Small Business Development Center - Success Stories

Ark-La-Tex Shredding Company, Inc. is owned and operated by Beth Fouse, Ph.D.  She is the winner of the 2009 Small Business Administration Small Business Person of the Year for the Dallas/Fort Worth District. 

Before purchasing the business in July 1999, Beth enjoyed a long and prestigious career in education.  She was an associate professor in special education and gifted education at The University of Texas at Tyler. 

In 1999, Beth began helping a friend and UT Tyler associate with her business called DataShred.  In the spring of that year, Beth and her husband, William Fouse, began meeting with Don Proudfoot of the Tyler SBDC to get counseling about purchasing into DataShred.  On July 1, 1999, Beth and her husband formed a partnership with Beth’s friend with the intent that William would have an active role in the business while Beth continued with her work in education, but he died suddenly just three weeks later.  Beth became more involved in the business and brought in her two sons, Lynn and Mick, to help with the daily operations of the company.  In 2000, Beth bought out her friend’s share of the company.  She later merged with a competitor and bought out his share of the company, making it a family-run business which is now called Ark-La-Tex Shredding Company, Inc.

Ark-La-Tex provides quality document shredding services for businesses of all types and sizes.  The shredded paper is then bailed for resale to paper mills for recycling. The company provides complete mobile (on-site) and plant-based (off-site) document shredding services to a large geographic area including portions of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

In the fall of 1999, Beth came to Don Proudfoot again for a new business plan.  She says “Don had great suggestions and was instrumental in my decision to lease warehouse space.”  This decision allowed the company to provide off-site shredding and bailing of paper for recycling.  Beth also began purchasing more trucks and now has a total of five. In 2003, Beth had a 10,800 sq. ft. facility built on Hwy 155 near I-20 in Tyler.  She also received an SBA loan to purchase an industrial shredder.