Steelite International Unveils Youngstown Headquarters
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Steelite International does business across the world, but it’s now headquartered downtown.
On Friday, the company, a worldwide distributor of tableware for the hospitality industry, hosted a grand opening of its new offices at 255 W. Federal St. Steelite moved into and opened the new location about four months ago. About 120 people work in the building, with more on the way.
The new space for the international company is designed with employees in mind, said John Miles, Steelite president and CEO.
“No. 1, as you’ll see when you walk around, it’s a fantastic work environment for the employees,” Miles said. “We do the Google kitchen here. It’s all free snacks, all free soft drinks, water, coffee, tea. It’s open; it’s well-lit. Everyone has a professional workspace. We’ve really found that to be a big thing in attracting and keeping young people.”
Many employees are in their 20s.
“Having a work environment that they want to come to every day is pretty important in the world today, so that’s been really great for us,” he said.
That’s true for Angela Richards, Steelite marketing manager.
“It’s so nice to have a place where you want to come to work every day,” she said.
Richards has been with the company for 11 years, since she graduated from college. She calls it a blessing to be with a company and to watch it grow.
The company moved to Youngstown as it was running out of room at its offices in New Castle, Pa. It opened its showroom in the Commerce Building in Youngstown, in the former Youngstown Club space, in 2016. Visitors to the showroom, coming from all over the world, would stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton Youngstown Downtown.
“The hotel really drove the showroom, and we had so many people coming in who liked it here that when we wanted to relocate the global headquarters. It made sense to locate it here,” Miles said.
The company is looking at more acquisitions. Depending on how those transpire, another 20 to 30 people could be working out of the new headquarters.
“We’ve just taken on another 14,000 square feet in the bottom of the Semple Building,” Miles said. “We’re building out a quality control lab there, and there will be another showroom over there.”
The company will maintain its showroom in the Commerce Building too.
The new headquarters spans about 31,000 square feet between the main space, formerly the Taft Technology Center, and the Semple Building. As an incentive for the company to move its headquarters, Youngstown officials provided Steelite with a job creation grant valued at an estimated $415,000.
The first floor houses the welcome center, with a shuffle board for employees, seating area and meeting space. Each of the employee floors boasts a kitchen, with the snacks; quiet rooms to allow employees privacy; and meeting areas, all in a modern design.
Steelite International has about 60 brands across many product segments.
“We go from entry level, to Panera Bread, all the way to three Michelin Stars, to The French Laundry, and everything in between,” Miles said.
Steelite International maintains operations in New Castle.
“We’re just announcing a 350,000-square-foot warehouse build in New Castle that will finish off our distribution footprint over there,” Miles said. “We’re working on some things that will be coming to Youngstown as well. … We’re always in the acquisitions market, and we have some things that we think will be beneficial for downtown.”
Pictured at top: John Miles, Steelite International president and CEO, stands inside the entry of the company’s headquarters Friday during its grand opening at 255 W. Federal St. in downtown Youngstown.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
