OuiVend says ‘yes’ to new direction

TAMPA — It began in 1979 when Michael Chase took a job at a Bob Seger concert.

At a time when the industry standard was taping concert T-shirts to a fence, Chase saw a career in selling merchandise at events.

“I said ‘Are you kidding? We’re at rock ‘n’ roll shows and we’re getting paid?’” Chase said.

Today Chase and his wife, Sandy Chase, run OuiVend Inc., a company that provides sales teams and display equipment. Sandy is president, and Michael is director of operations.

OuiVend has additional locations in Atlanta, Orlando and Greensborough, S.C.

With six full-time employees and a total of 81 employees with event staff, OuiVend sells merchandise at nearly 200 events a year. As years go on, the types of events are increasingly diverse, from stadium rock concerts to indoor football games to graduation ceremonies.

Clients are artists’ licensees, concert promoters, individual event venues and cities such as Orlando that run venues.

Across the decades

OuiVend started out in the early 1980s as an informal staffing group when Michael Chase was working for Facility Merchandising Inc., based in California, running Southeast operations for facilities.

The Chases formally incorporated OuiVend in 1985, and along with that came creation of a business plan. The company provided event staffing for FMI and a growing list of other clients.

In 1998 OuiVend won the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a client. After about four seasons providing merchandise for the Bucs, OuiVend moved from home-based offices into Raymond James Stadium.

The relationship lasted until 2008, when the Buccaneers put out an RFP for retail operations and hired Centerplate, a concessionaire based in Spartanburg, S.C. OuiVend relocated its offices to 1,500 square feet in a building owned by the Chases’ family.

Getting the audience’s attention

The economy has hit the industry hard, causing large events to scale back and attendees to be more mindful of spending.

An important aspect of merchandising at events is getting attendees’ attention in a short window of time, the Chases said.

Making prices clear, implementing redundant equipment to avoid equipment failure and keeping the line moving are crucial. So too are creative ways to display merchandise.

At a recent event, OuiVend built wheelbarrows to showcase flowers and had staff dress in bowties and aprons.

“When these people enter the facility, everyone is vying for that same disposable dollar, the beer guy, the hot dog guy,” Michael Chase said. “We have to wow them and engage them so they say ‘let’s go over there.’”

From the venue’s perspective, merchandise sales are an important part of revenue because venues often receive a smaller percentage of ticket sales than in years past, said Mike LaPan, executive director of the Lakeland Center.

A company like OuiVend acts as an agent to standardize the process of selling merchandise and maximizing profits.

Much of the job is figuring out how much merchandise to sell, based on the sales performance of similar events. For example, a show that is expected to draw 8,000 guests who will spend about $5 each should expect $40,000 in merchandise sales and should stock at least $50,000 worth of merchandise.

The amount of revenue earned during an event can vary vastly depending on the type of event.

“We rely on OuiVend to do that research and ensure the numbers,” LaPan said.

Acts are staying off the road, further increasing competition between vendors, but LaPan anticipates a turnaround. “I think concerts will come back. People’s love for live music has always been there,” he said.

New ‘stuff’

The Chases have rolled out a new line of equipment that they intend to grow as a segment of business.

“Cool Stuff 3.0” is a line of expandable retail displays that do not require the extensive set-up and breakdown of a large-scale display in a fixed location. The equipment creates an 11.5’ X 20’ store backdrop but can collapse to 5 X 10 feet.

Cool Stuff will be available for sale or lease to vendors across the country.

Working with a fabricator, OuiVend has produced 12 units and plans to produce 15 units by the third quarter of 2012. The Chases declined to share how much they have invested in Cool Stuff.

To promote the equipment line OuiVend has begun a social media campaign revolving around a Facebook page and a YouTube video featuring Cool Stuff. “The social media campaign not only makes us user-friendly to consumers but shows us to vendor partners,” Michael Chase said.