Brandon business announces closure, laying off more than 100 employees

BRANDON, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – A trucking company in Brandon has announced it will close this week, leaving over 100 employees without jobs.

A&A Temperature Controlled LLC, which does business as A&A Express, will shut down its facility at 1015 9th Avenue on Friday.

The 111 employees at the facility will lose their jobs. The company also works with about 140 independent contractors and 20 additional employees nationwide.

In the notice of employment action to the state of South Dakota, president Geno Cannon wrote that the company had been in the process of seeking capital or a sale, but could not obtain additional capital from its lenders or sell. Cannon went on to say that the company can no longer sustain operations.

According to SiouxFalls.Business, A&A Express dates back to 1945 as a family-owned cattle and livestock hauling business in Minnesota. It became Vince Anderson Trucking in 1978 and specialized in refrigerated transportation. In 2012, the company was acquired by Roadrunner Transportation Systems, and then became part of a merger four years later. In 2020, A&A Express was acquired by private equity firm Laurel Oak Capital Partners, based in Boston.

In an interview with SiouxFalls.Business, Cannon said that many people got into trucking during the pandemic, but it oversaturated the market.

The company’s equipment will be auctioned and the building was sold to an investment firm in 2022 to be made available for lease.

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