NORWICH – Professional Teleconcepts, better known as Pro-Tel to local residents, is “growing in more ways than one,” according to Ron Annese, marketing executive for Pro-Tel People, the newest division in the 26-year-old telecommunications installation and engineering firm.

Employees at the firm’s headquarters, located south of the city on Route 12, were surprised early one morning in June to find company president Eric Burrell building several raised garden beds in the area between Pro-Tel’s two warehouses on Rt. 12 South.

The Pro-Tel Potager, as it’s called by the firm’s employees, gave workers a chance to spend some time outdoors while serving as a “team building project,” stated Burrell.

“My hope was that having a company garden would give employees a place to take a break for a few minutes and do something that would take their minds off of their work for a bit,” added Burrell, who is no stranger to gardening.

For years the Pro-Tel president has toiled in his own garden with friend and owner of Empire Brewing Company David Katleski, producing hops for the Syracuse-based bar and grille, which has its own brewery on site.