While the nation’s eyes are on Canton this month, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Festival will generate an estimated $11 million for the area. That’s a lot of cash in a week, and for some local businesses, it will prove to be too much to manage.
The Hall of Fame Festival can turn any business into a cyclical business, so advance planning for finances, staffing, inventory and the occasional disaster are essential.
Here are some key practices from several Canton area businesses that have proven themselves to be pretty good at handling the crush.
The Canton Hilton
General Manager Bill Young says his strategy for handling the peaks involves making good use of the valleys.
“We take advantage of the downtime during January and February to regroup,” Young says. “We complete renovations, implement policies and procedures and most importantly, we have training for the staff.”
Young says he believes proper training and preparation is essential for a cyclical service business.
“One day shouldn’t be any different than the next; the service should be the same whether we’re busy or not,” Young says. “I often refer to the sign for employees at Disney who are about to enter the park from behind the scenes. It says, ‘Remember, you’re on stage.’ We all have to be reminded to be professional at all times.”
The hotel is sold out during Hall of Fame week and Young credits the staff’s training for its smooth operation.
“Normally, the hotel hosts celebrities, VIPs, football players during the Hall of Fame,” Young says. “We have a lot of people coming in and out, so we hire off-duty police officers and ‘up’ the security staff.”
The hotel employs 138 full- and part-time employees. Young hires senior citizens, college students and works with Goodwill Industries to fill some part-time positions.
“Last January we had to cut our expenditures,” Young says. “Labor is our biggest expense but when you cut labor it causes morale problems. It helps set a better tone if you have meetings and keep everyone informed.”
Taylor Beverage
Imagine forecasting the weather for July in May. Rick Taylor, president of Taylor Beverage does it every year. An inaccurate forecast could cost him a lot.
The company distributes Coors, Corona, Genesee and other beers. In the keg, beer isn’t pasteurized, so it has a limited shelf life. For that reason, Taylor likes to know how much he can sell before he ships it in.
“Beer is a perishable food item,” Taylor says. “We can’t order too much but we have to have enough.
“When we’re predicting sales for an event such as the Ribs Burnoff during Hall of Fame week, it’s even tougher,” Taylor says. “There’s a potential for big sales-if the weather is good. But if we have heavy rains and the crowd doesn’t show, we’re in trouble.”
The 1997 Ribs Burnoff was profitable for Taylor but posed logistical challenges.
“Last year, we ended up with a larger portion of the beer locations for the Ribs Burnoff than we normally have,” Taylor says. “We’re fortunate the festival committee plans two to three months out. We have two units for serving draft beer here, so we had to rent additional units from other distributors.”
Taylor went as far as Mansfield to obtain the equipment.
“Before we committed to the Chamber, we got a commitment on the equipment,” Taylor says.
Taylor and his team begin planning for the Festival a year in advance. His staff of 26 full-time employees works year-round on specific delivery routes, but Taylor also has five part-time employees whom he can tap for longer hours during peak times.
“We’ve been able to maintain a stable workforce,” Taylor says. “We haven’t had any layoffs during the downtime but we cut down on the usage of part-time people and overtime. We also encourage employees to take their vacations during that slow time.”
The downtime brings financial challenges, however.
“We have a number of routes but we run less efficient in the off season,” Taylor says. “We deliver less product but upkeep on the trucks and payroll remains the same for the most part.”
Canton Chair Rental
By the time you read this, Owner Tim Maloney and his team will be planning for the 1999 Hall of Fame Festival.
“As soon as the Hall of Fame is over, we try to sit down and write out what went right or wrong and what we can improve on for the following year,” Maloney says. “By the time that week is over, we really just want to put it away but it’s better to be prepared.”
The desire to be prepared prompted Maloney to walk the parade route in the January chill to make a video tape. That tape became a guide for a computer drawing of the route and placement of 5,000 chairs.
“Any company that’s as aggressive as we are makes mistakes, but you never want to make a mistake as a result of lack of planning,” Maloney says. “If a truck breaks down making a delivery, we have a back-up plan in place.”
Maloney says he considers June a “trial run” for the Hall of Fame in July. Both months are among his busiest.
“In June, we’re supplying weddings and graduations,” Maloney says. “We need experienced people for every job. We generally do many more deliveries in June of smaller orders. The Hall of Fame is very large orders to select locations.”
While supplying tables, chairs, stage equipment and tents for the Hall of Fame increases revenue, Maloney knows that doesn’t mean automatic profits.
The company subleases from other rental facilities-some as far away as Steubenville. “By the time we buy the gas, drive to these places, calculate the hours paid to employees, sometimes it’s worth it to buy equipment and warehouse it rather than [rent],” Maloney says. “We usually have spare equipment during Hall of Fame week because I’d rather be underbooked than over.
“We could promise the world, but if we don’t do a good job, it’s not worth it.”
Maloney hires seasonal workers for the summer; usually college and high school students. He appointed one full-time person “who does nothing but chart out who and what’s to be where” during the Hall of Fame.
“The biggest challenge is the last- minute stuff,” Maloney says. “It’s a science getting stuff in and out of an event. If we pick up a portion of an order for chairs-for instance from one location for another event-we have to log each chair, inspect it, clean it, load it and reset it up.”
To boost revenue during the winter months, Canton Chair added convention services, which includes setting up booths and providing pipe and drapes.
“If I want to keep people year round, I’ve got to be able to pay them,” Maloney says. “We looked at what other things we do well and could transfer to another activity. We made an investment in an area that helped utilize another investment we already had.”
SCOPE winners’ labor of love
The 1998 Stark County Outstanding Private Enterprise winners have already been honored for their commitment to the local business community. But they are also involved with making the area’s yearly national spotlight even brighter through their work with the Football Hall of Fame activities.
Here are a few highlights of their involvement:
- Crowl, Montgomery & Clark Inc. completes graphic design projects and provides signage for the Hall of Fame
- Day, Ketterer, Raley, Wright & Rybolt Ltd. has been involved since the festival’s inception with managing partners serving as grand chairmen, employees, associates and attorneys volunteering for various committees and by sponsoring an annual parade event for employees and their guests.
- Downtown Ford sponsors a hot air balloon for the Balloon Classic Invitational and a parade float for McKinley High School.
- Dumont’s Seed Co. employees volunteer for the Drum Corps International Show and game committees. Tickets for Hall of Fame events are sold at the store and employees volunteer to take tickets at the game.
- Elum Music Co. purchases blocks of tickets for various events for employees and their guests.
- The Hannon Co. sponsors a drum
-and-bugle corps group and participates in after-parade activities. - The Janson Industries assembles stages and sets up sound equipment for concerts and other events.
- Stock’s Draperies employees volunteer for committees including the Balloon Classic Invitational as well as sponsoring and distributing Hall of Fame pins.
- US Technology Corp. sponsors the Grand Parade breakfast.
- Wilkof-Morris Steel Corp. sponsors the Drum Corps International Show.
