Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis Frey.
Please kick things off for us with some background on the story.
I was working for a company with factories in four countries and spending too much time traveling. Linda and I had two young kids, and I wanted to change jobs to something that would keep me home more. I also wanted my own business. We found Manatee Apparel Graphics, which was a small screen print and embroidery shop with six employees. We signed a deal and took possession on June 10th, 2002. There were definitely challenges, IE: we needed industry experience, our equipment was antiquated, our employees needed training and supervision, but we were just getting started and were both very determined. Linda soon retired from Raytheon and joined me at the shop. We quickly added a second retail location, new equipment, a new website, and additional staff. We spent months automating our ordering process and installing an Enterprise System for entering orders, inventory control, and billing.
During all of this, we worked on a new corporate philosophy: high-quality products, timely delivery, and exceptional customer service. Once this phase was completed, we looked for other products and processes that would complement what we already offered. At the same time, we knew we needed to expand our internet presence, and we began researching possibilities. This all took place between 2008 – 2013. We lost a year of progress just trying to survive the Great Recession in 2009, but we came out the other side of it in-tact. Starting in 2013 and continuing through today, we have added Direct to Garment printing, dye sublimation, heat transfers, signs, banners, decals, and window clings. All produced by our trained staff using our equipment.
More importantly, we were able to create a new route to the national market by beginning to offer E-Commerce & Fulfilment Services. In a nutshell, by providing E-Commerce & Fulfilment Services to our customers, we build and host their websites or web-stores, fulfill all of the orders, and ship to their customers. Until recently, we only shipped to the Continental U.S., but in 2020 we began shipping worldwide. IN 2018 we doubled our screen printing capacity and in 2019, we did the same to embroidery. We currently manage over 65 active websites and process 1200- 1500 orders a month. We have 21 employees and have grown every year since 2002 except for three and one of those three was during the Recession.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Its been a challenge from the beginning. When we were really small, we couldn’t get financing to add the equipment we really needed. We took a lot of larger jobs to get the business but produced many of them on manual printing presses. It wasn’t efficient, but we did it well and proved we could produce quality prints. Eventually, we bought our first and then second automatic screen printing machine. The people we bought the business from were on COD will all of the major vendors, and it took us a few years to get ourselves on terms. The Great Recession was probably the most difficult year we’ve had until 2020. We had just bought a second building, staffed it, opened it, and a few months later, the Recession hit us. We dropped almost 20% in revenue for 2009 and were forced to have our first lay-offs. Shortly after the Recession, cotton prices went increased by 400%. It was the all-time high for cotton in recorded history. There was a very serious shortage due to crop damage caused by widespread flooding and fires around the globe. The impact it had on inventory levels made it difficult for us to fill typical orders. When we could find stock, the price we paid could be three times as much as usual. It wasn’t possible to pass all of the increases along, so profit margins suffered.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are Manatee Apparel Graphics located in Bradenton, Florida. We provide screen printing, embroidery, DTG printing, heat transfers, dye sublimation, banners, decal, clings and we do it all in-house with our staff. That alone set us apart from 90% of our competition. A lot of them come to shops like ours and use us to produce the products for their customers. By coming directly to us, our customers cut out that middle-man and save money. We also offer E-Commerce and Fulfilment Services. When you put it altogether, Manatee Apparel is a one-stop-shop for all of our customer’s needs in the decorated apparel and promotional product industry. At Manatee Apparel our employees understand our philosophy of producing only high-quality products in a timely manner, providing exceptional customer service and doing all with competitive pricing In value, we strive to be the best in our industry and we manage that by recruiting and retaining good employees.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Price is rarely the most important thing to customers. Many of them bring it up right away, but they really want to know you care and are capable of meeting their expectations. Those customers understand it costs money to do things well and the cheapest product isn’t always the best. Get your money and a fair margin for what you do. Then go and do it well. For those times, when you don’t do things well, be sure to make them right.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@manateeapparel.com
- Website: www.manateeapparel.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manateeapparel
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