The Sun Sentinel celebrates outstanding business leaders in Palm Beach and Broward Counties.
Hudson locations house Dunkin’ Donuts, Baskin-Robbins, Victoria’s Secret and Euro Café.
Travelers embrace designer handbags, eyewear, watches and accessories.
Tarra Enterprises VP gives back to South Florida communities.
Growing what began as a single-location business into a $19 million, 600-employee organization with operations in five international airports has earned Tarra Enterprises President/CEO Tarra Pressey the respect of her airport concessions industry peers nationwide. It has also earned her the title of Small Business Leader for Palm Beach County, according to South Florida’s daily newspaper, The Sun Sentinel.
The Sentinel presented Tarra with its 2016 Excalibur Award in April, as it recognized two business leaders in Palm Beach County and two in Broward County for their entrepreneurial success and community involvement. Tarra was joined by honorees Peter Baronoff of Promise Healthcare, Angelo Elia of Angelo Elia Restaurant Group and Charles Palmer of North American Company.
“My mom, Lou Ella Jordan, started the business 32 years ago. I joined after I completed college, although I had worked in the business since I was a teenager,” Tarra shares. “Our goal was simple: Grow the business!”
And grow they did. Tarra Enterprises today manages a variety of global, national and regional brands — Starbucks, Hugo Boss, Victoria’s Secret, Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts, for example — as a certified Airport Concessions Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) at Miami, Palm Beach, Atlantic City and JFK International Airports. Her company participates as a valued partner of HMSHost and Hudson Group, both global leaders in the airport concessions industry.
Additionally, Tarra was honored for her commitment to Girls II Women, a nonprofit organization she helped establish in 1997 to help teenage girls in underserved South Florida neighborhoods achieve their full personal and professional potential.
“Many times, girls from underserved communities don’t have opportunities for exposure to successful professional women and the experiences that introduce them to exciting career choices,” says Tarra. “We let them know that we have backgrounds similar to theirs and that if we can succeed in building strong, meaningful careers, so can they.”