Vermont 100+ 29th Anniversary, Keurig Green Mountain still Number 1

Vermont Business Magazine In January 1987, VBM ran its first Vermont 100, predicated on 1986 revenues. Since then there have been only four companies that have been Number One: C&S Wholesale Grocers, National Life Group, Fletcher Allen Health Care (now The University of Vermont Medical Center) and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc (now Keurig Green Mountain). Keurig Green Mountain has pulled away from the field with over $4 billion in revenues. It also boasted revenue growth of 62,000 percent over the last 25 years. You read that correctly. But because in our first year we asked for 1985 revenues also, we can now produce a 30-Year Growth Chart (see page 26). Keurig’s growth over that period of time? 146,178 percent. Yes, that cup of coffee Bob Stiller once had has certainly turned into something. And now his company is being sold to a European holding company for $13.9 billion). You can see see the full rankings of the Vermont 100+ by industry, find the fastest growing companies, and read about Keurig's upcoming sale and many other of the Vermont 100 companies in the January 2016 issue of Vermont Business Magazine.

It is also evident from the Vermont 100+ that Vermont businesses are doing better now than in recent years, but clearly not as well as pre-Great Recession.

For the 2007 list, 61.4 percent of the Vermont 100+ companies boasted one-year growth, with a median of 12.1 percent. By 2009, the numbers were half that at 32 percent showing growth with a median increase of 8.5 percent. As we’ve climbed, struggling out of the depths, the numbers for the 2013 list were 67 percent showing growth and the median was 8.4 percent. For this 2014 Vermont 100+, a very healthy 75 percent grew year-over-year with a median increase of 9.5 percent. As we added 21 more companies for 2015, the growth numbers aren’t as robust (54 percent showed one-year growth with a median of 7.1 percent), but the total number that actually grew was greater and more Vermont companies (21) were willing to share their financial information.

What we see is that there is general growth, but at a modest pace. This is unquestionably a better situation for Vermont than the frantic economic pace set in the middle part of the last decade, which culminated in a historic collapse.

Along with the rankings and stories about the many companies in the January issue, there are four “Fastest Growing” charts: Five, Ten, Twenty, and, for the first time, Thirty Years.

VERMONT 100+

($3 million or more in annual revenues)