The History Of Brunner Printing Inc.
Founded in 1930
Brunner, Inc., was founded by Francis J. Brunner in 1930 and incorporated in 1932. The firm had two employees in the beginning. During its first 19 years the company grew – slowly but steadily – as a job printer, until 1949; when Mr. Brunner decided to offer creative design services directly to his customer. The company quickly gained a reputation as a “creative printer.”
Francis Brunner knew there was a market in the area for a printer offering creative design services. He hired a freelance artist and began preparing layouts – initially just for letterheads – submitting these as a sales aid when calling on a customer or prospect. Each design sold opened the door for new business, since it was used on statements, envelopes, business cards and other materials.
Continued Growth
As the result of a monthly mailing, his business grew tremendously and soon needed to hire additional employees to produce the jobs. This was followed by a thrust into the product sheet and promotional materials area. A series of self-mailers and advertising pieces was developed for clients. It was a tremendous success.
The creative touch and seven-pronged sales approach developed by the company’s founder evolved into today’s creative planning, electronic pre-press, skilled presswork, large format signs, banners, decals, bindery, color copies, in-house screen printing and assorted advertising specialty items – all from one source and all geared to providing customers with the ultimate in printing services.
The Brunner Family Behind the Name
Francis and Rita Brunner had nine children (8 boys and a girl). Over the years each of the brothers and their sister took special pride in helping dad out and most served as President, Vice-president or Production Manager. Each family member began their printing career in production and earned their spot in senior management as their knowledge and capabilities grew. Brother Paul, youngest of the nine, is our current President. Paul also enjoys having other family members and friends on site to help him serve our customers for the years to come.
Our values and quality have remained steadfast
While Brunner Inc. company growth has paralleled the economy between 1932 and present day; expanding and reducing to maintain a certain level of affordability to our customers like so many other small businesses in the Memphis area – our values and quality have remained steadfast.
Adapting to the times
We have adapted well to technological change like other printers. Technology itself however has had little impact on our ability to deliver affordable and quality products. Offset printing is a technology that has served our customers well for many years.
The Digital Age
We also invested in electronic pre-press, modern negative and plate making tools and digital printing technology because of their special capability and quick delivery. We recognize some printing jobs are best suited for digital printing tools and can deliver small run jobs cheaper and faster. We also appreciate the importance of maintaining quality for larger runs and the economies of scale that offset printing brings to many large projects.