TentCraft Explores Rental Program for Events, Branded Environments

While most wide-format print companies are stepping into the events market when graphics are needed to turn a basic space — like an event tent — into a branded wonderland for an evening, a weekend, or a specific function. But for Traverse City, Michigan-based TentCraft, that common need suggested a greater opportunity.

Matt Bulloch, the company’s president and CEO, notes, “We are a vertically integrated manufacturer, and traditionally a lot of the margin comes from the printing.” Over the years, clients have requested that TentCraft not simply manufacture frames and signage, but also offer rentals for customers who need them for a short time and don’t want to invest in tents or other elements. He hesitated, he notes, but, “our sales and our marketing team created a business case and said, ‘hey, we think we can make rental work, you know, we can make the goods as they're requested for rental, cover the cost on stuff that we know we can rent again, and then still charge the customer for the soft goods. And then if they don't want to own the assets afterwards, they can send it back to us. We'll clean it, refurbish it, store it and then we can send it out again.’”

Bulloch notes the approach is not necessarily groundbreaking, but that it was certainly an entirely new business model for him and his team. They had to learn it from the ground up. Rental companies aren’t exactly hard to find, so he admits he was a bit skeptical, but has been “pleasantly surprised how much demand there is.”

Credit: TentCraft

Credit: TentCraft

Credit: TentCraft

Credit: TentCraft

Credit: TentCraft

Credit: TentCraft

In addition, TentCraft acquired Iowa-based World Class Displays last year, and that has proven to have excellent synergy with this new business as well, especially since that team had experience with different types of rentals to bring to the table.

“They have had a rental program for years for a big company that doesn't want to own the booth because their headquarters is in New York City or Chicago,” Bulloch notes. “They wanted to show up at their seven trade shows and look great. So, they’ve made rental work for years. After we bought the company, we looked at what they were doing and said, okay, there is a market for renting these outdoor frames, still selling the soft goods that we like to do anyway because everything's printed, and then we just have to get it back and make sure that's in it's in acceptable condition and then refurbish anything that gets broken — because stuff does get broken.” He adds that TentCraft has a unique advantage: as the manufacturer, it is easier for them to perform repairs needed.

And the rental model is working. In just the short time it’s been active, it’s already generated more than $500,000 in business and is helping to drive customers back to the print side of the business. “We would not rent things if it doesn’t come with print revenue,” he continues. “There are a million places to get a white tent or a backdrop — we want to help customers create branded environments. We want to use our printing and manufacturing capabilities, and it might be a niche where we shine, but we produce high quality. We produce them quickly, and we want to help our customers created branded outdoor environments and not just shade or protection from the rain.”

For the actual setup and takedown, Bulloch notes it’s been a bit of a hybrid approach, with some customers choosing to just have the tents and signage shipped to them and doing setup and removal themselves, while others have wanted a more ‘white glove’ approach. For that, Bulloch notes TentCraft has a partner that can do the setup and takedown for them.

That approach, he notes, has been working well for them so far, with a mix of both customers coming back for multiple events, as well as those coming to them for a one-off event. He’s also found that it helps to produce even more print, as rental customers realize they need one more sign, or a different banner, and come back to TentCraft to quickly produce it for them.

Looking ahead, Bulloch notes that right now the company is focused on adding welding to the mix, something they’ve never offered before. “Sometimes we kind of kill ourselves CNC machining a clamp or figuring out how to attach something with screws and bolts when, really, welding is the right solution. So, we buy a lot of products from other companies that, once we have welding in-house, we’ll be able to just make ourselves. It’s a margin expansion play, but I think it will allow us to do a lot more custom work, and potentially even make our own big-frame tents. That’s what I’m focused on right now.”

Alongside that, he notes that deeper integration with the World Class Displays side of the business is also a focus, and bringing the two teams closer together to really take advantage of the synergy that drove the acquisition in the first place. “The whole reason I bought the company,” Bulloch says, “is because the seasonality balances each other. Where indoor conventions and trade shows are really busy in the winter, tents are really slow in the winter. And tents are crazy in the summer and indoor conventions and trade shows are slow in the summer. So, we we're working on integrating the system, but we really need to integrate the people and the processes and the products to serve our customers better.”

Rentals might still just be a small portion of TentCraft’s business, but it is already proving to be a revenue generator that not only produces its own stream, but also helps drive business right back into the print side of the business. Rental might be, as Bulloch notes, a niche market that only a company positioned as specifically as his can really leverage, but he is proving that finding those opportunities and being willing to take the risk can result in some impressive rewards.