Darien-based
Royal Basket Trucks’ growth is not slowing down any time soon, as the company targets 5% sales growth in 2024.
The company, a manufacturer of basket trucks, laundry carts and custom material handling solutions, has grown from about $800,000 in sales in 1997, which is when current president
Tom Carney bought the company, to $34 million in sales in 2023.
Royal Basket Trucks mainly sells its products through catalogues to customers in the hospitality, health care, material handling, commercial laundry, education, athletics and property management industries.
“If you see a scene on TV where some convict is trying to escape from jail and they’re in the bottom of these carts that they throw all the laundry in…those are our carts,” said Carney.
The bulk of the company’s growth stems from creating new products that are developed in-house, according to Carney.
Royal Basket Trucks began manufacturing general material handling carts made of vinyl and canvas in 1982. Since then, the company has grown its portfolio of products to include plastic and steel carts. This makes the carts more resilient and less likely to react with any sort of cleaning chemicals. The carts can be customized to various sizes and shapes. Last year, Royal Basket Trucks also launched a line of motorized housekeeping carts used in the hospitality industry.
“A lot of our growth is coming in the plastics area, so we’re looking to add more machinery for that,” said Carney.
To support its growth, Royal Basket Trucks has expanded its Darien headquarters several times.
About three years ago, the company completed an 80,000-square-foot building addition. In 2022, Royal Basket Trucks bought a 35,000-square-foot building in the same industrial park, located at 535 Wall St. In 2023, the company added yet another 3,500 square feet to its existing shipping area.
This year, Carney plans to add 25,000 square feet of additional warehouse space. He hopes to break ground in the next several months. Royal Basket Trucks also recently purchased a new building located across the street from its first facility.
Carney doesn’t anticipate adding employees this year, but said he’ll likely start hiring again next year.
“We went through a bad time where we couldn’t get enough employees. Now we’ve got a full team so we want to make sure we keep them all,” he said.
The company continues to vertically integrate so it doesn’t have to rely on other businesses to make its products. Carney said he’s open to acquiring other companies if the right opportunity presents itself.
He’s also considering relocating another company he owns to Darien later this year. Crystal Lake, Illinois-based
Eagle Tool US manufactures specialized drill bits. The company could possibly take up space in the new industrial building purchased by Royal Basket Trucks.
The Royal Basket Trucks building in Darien:
