Rob Eldredge and Chip Mayo, the proprietors of Honey Brook-based ME3 Corporation, share a long history together in their professional lives. Eldredge grew up in West Bradford and worked in the family trucking business for 20 years through high school and college, and again after he served in the Marine Corps.

Eldredge met Mayo 21 years ago when the latter was hired into the family firm as a truck driver. Mayo was trained by Eldredge and eventually took on new roles as a dispatcher and driver recruiter, enabling him to experience a broader scope of this business.

In 2013, Eldredge took a big step forward when he left the family business to work for a large trucking company with five times the number of employees and almost four times the revenues. There were many challenges to address, including serious retention issues and a glass ceiling on income, which negatively affected profit margins. Eldredge invited Mayo to join him at this new company to develop a team and establish a new mission.

As a result, driver turnover was quickly reduced from 86 percent to 22 percent. In November 2015, the two left for another company to help them with the same issues. Unfortunately, a few months later, Eldredge lost his position at the company when there was an unexpected death in the leadership team. Shortly after that, Mayo was laid off. It was time for a change.

The Path to Success

Eldredge and Mayo were on a mission to buy a business, something very different from what they had experienced in the past. The search was much more difficult than they imagined. Around this time, they learned about SCORE through business networking and connected with mentor John Ralston.

There was one firm, a trucking firm based in Honey Brook, that kept coming up on their radar as they continued their research. The business came with a major key account servicing 33 customer locations, a 10-truck fleet, and a team of experienced drivers. Ralston advised Eldredge and Mayo to take a good look at this opportunity because of their broad and deep expertise in the industry.

With Ralston’s guidance, they investigated every angle of the organization and asked the tough questions. By January 2018, Eldredge and Mayo made the acquisition and ME3 Corporation was official: “M” for Mayo and “E3” for Eldredge with three E’s.

How SCORE Helped

Mayo recalls how SCORE mentoring provided the structure and discipline to conduct a business evaluation, using thorough analysis and patience. Ralston helped them select the business to buy. Together, they analyzed the financials to develop a good sense of its value, prepared an offer, and negotiated an agreement with the seller. With SCORE’s guidance, they selected the legal and accounting professional team, decided on funding, and conducted the due diligence.

“Working with John kept us focused,” said Mayo. “We learned to hit the reset button and moved forward.”

Eldredge reminisced on how much work was involved in studying an existing business.

“John helped us to stop spending time on ‘small potatoes’ and understand the ‘big picture,’” he said.

Ralston compliments the ME3 Corporation owners for developing a good plan going into their search process and working their plan. Now that Eldredge and Mayo have a stable and healthy business, the team of three meet once every six months to check in.

ME3 Corporation is in the business of picking up food that cannot be sold and would otherwise be wasted. The drivers deliver it to a feed mill that turns it into feed for animals.

Eldredge and Mayo will share their success story and be honored by SCORE Chester and Delaware Counties at its virtual awards celebration on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 12 PM. Click here to register.