Wichita Business Journal - April 21, 2000 by Sherry Graham

The owners of Kartridge King are trying to make a good thing better. So the 5-year-old company, whose main business has been providing toner cartridges and repair service for laser printers, has expanded, adding new products and services.

Now named KK Office Solutions, the company has become an authorized Hewlett Packard reseller, warranty repair and service provider. It has also become an authorized Xerox reseller and will soon become a Xerox service provider, as well. It even plans to brand its own printer cartridges sometime this year.

"Our goal is to be known as one-stop shopping," said Matthew Brandt, who started the company in 1995 and was later joined by partners Bobby Desjardins and Doug Frentzel.

The company began as a remanufacturer of printer cartridges for laser printers, but today is what's known as a compatible manufacturer. The difference in the two processes is that compatible manufacturing entails a total replacement of all essential components each and every time a cartridge is produced; remanufacturing tries to reuse many of the internal parts, in most cases.

"We totally replace everything in the cartridge every time," said Brandt. "And we test every cartridge before it leaves the shop."

KK Office Solutions has also expanded its services to include sales of new and used copiers, fax machines and laser printers.

"We would like to manage all of a company's office machines, including copiers, upgrades, warranty, maintenance and service," said Frentzel.

"We try to take the worry away from the customer so they can focus on what they do best," added Desjardins.

KK Office Solutions also offers free laser printer repair help over the phone at 944-5464.

"It has been our experience that 15 to 20 percent of all laser printer repairs can easily be solved over the telephone at no cost to your business," said Frentzel.

KK Office Solutions has 15 employees and plans the addition of five more by the end of the year.