L.A.'s largest privately held firms hail from vast array of industries.

Grocery giant Ralphs Grocery Co. is far and away the largest company on this year's List of largest privately held enterprises in Los Angeles.

Ralphs is almost the antithesis of the modem high-tech start-up: It was started in 1873, more than 120 years ago, and is engaged in the one of the oldest professions, that of selling and preparing food. It is a huge company employing more than 30,000 directly, and untold thousands more through subcontracting and purchases.

Ralphs achieved its outsized status in part through merger, having been bought by Yucaipa Cos. of Century City, which also owned the Alpha Beta, Food-4-Less, Boys and other chains. All stores are in the process of being re-branded to either Food-4-Less or Ralphs.

Topping $5 billion in sales, Ralphs dwarfs even the second-largest company on The List, Certified Grocers of California Ltd., which, as might be guessed from the name, is also in the food business.

While Ralphs is in the retailing side of the trade, Certified Grocers is a wholesaler and distributor, serving the many "independent" grocers and smaller chains not owned by the giant chains, such as Ralphs or Vons. In essence, Certified Grocers gives to independents some of the same buying clout possessed by the giants.

There are two other food giants in the top 10 in Los Angeles, those being retailer Hughes Markets Inc. and citrus growing cooperative Sunkist Growers Inc.

To some extent, the hugeness of local food operations is a testimonial to the gigantic retail market that Los Angeles represents - there are nearly 10 million people living in the county, making the region one of the largest consumer markets in the world.

Two other food biggies high on The List: No. 12-ranked California Milk Producers, with $762 million in sales and a cooperative of dairy producers, and No. 16-ranked Trader Joe's, the popular off-price grocery chain.

High-tech clout

Perhaps on the opposite end of the spectrum from the food companies is No. 6-ranked Packard Bell Electronics, manufacturer of personal computers. Packard Bell was founded in 1987, and made hay by selling computers cheap through general electronic retailers - prior to Packard Bell, most manufacturers tried to sell personal computers through specialty computer stores.

But as computers became cheaper, more reliable and easier to use, they also became more like commodities - obviating the need for exotic retail efforts or special chains, such as Computerland.

Nowadays, people routinely buy personal computers at ordinary electronic retail locations, or through catalogs. And some industry observers say this poses a threat to Packard Bell, which was the first to recognize the general market that existed.

Entertainment is also prominent among the top 10 private companies, though probably not as anticipated - none of the big film studios or music manufacturers is privately held. But ticket agency Ticketmaster Group Inc., with $1.6 billion in sales in 1994, is No. 3 on The List.

There are flashes of optimism on this year's List, despite the extra-tough Southland economy of the 1990s.

For example, Trader Joe's is forecasting that its 1995 sales will bulge to $710 million, up 17 percent from 1994.

And City of Industry-based Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co., a maker of semi-trailers ranked No. 29 on this year's List, is predicting a sales jump to $530 million in 1995, up 32 percent from 1994, and up 76 percent from 1993.

Cyclical strength

Why the bullish sales projections?

"Pent-up demand: all business goes in some sort of cycle. Heavy truck trailers seem to be in a five-year cycle. There are a lot of theories why this happens, but none of them is really valid," said Chuck Cole, director of sales for Utility Trailer, which was founded in 1914 and remains very much a family-run company.

Ironically, Utility Trailer is on Railroad Street in the City of Industry (rails and trucks have been in ferocious competition for years). When asked if a railroad spur serves the Utility Trailer factory, Cole answered, "Not anymore."

Another positive take in manufacturing comes from Vernon-based Dunn-Edwards Corp., the paint maker and retailer, which is projecting $210 million in sales for 1995, up from $193.2 million in 1994 and $169 million in 1993. That would represent a 24-percent rise in just two years - and the company sells primarily in California, with smaller operations in Arizona, New Mexico and Las Vegas.

The projected sales increase is based on a better economy and aggressive marketing, said Robert Mitchell, chairman of Dunn-Edwards.

"We are increasing market share, and the economy has improved a bit," said Mitchell. "But some of the sales increase is just the result of hard work."

Dunn-Edwards only sells paint through its own network of stores, which are company-owned and operated.