Long time no post. We're coming back from our busiest time of the year, and we've been a part of some pretty fantastic events. O'Neil was a part of the New Albany Classic, Delaware County Fair, the Michigan Irish Music Festival, the Country Living Expo, the Bob Evans Farm Festival, corporate events for Columbus companies, tailgate events for The Ohio State University Alumni Association, as well as hundreds of other events and parties.
It used to be that the end of our busy season was setting up and taking down the Fairfield county fair. Anymore we're pushing full steam ahead into October with tailgates, weddings, and other corporate events. Its great seeing an empty lot next door when its normally full of trucks waiting for a job to deliver.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Cleveland Browns Training Camp
The weather in Ohio is starting to change from the harsh heat and humidity of August to cool nights and pleasant days. This can only mean one thing: Fall is upon is. Not only is fall here, but that means its time for football. If you live in Ohio, you probably root for the Browns or the Bengals.
For the last couple of years, O'Neil Tents has partnered with a Cleveland affiliate to set up tents and structure for the Cleveland Browns training camp. We set up areas that allow the fans to experience the players up close and personal and really see what its like to be on the sideline for a pro game. The biggest of the tents we erect is a 15m wide structure on a 3 foot tall stage to help create unobstructed views of practice. What's even nicer than the view is the fact that our structure has an indoor area sectioned off and air conditioned for catering. Because of the versatility of clearspan structure, its no problem to create a carpeted area that has a refrigerator, seating for 50, buffet service, and a great view of practice.
In addition to the catered area, we a handful of smaller frame tents used for vendors and autograph signings. If you're a customer like Cleveland Browns, not just any tent will do. Our manufacturing teams created tent tops color matched to the Browns logos.
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| Clearspan structure with covered "patio" area and interior |
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| Air conditioned catering area. |
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| Orange tent on the right end is a custom O'Neil Tent. |
Friday, August 13, 2010
Know where you came from.
Every week, the administrative team at O'Neil has a staff meeting during lunch to discuss upcoming jobs, challenges we might face, or new opportunities that we are working on. This week, Marianne Ritchey, one of the original owners of O'Neil Tents, stopped in.
As we sat and discussed business, I couldn't help but think about the great start Marianne and her husband Jim gave O'Neil when they took over operations. Jim (called doc by just about everyone) and Marianne first became involved with the company as an investment, but later assumed control of operations when they realized the potential of the tent rental industry.
Early on, the company consisted of a small office in front of a 2,000 square feet of warehouse space. With a focus on festivals and fairs, O'Neil quickly earned our name as an up and coming player in the rental market. Over the years, O'Neil has built our reputation as a top event rental provider as well as our physical footprint. We now operate out of 5 warehouses in Canal Winchester with an onsite manufacturing facility.
I am the third generation in the Ritchey family to work for O'Neil Tents. While it is exciting to look towards the future of the company and all of the opportunities on the horizon. It is important for me to not forget where the business came from: Two people who wanted to provide high quality products and service to their customers.
While technology may change our equipment and how the company operates, the hall marks of quality products and services will always be the cornerstone of our operation.
- Mark Ritchey, Sales and Marketing Manager
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Pickerington Violet Festival
We are proud to take part in so many festivals around the central Ohio area. We enjoy helping the community celebrate and make lasting memories!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Gearing Up
Sailors call it the calm before the storm when the weather gets eerily calm but you know a rough patch is on the horizon. That's kind of where we are right now. We're staying consistently busy but getting ready to ramp up into the horizon of the summer.
On the slate for this week is the St. Matthews festival in Gahanna, the Jazz & Rib Festival in downtown Columbus, the Cleveland Browns training camp, and to ice the cake we've started setting up the Dublin Irish Festival (the largest event of its kind in the US). Next week is more of Irish Festival, MOPAR Nationals, as well as the Violet Festival in Pickerington, OH. I'm not even going to get into September (it gets messy, but messy in a good way).
Believe me, I'm not complaining. Its good doing all of these big jobs as well as the smaller residential parties during the summer. Its also a good feeling knowing that we have a team of experienced professionals to handle the pressure of the upcoming months.
Side note to this posting: We remodled our offices last year. A complete gut was completed by DJ Builders out of the London, OH. area. They did a fantastic job. I've posted some pictures to our Facebook account here.
On the slate for this week is the St. Matthews festival in Gahanna, the Jazz & Rib Festival in downtown Columbus, the Cleveland Browns training camp, and to ice the cake we've started setting up the Dublin Irish Festival (the largest event of its kind in the US). Next week is more of Irish Festival, MOPAR Nationals, as well as the Violet Festival in Pickerington, OH. I'm not even going to get into September (it gets messy, but messy in a good way).
Believe me, I'm not complaining. Its good doing all of these big jobs as well as the smaller residential parties during the summer. Its also a good feeling knowing that we have a team of experienced professionals to handle the pressure of the upcoming months.
Side note to this posting: We remodled our offices last year. A complete gut was completed by DJ Builders out of the London, OH. area. They did a fantastic job. I've posted some pictures to our Facebook account here.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Rent what you need, not what we have.
Often times, companies will push customers into certain products due to what they have in stock. While this makes some sense, in the fact that you can't sell what you don't have. It's not right for the customer. Customers should buy (or in our case rent) what they need, not what we have.
Talking a customer into a certain product because its the only one you have is wrong. Leading the customer to believe that they are getting exactly what they need, then delivering a product that does not meet expectations is dishonest.
For example, Mrs. Smith asks for a quote on her daughter's upcoming wedding reception. She tells me the number of expected guests, the details of how the event should be laid out and what style of tent she is looking for. I take all of those important details and tailor a solution customized to her needs.
Everything should be spaced appropriately so they don't run into a situation where Uncle Jim and Aunt Marianne aren't eating dinner on the dance floor. There will also be more than a half of a foot between the buffet and the edge of the tent to allow for traffic to flow through easily.
After laying out all of the appropriate space requirements on my CAD software, I then choose an appropriate tent size, not the other way around. I would never say, "The largest tent I have is 40'x60'. Now let's figure out how to cram everyone in." Sometimes, this means that the reception will cost a little more, but as they say, you pay for what you get.
Over the years, O'Neil Tents has been able to build our tent and rental inventory to include almost any possible tent size. This means that we don't have to push you into something because its the only one we have. We can look at what works best for you and your event and plan accordingly.
Customers: If you don't choose to rent with O'Neil, make sure you end up with what works best for you not what works best for the rental company.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Time for Reflection
Graduation season has passed. We're seeing a couple of residual parties this weekend, but they are done for the most part. First, congratulations to all of the grads! Second, thank you all very much for choosing O'Neil Tents to provide your rental equipment needs.
Now that the craziness of the last three weeks has died down, we have had some time to reflect. While O'Neil does provide tents and party rentals for some of the Midwest's largest festivals, fairs and events, we cherish the opportunity to serve the families of the Columbus area. The last couple of weeks have been a fantastic reminder of a few key thoughts:
1. O'Neil is a business driven by the needs of our customers. While many graduation parties may include very similar elements (20 foot frame or pole tents, tables, chairs and linens), each is unique in their own way. The Jones family doesn't care that we've done about 200 parties similar to their's in the last 3 weeks, all they care about is that their party is as special as it can be for them. We respect this desire and try to focus our service accordingly.
2. Cleanliness of our equipment is one of the best ways to service each individual customer. Our wash crews were thrown into the crucible over the last couple of weeks. Needing to turn high levels of inventory over with relatively short lead times, means more operational strain. Consistent rain over the last 3 weeks added one more complication as nothing ruins a tent top faster than mud stains in the stitching and webbing. Because of our experience in tent rentals, we know to use tarps while taking down tents to protect them from stains and mud. Applying our experience in the simple things like using tarps positions us to not only serve our customers next week, but it also makes happy customers in one month and one years time.
3. Growing your business means pushing your operating capacity. While all of these graduation parties were going on, we also erected over 100 tents just for the Asian festival, wedding tents, the Park Street Festival, massive clearspan structures in Cleveland and countless other corporate functions. We're moving right into the Pride Parade in downtown Columbus, the Gahanna Jazz festival and setting up the Tattoo event at Wright Patterson Air Force Base all this week. That's quite a lot, and that's ok. We'll never know how much we can do and how good of an equipment rental company we can be without pushing ourselves. After the last couple of weeks, a little breather in the action is nice, but its good to know that we are capable of some pretty great things.
4. Without the right people in place, none of our recent successes would have been possible. Some of our delivery crew members have been with O'Neil for well over 10 years. Some have joined us in the last couple of months. No matter what the duration of experience is, each member is vitally important to our success. With a lot of training and solid operational support, our guys on the road are confident they have the skills necessary to accomplish any task presented. It is this confidence that our customers see. It is this confidence that leads to a job well done.
It has been a rough couple of weeks but they have shed light on what is truly important to our customers and how we can better give them what they expect.
Thanks again for reading the blog. Let us know what you think in the comments section. (Next week we'll be back to posting lots of awesome pictures of events O'Neil is working on. We promise.)
Now that the craziness of the last three weeks has died down, we have had some time to reflect. While O'Neil does provide tents and party rentals for some of the Midwest's largest festivals, fairs and events, we cherish the opportunity to serve the families of the Columbus area. The last couple of weeks have been a fantastic reminder of a few key thoughts:
1. O'Neil is a business driven by the needs of our customers. While many graduation parties may include very similar elements (20 foot frame or pole tents, tables, chairs and linens), each is unique in their own way. The Jones family doesn't care that we've done about 200 parties similar to their's in the last 3 weeks, all they care about is that their party is as special as it can be for them. We respect this desire and try to focus our service accordingly.
2. Cleanliness of our equipment is one of the best ways to service each individual customer. Our wash crews were thrown into the crucible over the last couple of weeks. Needing to turn high levels of inventory over with relatively short lead times, means more operational strain. Consistent rain over the last 3 weeks added one more complication as nothing ruins a tent top faster than mud stains in the stitching and webbing. Because of our experience in tent rentals, we know to use tarps while taking down tents to protect them from stains and mud. Applying our experience in the simple things like using tarps positions us to not only serve our customers next week, but it also makes happy customers in one month and one years time.
3. Growing your business means pushing your operating capacity. While all of these graduation parties were going on, we also erected over 100 tents just for the Asian festival, wedding tents, the Park Street Festival, massive clearspan structures in Cleveland and countless other corporate functions. We're moving right into the Pride Parade in downtown Columbus, the Gahanna Jazz festival and setting up the Tattoo event at Wright Patterson Air Force Base all this week. That's quite a lot, and that's ok. We'll never know how much we can do and how good of an equipment rental company we can be without pushing ourselves. After the last couple of weeks, a little breather in the action is nice, but its good to know that we are capable of some pretty great things.
4. Without the right people in place, none of our recent successes would have been possible. Some of our delivery crew members have been with O'Neil for well over 10 years. Some have joined us in the last couple of months. No matter what the duration of experience is, each member is vitally important to our success. With a lot of training and solid operational support, our guys on the road are confident they have the skills necessary to accomplish any task presented. It is this confidence that our customers see. It is this confidence that leads to a job well done.
It has been a rough couple of weeks but they have shed light on what is truly important to our customers and how we can better give them what they expect.
Thanks again for reading the blog. Let us know what you think in the comments section. (Next week we'll be back to posting lots of awesome pictures of events O'Neil is working on. We promise.)
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