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“In the tent rental industry, there is no ‘tomorrow,’” Brian Richardson, president and CEO of L & A Tent & Event Rentals, Hamilton, N.J., likes to say. Once the event date arrives, rain or not, the event must go on—today.
“No bride dreams of her wedding day being rained out,” he says. “We’ll do all we can to make each customer’s ‘today’ special, no matter what.”
Early in his 40-year career, Richardson founded and built a successful tent rental business. “In high school, I worked part time for a local tent company in my home state of Maine,” says Richardson. “In 1980, after high school and a couple years in the grocery industry, I went to work full time as a project manager for Lewiston Auburn Tent & Awning Company in Auburn, Maine.”
During his six years there, he gained extensive hands-on education as he traveled in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states installing tents for fairs, festivals and sporting events. In 1986, Richardson started L & A Tent & Event Rentals in Plainsboro, N.J. Recently, with his son and son-in-law, he helped start a second company, New Jersey Event Services, a stand-alone event restroom and golf cart rental business.
Growing the business
When Richardson began his business, Lewiston Auburn helped him by providing his first few tents. “It was a tough slog, starting with just one truck and a few tents,” he says. “We had some lean years and not a lot of money.”
He made it through, and Richardson shares credit for that with many loyal clients. “Today we see multigenerational loyalty, with weddings for couples whose parents had their weddings with us,” Richardson says. “I hope someday we’ll get to help with their grandchildren’s weddings!”
Repeat business now makes up 75%–80% of L & A Tent & Event Rental’s work. “We are fortunate to have that level of devotion,” he says. According to Richardson, repeat business in the industry isn’t unusual. From a marketing and sales perspective, it means L & A Tent & Event Rentals can focus on customer relations and quality work. He and his team are just as invested as their customers in having a successful event.
“We endeavor to provide an outstanding product and service at a valued cost,” he says. “We may not be the least expensive, but we create a value that people want to pay for.”
Capital-intensive
Despite his company’s success, Richardson’s entrepreneurial spirit also recognizes that if done today, it would be much harder to start his company. “Costs have skyrocketed but rental revenue has not,” he says. “The cost to purchase tents has quadrupled in the last 30 years, but rental rates really have not increased.”
Tent rental is a capital-intensive business, according to Richardson. The costs of entry and inventory are a challenge, with ongoing direct impacts on finances from interest rates, warehousing and diesel fuel costs. It’s important to keep investing in the company, though, something he admits he was reluctant to do at first when it came to larger tents and equipment to assist his installers.
“My concern, my hesitance, was about return on investment,” he says. “That is, until I realized that helping the staff’s work be more efficient meant they weren’t burning out, which would help revenue and give us that ROI.”
The amount of money a business takes in matters less than the amount of money it keeps. He adds, “Don’t base your pricing on what your competitors are doing. You have no idea what their costs are, and your pricing must account for your costs.”
Labor-intensive
Tents are more complicated now than in the early years of Richardson’s career. And while automation and better design have made the work easier, “AI cannot put up a tent,” he says. “We will always need people.”
Like others in the tent rental business, L & A Tent & Event Rentals relies on the federal H-2B visa program to get legal temporary workers. They start in April and return to their home countries around Thanksgiving. “During our peak six months, we increase our workforce of 22 full-time employees to 45 or 50 with seasonal employees and the H-2B workers,” he says.
“During some times of the year, it’s tough for us to take on more business,” he adds. “Demand outpaces our capacity to meet it.”
The tent rental industry was based on pole tents, but now it’s structures and frames, with flooring, lighting and air conditioning, Richardson says. “Today, we have clear tents with atriums and black or wood-look beams—‘barndominiums,’ I call them.”
Tents are better designed, he adds, and while more complicated, everything is safer across the industry, both for the installers and guests. He is enthusiastic about the look of today’s structures and changes in technology that help automate the work to make it easier. “Everything is customizable now, and we can help event planners fulfill their design vision,” he says.
Mentors and networks
L & A Tent strives to be a good corporate citizen and has a strong philosophy of volunteerism. It encourages staff to volunteer in their communities, and company leaders are involved on the boards of three industry professional organizations.
“As an ATA member, networking opportunities have given me connections and lifelong friendships,” Richardson says. “We’re close friends, even though we are in different geographic areas.”
Over his career, membership and involvement in professional associations have been important. He encourages people in the industry to get involved in its associations. “Until you’ve been part of one, you can’t know what you’re missing out on,” he says. Currently, he is the president-elect of the American Rental Association (ARA) and chairs the ATA Tent Rental Division committee that governs the Bruce W. Wodetzki Awards.
“I am proud to be associated with organizations that lead the tent rental industry in safety advancements,” he says. “In partnership with Clemson University, ATA conducted the first testing on ballasting and developed the first guidelines for safe staking, and ARA developed the first tent evacuation plan that is still the industry standard to this day. These organizations are pioneers in tent safety work.” Since then, ATA, ARA and the Manufacturers and Tent Renters Association have joined forces to collaborate on industry safety resources. “I have been privileged to be a part of it,” says Richardson.
Industry growth in the U.S. has expanded access to tent rental inventory across all states, he says. That has allowed L & A Tent & Event Rentals to be more selective about the geographic area it serves.
“Less travel is a good thing,” he says. “We have gotten much better at understanding work-life balance and its value.”
He credits his staff and “some really good people I met 30 years ago, who are always teaching me” for his company’s success. “They all helped me do more than I could have done on my own.”
Linda McDonald is a freelance writer based in Minneapolis, Minn.
Photography: Thomas Robert Clarke Photography
Project Snapshot: A huge party calls for huge tent coverage
For a private party with 240 guests in late summer of 2024, L & A Tent & Event Rentals built 15,350 square feet of custom tents and structures around a house. The layout included the pool area in a way that allowed pool access. “I had little to do with it,” company president and CEO Brian Richardson says. “Our operations manager, Kyle Richardson, took my initial design and improved it.”
The project involved three months of design and planning. Its main structure was 60 by 90 feet, with custom uprights. Structures attached to it were 40 by 70 feet and 30 by 45 feet. Plus, L & A Tent & Event Rentals built a 10-by-170-foot valet entrance. The interior structures were fully carpeted and included chandelier lighting throughout. Over five days, the company’s nine-person team installed it all and needed three days to take everything down. “From design to execution, I am extremely proud of the work my team did,” he says.
Q&A: What do you know now that you wish you’d known in the beginning?
It’s essential to hire really good people. Then—and this is what I didn’t know in the beginning—get out of their way and let them do what they do. I micromanaged for years, and it held this company back. It’s crucial to empower staff to make decisions. They want the company to be more successful, maybe more than even I do. I wish I had learned that sooner. Without the staff we have here, we could not do what we do. I am so proud of them.