Zak Designs Inc., of Airway Heights, plans to expand its facility here next year by 50,000 square feet, to crest $100 million in annual sales by the following year, and to make exports a bigger part of its business.


Zak Designs, which designs and distributes cartoon character-emblazoned childrens plastic dinnerware, as well as other kitchenware items, currently occupies 200,000 square feet of space at its headquarters building in Airway Heights. Now, the company is evaluating when in the next 12 months it will need to add on another 50,000 square feet of warehouse space there, company President and CEO Irv Zakheim told a Deans Business Forum audience at Gonzaga University last week.


Zakheim says that as the company continues to acquire additional kitchenware linesit has bought two so far this yearit will need more warehouse space for those products. In May, Zak Designs bought the assets of Los Angeles-based Treasure Craft, a maker of ceramic cookie jars, and in June, it acquired the e-z-rol Garlic Peeler product from a Los Angeles inventor.


Zakheim also told the audience at Gonzaga that Zak Designs expects to exceed annual sales of $100 million by the end of 2001. That will be accomplished through more acquisitions, an internal expansion of its product lines, and improvements to its distribution network, he says.


The company is on target to post sales this year of between $70 million and $75 million, up from about $55 million last year and $45 million in 1997, Zakheim says. That growth, he says, should help Zak Designs continue its climb up Washington CEO magazines list of Washington states top 150 privately held companies. Based on annual revenue, Zak Designs was ranked 135th on the list last year, up from 145th in 1997.


In addition to boosting its annual revenue, Zak Designs also is seeking to beef up its international sales, which currently account for 5 percent to 10 percent of the companys overall sales. Zakheim says the companys goal is to have exports make up 20 percent of its total sales within the next three to four years.


One way Zak Designs hopes to achieve that is by enhancing its sales and distribution channels abroad.


Our strategy is to find good (overseas) distributors, develop a relationship with them, and then form a joint venture. We have found thats an ideal way to get into the international marketplace, Zakheim says.


Currently, Zak Designs is forming a joint venture with a Mexican distributor with which it has been working for the past two years. Zakheim expects Zak Designs and the distributor to have equal ownership of the venture, which will distribute Zak Designs products throughout Mexico. He says the companies hope to have that arrangement finalized by the end of the year.


Zak Designs also remains interested in opening a distribution center in Southern Europe and a sales office in South America. Zakheim says that he and another Zak Designs staff member are scheduled to meet with a potential partner from each of those markets later this month.


Zak Designs, which currently employs 190 people, moved to Spokane from Los Angeles in 1992. When it first opened its office here, the company employed six people and occupied 62,000 square feet of space in Airway Heights. It since has expanded its facility several times, more than tripling its overall space. During its first year of business here, the company did $11 million in sales.