Journal & Topics Media Group

Bahamas Bound

Walter: College Game Sponsorship ‘Tremendous Foresight’ To Keep Business Park Full

Tom Walter, CEO of Elk Grove Village based Tasty Catering. (Photo provided)

Tom Walter, president, CEO and “chief culture officer” of Elk Grove Village-based Tasty Catering since 1989, is going to the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl in Nassau. The event’s title sponsor is Elk Grove Village, whose marketing slogan is “Makers Wanted”.

Walter said besides taking a nice tropical vacation to the Bahamas in December, he hopes to be a voice to talk to fellow business leaders attending the event, who might consider moving company operations to Elk Grove, in terms they can understand.

“My drive (going to the Bahamas) is not just for Tasty Catering, but to increase the value of property,” Walter said. “The percent of (Tasty Catering) sales to Elk Grove Village is de minimis. My drive is to keep the business park occupied.”

Walter and Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson both said they hope to see a large contingent of Elk Grove Village businesses at the bowl game. Walter said Johnson showed “tremendous foresight” in securing the sponsorship.

Politicians and public officials know how to speak about government issues related to business, but Walter said as CEO of a company which started in the mid-1980s, now operating seven companies from within two buildings in Elk Grove Village, he knows how to talk to business owners and entrepreneurs while providing the answers they need.

Walter said he is well aware of the coming 85-acre Elk Grove Technology Park on the former Busse Farm and the need to market both the business park and new technology park to businesses across the country and the globe. “I’d love to see a national or international company come to Elk Grove.”

From his office window, Walter said he can see the 50 vehicles in the Atlas Toyota parking lot each day, and the jobs and revenue to the village that represents. He said he knows economies run in cycles and that it takes three to four years to bring a new business into the village. He said the village needs strong leaders with foresight to ensure the business park remains vibrant.

“It’s not about today,” Walter said. “There’s a lot of things the village can do [in terms of building and maintaining infrastructure], but you can’t do that with an 80 percent occupancy rate. We would not be able to maintain the current village services with that type of downturn in occupancy. It is the responsibility of our leaders to plan for that potential event.”

Currently, Elk Grove Village’s business park claims a low 2.6 percent vacancy rate, or a 97.4 percent occupancy rate. Johnson credits that low vacancy rate, along with rising property values and sales taxes which filled village coffers to the tune of $20 million last year, as allowing the village to pay for the Elk Grove 2025 Plan. That plan’s growing budget and project list for village infrastructure and building projects currently stands at $135 million.

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