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“We’re confident and happy about our future and our opportunity for growth,” reports Maria Elena Infante, who handles the financial end of the business and has been working in printing with husband and company president Roberto Infante for the past 20 years. Son Antonio also works for the company in the prepress department. “The Miami area is growing, and we’re now serving the East Coast and beyond,” she adds. Doral is in Miami-Dade County, with City Colors located about five minutes from the Miami International airport.
Son Miguel, company vice president, explains that prior to launching City Colors, the family owned a one- and two-color operation running ABDick presses. Seeing that their customers were moving into color, the family chose to start fresh with City Colors.
“We decided on trade printing with no design services and no one- and two-color work. We set it up to receive print-ready files and send them directly to press. We’ve always been basic. We have four to six papers available in-house. We run full-color only, and offer business cards, postcards, flyers and brochures,” he says.
The company, now a $3.7 million, single 10-hour shift operation, has been growing steadily at 25 percent annually. City Colors currently services customers in approximately 25 states, primarily on the East Coast and in the Midwest. The firm is moving into Texas for the first time this year, but is not yet attacking the West Coast.
Quality, Speed, Cost
High-quality reproduction, quick turnaround and price are key to the company’s success. For example, an order for 1,000 UV-coated business cards submitted as a print-ready TIFF file costs $17 and ships in 24 hours. Other file formats are accepted, but Infante maintains that TIFF is the easiest format to process and correct, if necessary, so a lower price is warranted.
City Colors attracted its first customers via direct mail and word of mouth, and continues to rely on direct mail to expand.
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