Five years ago, when Kojo Worldwide, a hotel drape and bedspread manufacturer, moved its headquarters to Otay Mesa and opened a factory in Baja California, one of its largest customers bolted. Marriott Corp. stopped buying soft goods from Kojo, costing the company $12 million in sales. But other hotel chains remained loyal, providing the company with a solid foothold in the hospitality industry. Recently, Marriott invited Kojo’s owners to talk about renewing their business relationship, to the delight of Joe E. Robertson, Kojo’s chief executive. His cross-border strategy had paid off.

Kojo Worldwide is one of hundreds of businesses using Otay Mesa as a gateway into Mexico and its maquiladora industries. In Kojo’s case, the binational approach helped the company emerge as the largest supplier of bedcovers and draperies for the hospitality industry, with sales of $40 million this year. It boasts big-name customers such as Starwood, and its products are found in Westin, Sheraton, Omni and Doubletree hotels and Embassy Suites, among others.

Robertson predicts his sales will reach $60 million next year, after landing a $25 million account with Accord hotels, owners of several chains including Motel 6 and Red Roof Inns. That’s just the beginning. He believes Kojo will develop into a $300 million-a-year company, all because he moved his headquarters from Huntington Beach to Otay Mesa, the very edge of the United States. He then plunged into the world of Mexican manufacturing. “Mexico was the single biggest catalyst to making all this happen,” he says. For one thing, he adds, operating a plant in Baja taught him how to grow an international business. “We’re not afraid of shipping across international borders,” Robertson says.

The move was admittedly risky. The initial 100,000-square-foot Mexican plant was built in a section of Playas de Rosarito with no electricity or other infrastructure. But since then, Kojo has expanded the plant to 306,000 square feet. It has 800 workers, making Kojo the largest employer in Rosarito. Robertson personally supervises the operations. He lives in Rosarito during the work week and returns to his Otay Ranch home on weekends.

He adopted a good-neighbor policy by extending electricity to the surrounding Rosarito homes as well as the plant, opening a child-care center and rebuilding the burned-down homes of two Rosarito residents. He also is in the process of naturalizing as a Mexican citizen, which will give him dual U.S.-Mexico citizenship — and further protections for Kojo, he says.

The business began 29 years ago when Robertson founded Southwest Quilted Products. He teamed up with Koni Kim, who launched her fabric design company, Koniart, in 1976. After merging into Kojo Worldwide in 1989, Kim handled the product design side of the business, while Robertson developed production tools, including a machine using wide-width fabrics to create seamless bed coverings and draperies. The seamless technique reduced manufacturing costs and resulted in longer lasting products.

Today, the company’s 1,000 employees are spread out on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Its Phoenix Drapery Division operates in California in the City of Commerce, and another new factory will open in South Carolina. The 45,000-square-foot Otay Mesa headquarters provides warehouse space and offices for executives and the sales and accounting staff. Kojo Worldwide recently opened a second 25,000-square-foot factory in Chetumal at the southern end of Mexico.

Robertson says the Chetumal plant will sell products to Mexico, the U.S. Southeast and South America. And it’s close to Cancun, a Mexican resort with a big demand for hotel bedspreads and drapes.

— Lynne Carrier