LOS ANGELES — Just four months after breaking ground on a new Florida headquarters that isn’t expected to be completed until the end of the year, Sardo Bus & Coach Upholstery is relying on its existing Florida facility to keep buses and motorcoaches on the road after a Fourth of July fire destroyed its longtime California manufacturing plant.
The family-owned upholstery company has shifted production to its Florida operation while leasing a temporary manufacturing facility adjacent to its Gardena, California, location. Mobile road crews remain in service, and customer projects are continuing as scheduled.
The fire comes less than four months after Sardo broke ground on a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing and installation facility in Minneola, Florida, that will become the company’s corporate headquarters later this year. The expansion was planned to increase production capacity and meet growing demand for the company’s bus and motorcoach interior services. Instead, the Florida expansion has unexpectedly become central to Sardo’s recovery.
The fire comes less than four months after Sardo broke ground on a 30,000-square-foot manufacturing and installation facility in Minneola, Florida, that is expected to become the company’s corporate headquarters later this year. The expansion is designed to increase production capacity and meet growing demand for the company’s bus and motorcoach interior services.
More than 70 firefighters responded to the overnight blaze at the Harbor Gateway facility near Figueroa Street, Rosecrans Avenue, and the Harbor (110) Freeway, according to CBS News. Firefighters contained the fire shortly after 1 a.m. No injuries were reported.
The cause remains under investigation. Company officials believe stray Fourth of July fireworks ignited materials behind the building before flames spread into the factory.
‘God has just been there’
For Vice President Sandy Follis, who has been with Sardo for more than 36 years, the days since the fire have been filled with heartbreaking loss, unexpected opportunities, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
“There’s been a lot of amazing, positive things going on,” Follis said. “It’s just amazing.”
Those positives began almost immediately.
“God has just been there to take care of us,” she said. “It’s just amazing.”
Another opportunity emerged just steps from the burned factory when the 19,000-square-foot manufacturing facility adjacent to Sardo’s building became available for lease.
“It was available, and we rented it,” Follis said. “We’ll be able to start getting set up and getting new machines and getting more tables, and ordering fabric. We hope to be up and running within the next two to three weeks.”
Because Sardo already operated a manufacturing facility in Florida, employees there were able to begin retrieving seat patterns and producing upholstery to keep customer orders moving.
“Florida jumped right in,” Follis said. “Little by little, they started getting patterns. They’re making as many seats as they can to help the L.A. facility.”
She recalled a conversation with the company’s founder, Lou Sardo.
“He said, ‘I can’t cry over the factory because that’s just stuff,’” Follis recalled. “But every time someone calls me and gives me their support, that’s when we get teary-eyed.”
For Follis, that reaction speaks to the culture Sardo has built over the past four decades. What mattered most to Lou Sardo was not the loss of the factory, but what would happen to his employees.
Bouncing back
After the initial shock wore off, Follis said she and Sardo found themselves having a very different conversation — not about what had burned, but about how they would meet the needs of their employees and customers.
That confidence comes from experience.
Since its founding, Sardo has grown into one of the motorcoach industry’s best-known providers of custom upholstery, seat repair, and interior refurbishment. The company serves operators throughout North America through its manufacturing facilities and mobile road crews, which perform seat repairs and interior refurbishments at customer locations to minimize vehicle downtime.
The new Florida headquarters, expected to open later this year, will expand those capabilities with additional manufacturing space, installation capacity and room for continued growth. What was envisioned as the company’s future is now helping secure its present.
For now, Follis said the focus remains simple: serve customers, rebuild operations and keep moving forward.
“We’re already rebuilding,” she said. “We’re in recovery mode right now.”
As difficult as the past week has been, Follis believes the company will emerge stronger than before — not only because of the investments it had already made, but because of the customers, partners and employees who have stood beside the Sardo family.
To Follis, those developments reinforced her belief that the company was being guided through an unimaginable situation.
“We’ve been there over 40 years,” she said. “God has just been there to take care of us.”
Stray fireworks
Follis said she first learned something was wrong in the early morning hours when a passerby called after spotting the fire.
“It’s 2:30 in the morning east coast time, and he’s telling me your building’s on fire,” she recalled. “So I looked up at the cameras, and the cameras were not working. Then I called Lou, and he said, ‘I’m already there, Sandy.’”
Although the cause has not been officially determined, company officials believe fireworks landed in a storage area behind the building before winds pushed the flames into the factory.
“You can hear the fireworks in the video in the background while they’re putting out the fire.”
The fire destroyed decades of custom seat patterns, fabric inventory, and manufacturing equipment accumulated over more than four decades in Southern California.
Yet Follis said she has been struck less by what was lost than by the industry’s response.
“We’ve had a lot of people pouring out affection, long-term customers, and it’s been really good,” she said. “Lou, Jeanie, and I would like to thank the industry for its prayers and support during this difficult time. It has meant everything to us.”
Photos courtesy of Sardo Bus & Coach Upholstery
