St. Mary's Daily Press - Concrete business changes hands, offers new services

Amy VonArx, former owner of Redmond’s Ready Mix, Inc., will act as plant manager of the Ridgway site of J.J. Kennedy, Inc. - a concrete and building supply company based out of Zelienople. She is shown with Jim Rader, president of J.J. Kennedy, Inc., The merger has allowed the Ridgway plant to vastly improve and expand its services and capabilities.

In an effort to expand and improve its business and services, Redmond’s Ready Mix, Inc. was recently purchased by J.J. Kennedy, Inc., a Zelienople-based company. Amy VonArx, former owner of Redmond’s will manage the Ridgway site, which has recently become PennDOT certified.

“We’re here, up and running after being closed for 3 1/2 years,” VonArx said.

As a concrete and building supply business, J.J. Kennedy, Inc. offers ready-mix concrete as its main product used mostly on driveways, patios, roads and bridges. The company also sells a variety of building supplies including finishing tools, concrete blocks and risers, stepping stones, mason sand, gravel, mortar and cement.

In February VonArx sold Redmond’s, located at 3740 Johnsonburg-Ridgway Rd., which she had owned for 20 years. VonArx and Jim Rader, co-owner, have been business acquaintances for the past 12 years.

The change in ownership allows for the Ridgway site to improve its services. J.J. Kennedy offers the latest in concrete technology by utilizing front discharge trucks, all of which are four-wheel drive and allows the driver to oversee all operations without leaving the cab of the truck.

A computerized central dispatching system loads concrete into the trucks at each of the five company sites in Fombell, Portersville, Shippenville, Punxsutawney and Ridgway.

A real-time GPS system monitors the locations of each truck and when it is due back at the plant, providing for better overall customer service.

In total J.J. Kennedy utilizes a fleet of 42 mixers, which can be interchanged among plant sites. Each mixer can haul up to 10 yards of concrete. In comparison, the typical residential pour consists of 6-7 yards of concrete, with some pours using 32 yards if setting a house foundation, basement, sidewalk, garage floor and driveway.

“A bulk of our business is with commercial, industrial and residential. We have had a positive response from contractors,” according to VonArx.

Recently J.J. Kennedy was awarded the bid for the Johnsonburg Bypass project, in which they began working on six to eight weeks ago. Rader said the company hopes to add five additional employees to focus solely on the project.

Rader explained that the company’s mixer fleet and employees can be shared between sites to be more efficient with larger projects.

In the past, Redmond’s has worked on such projects as the Fox Township Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2003 and the Ridgway Sheetz store.

April to November is the busiest time of year for J.J. Kennedy, which has an overall employee force of 80, with four individuals employed at the Ridgway site.

J.J. Kennedy, Inc. was founded in 1905 as a feed and flour mill in Zelienople. David Kennedy and Paul Rader purchased the business in 1966 from Walter Kennedy, David’s father. In April 1988 Paul Rader and his three sons purchased Kennedy’s stake in the corporation. Today Paul and his sons, Paul Jr. (Rusty), John and Jim have added four locations and doubled the number of employees in the corporation.

In addition Kennedy Oil, LLC, a subsidiary of J.J. Kennedy, Inc., has been a supplier of home heating oil for over 35 years to homeowners and businesses.