After moving to South Burlington,
Vermont, Bill & Jeff wasted no time in
establishing themselves as a force to be
reckoned with in the wholesale truffle
industry. As demand steadily increased,
they were able to expand into neighboring
buildings and grow their business to
meet the needs of the market. Early on,
they made the decision to get involved
at a local community level with the Lake
Champlain Chamber of Commerce. They
started working with the Vermont refugee
resettlement program, which gave
refugees of foreign conflicts access to
steady paying jobs. According to Julia,
working with the refugee resettlement
program has not only worked out well for
the family business but created
long-lasting relationships with the employees
who found work here through the
program:
”People from the refugee resettlement
program who came here to work at Birnn,
they found that [we] paid them a livable
wage…And provided them a safe working
environment…we have people that have
worked here for 30 years. They remember
me from when I was 6 years old, so that’s
pretty amazing…Most of them are now
American citizens. We help them through
that [citizenship] process and support
them. We now offer English classes once a
week for our English-learning employees.”
Some of the employees hired from the
refugee resettlement program have
encouraged their own family members to
apply, which has in turn given new meaning
to the words “family business” at Birnn
Chocolates of Vermont. In the same way
that Jeff & Bill Birnn made the bold move
to Vermont from New Jersey in 1991 and
found a new home and purpose in the
Green Mountain State, the employees who
found a way to make a decent living and
new life in Vermont through the refugee
resettlement work program are now part of
the extended Birnn corporate family. The
term “family values” gets thrown around a
lot when discussing family-owned businesses,
but at Birnn Chocolates of Vermont,
it’s clear that it doesn’t only apply to
the family who founded the business, but
the families who make their living working
there, as well.
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