Although he’s the namesake of his trucking business, Ted Sakaida is close to being fully retired, with other family members assuming day-to-day management responsibility.He said that he has loved being his own boss although admits it is easy to say that in hindsight when he has been established for so long. It will be 50 years next May since Sakaida purchased his first truck with money his parents had saved up for him to go to college.
“It turned out to be a worthwhile investment,” Sakaida said.
Today, Sakaida and Sons/Sun Aggregates LLC, employs about 25 workers in the Reseda offices and in a yard in Sylmar. Along with arranging transportation of dirt, sand and gravel, the company also moves heavy equipment, some of which it owns.One of the best aspects to Sakaida of running his own business is the ability to employ friends and family. He said that the company, as the name would imply, truly is a family business.
He also has helped people who needed a chance or even a second chance for success in life.
“I have always considered myself an underdog, so when I see that look in someone’s eye, I always try to help them out,” he added. “I have so many people that took a chance on me, I love the chance to pay it forward.”Among those who took a chance on Sakaida when he was starting out was Gordon Smith, an employee at Union Bank. He has been forever grateful for the service that Smith gave that Sakaida still uses the bank because of him.Being Japanese-American has not really affected his business as in the transportation industry, it’s about customers wanting to ensure they get the best work for the best possible price, he said.
“It has always been more about the bottom line than the color of your skin,” Sakaida added.He did admit that setting up a relationship with a bank to get credit came with difficulties. But he believed that it had more to do with his age at the time than the fact he was Asian.
“Having long hair and more tattoos than bankers typically like to see probably didn’t help either,” Sakaida said.
Other challenges that he has faced during the last 50 years have come in the form of economic recessions. Some were worse than others, but all affected the industry to some degree, Sakaida said His company has been able to weather those economic storms by not over-extending itself and keeping its overhead as low as possible, he added.
“Our office and yard are paid off and we do not buy new equipment unless we can either purchase it outright or are able to keep payments low,” he continued. “I have always reinvested into the company.”Additionally, Sakaida has diversified the business when times were good so as to better get through the downturns. “I started by just hauling dirt and over the years we have expanded to sand and gravel, heavy equipment and a lowbed department,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic has not proven much of a challenge to the trucking company. The construction industry did not slow down much until toward the end of last year when some of the funding on private projects wasn’t moving forward as much as it had been earlier in the year, Sakaida said.
“But things are starting to pick up again, so I think that is a positive sign for everyone,” he added.
– Mark R. Madler