Cookie company earns SBA 100 recognition

10/3/2011

The SBA 100 represents a list of companies across the country that have created at least 100 jobs after receiving support from the Small Business Administration.

This support can come in the form of capital, contracting, counseling or investments, and has been dispersed to businesses in industries such as manufacturing, food and beverage and shipping, according to the SBA's website.

One food company, Claysburg, Pennsylvania-based Shirley's Cookie Company, was recognized by the SBA earlier this month for its growth from 18 workers in 2003 to 140 this year.

The company received its first SBA loan in 2003, and another one in 2007 in order to build a 10,000-square-foot expansion to their baking and distribution center, the SBA's website reports.

The Houston Chronicle adds that Shirley's found success by baking its own goods, freezing them and selling them to supermarkets for convenient shelf placement in baked sale areas.

U.S. Republican Representative Bill Shuster called Shirley's growth strategy "quintessentially America." The company plans to add 25 more workers in the near future.