring products.
How did the acquisition of Flexitions by Healthier Choice come about?
We have a long-standing personal relationship with the Healthier Choice ownership, which is a family-owned business. We possess a great deal of admiration and respect for Craig Poteet (president & ceo) and Carl Poteet (chairman), a father and son team, just like us (Gary Hernandez, Jr., vp specialty products, and Gary Hernandez, Sr., vp sales).
Our products are produced with similar technology, and Healthier Choice was seeking to expand their product offering and open their business up to new channels and opportunity. Flexitions further assists in the Healthier Choice strategic and growth plan and is a good fit for the new Healthier Choice Specialty Products Division.
What does the acquisition mean for both companies?
Flexitions is now a brand that falls under the Healthier Choice umbrella and will be sold under Healthier Choice using the Flexitions brand name. This is an exciting time for everyone involved, and our business transition has placed us in a very unique and advantageous position that will assist in the strategic growth and expansion of the entire Healthier Choice organization.
To sum it up, this transition means strength, longevity, continuous innovation and expansion. Healthier Choice is an innovative, professional and very diverse manufacturing company and we’re very pleased to be part of such a great organization.
What’s on the horizon for Flexitions and Healthier Choice?
We will continue to advance the Flexitions product line utilizing our proprietary technology and have plans to introduce a new revolutionary line of moldings that could potentially reinvent and reshape the unfinished and prefinished wood transition molding business as the industry knows it today. Healthier Choice is currently working on several new products and investing heavily in R & D on carpet cushion and underlayment products.