{"id":401761,"date":"2026-09-16T19:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401761\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T19:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T19:12:13","slug":"trade-up-jacksonville-metal-company-builds-on-81-years-of-family-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401761\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade Up: Jacksonville metal company builds on 81 years of family history"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 For more than eight decades, Berman Brothers<\/a> has been part of Jacksonville\u2019s business community.<\/p>\n

The family-owned and operated metal service center began after World War II, when brothers Milton and Harry Berman, who had been stationed in Jacksonville during their military service, decided to stay in the area and start a business.<\/p>\n

What began as a military salvage operation has grown into a company with two primary divisions: Scrap metal recycling and metal distribution.<\/p>\n

TRADE UP: Learn more about the skilled trades in Northeast Florida<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have essentially two businesses under one roof,\u201d said Rochelle Stoddard, owner and president of Berman Brothers. \u201cWe recycle scrap metal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Rochelle Stoddard, owner and president of Berman Brothers, is carrying on a family tradition that stretches back eight decades. (Matthew Garcia\/News4JAX Special Projects Photojournalist)<\/p>\n

The recycled material is melted down and used to make new products. The company also sells metal products through its distribution center.<\/p>\n

Berman Brothers recently expanded its operations by acquiring its longtime neighbor, metal fabrication business Ruben Ironworks.<\/p>\n

A family legacy in Jacksonville<\/p>\n

Stoddard represents the next generation of leadership at Berman Brothers. Her family\u2019s history in the business dates back to her great-grandfather, who started a scrap yard in Iowa after immigrating to the United States from Europe.<\/p>\n

Stoddard said she never expected to join the family business. She previously worked in environmental causes at White Oak Plantation in Yulee.<\/p>\n

After the owner of that facility died, Stoddard said her father encouraged her to give Berman Brothers a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018What the heck am I going to do?\u2019\u201d Stoddard recalled.<\/p>\n

She started at the bottom, working on the company\u2019s scrap recycling dock and helping receive customers.<\/p>\n

Two decades later, Stoddard is leading the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful,\u201d she said. \u201cWe provide for 70 families and after 81 years in business, we\u2019ve broken all the curses of the third generation, much less a female.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Rochelle Stoddard represents the next generation of leadership at Berman Brothers. (Matthew Garcia\/News4JAX Special Projects Photojournalist)<\/p>\n

Stoddard said she is proud to carry on the family\u2019s legacy while serving the community and working alongside the company\u2019s employees.<\/p>\n

Competing with a personal touch<\/p>\n

As larger companies compete in the metal industry, Stoddard said Berman Brothers focuses on customer service and personal relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we can continue to service our customers better than everybody else, and be prompt, and have a human touch, they can\u2019t compete with that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Berman Brothers began as a military salvage operation in Jacksonville after World War II and has grown into a company with two primary divisions: Scrap metal recycling and metal distribution. (Matthew Garcia\/News4JAX Special Projects Photojournalist)<\/p>\n

The company has also been involved in projects beyond its day-to-day operations, including providing materials used in the construction of the 9\/11 memorial in New York City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Berman Brothers\u2019 next step is adding newer technology, which Stoddard said will allow the company to handle even more volume by streamlining parts of its workflow.<\/p>\n

For Stoddard, that growth is part of continuing a family business that has deep roots in Northeast Florida.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 For more than eight decades, Berman Brothers has been part of Jacksonville\u2019s business community. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[40566,502,6919,116,118,117,960,140004,145466,140003,140005],"class_list":["post-401761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-careers","tag-community","tag-features","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jobs","tag-skilled-trades","tag-trade-skills","tag-trade-up","tag-wareworks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}