Rofson.com is a Houston-based importer of disposable goods sourced primarily from Asia, selling to distributors across the 48 contiguous United States. Founded in 1963, the company has grown from $20M to $50M in revenue since 2013 and operates under a B2B model focused on food service end users and their distributors.
See also: [1] | [2]
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Website | rofson.com |
| Revenue (current) | ~$50M |
| Revenue target | $70–75M in 8–10 years |
| Growth rate | ~8–10% annually |
| Primary contact | Steve Dersch (steve@rofson.com) |
| Headquarters | Houston, TX |
| Warehouses | 3 locations |
| Brands | Rofson; Sandy Sure (gloves) |
Rofson moves approximately 450–500 forty-foot containers per year, split across two primary US entry points:
All containers are floor-loaded, requiring manual unloading and palletization at the receiving warehouse — a meaningful labor cost embedded in the logistics chain.
Product is sourced from six to eight factories across several Chinese manufacturing hubs:
Rofson works with three freight forwarders (one China-based, two California-based), allocating volume based on a combination of price, service level, and relationship history. Allocation shifts over time; one forwarder was reduced from ~50% to ~15% of business due to uncompetitive pricing.
Gloves dominate the portfolio by volume. The full product lineup is:
| Category | Products | Share of Volume |
|---|---|---|
| Gloves | Vinyl, nitrile, poly (no latex) | ~65% |
| Bamboo | Chopsticks, toothpicks, decorative/artillery picks | Significant |
| Stirrers | Wood and bamboo coffee stirrers | Significant |
| Plastic | Picks and miscellaneous plastic items | Minor |
The glove line is sold under the Sandy Sure trademark. All other products ship under the Rofson brand.
Rofson does not sell direct to end users in a fulfillment sense — it sells through distributors. However, its sales motion is end-user-first:
This means ~80% of Rofson's commercial relationships are with end users, even though physical product moves through distributors.
Pursuing distributors for their "street business" (stocking products speculatively for their own sales reps to push) is considered low-value. Rofson's margins are thin, and distributors prioritize higher-margin lines. The end-user pull model gives Rofson more control over placement and pricing.
E-commerce is intentionally minimal. A partner called KTOM handles essentially all of Rofson's e-com activity, but the total volume is negligible. The business model requires scale — customers ordering 10,000–30,000 cases per month — which is incompatible with parcel-level e-commerce economics.
The single largest operational concern is freight. Combined ocean and overland freight represents approximately 20% of cost of goods sold across 450–500 containers annually. This figure is actively monitored and considered the most pressing cost-control issue.
Contributing factors include:
- Floor-loaded containers requiring manual labor at receiving
- Three warehouse locations to serve
- Dependence on spot and contract ocean rates
Brokers are used as a sales channel but underperform because Rofson's low-margin products do not generate attractive commissions. Brokers naturally prioritize higher-commission items, making them an unreliable growth lever.
The current "push" sales model (outbound sales + brokers + influencers, no marketing) has successfully grown the business but is showing limits. Reaching the $70–75M target will require new approaches, including pull marketing and potentially new product categories.
Rofson competes in a mature, low-growth market. Revenue growth comes primarily from taking market share, not from market expansion. The value proposition is:
The company has historically kept a very low marketing profile — a deliberate posture carried over from a service philosophy of "no news is good news." Leadership now recognizes this needs to change to hit the next growth milestone.
A [3] in early 2026 identified pull marketing and a formal growth strategy session as the proposed next steps.