Nixa-based Aire-Master of America Inc. has pumped up sales with a house brand, largely led by a deal with national retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBY).
What started with Bed Bath & Beyond officials seeking a manufacturer for coffeemaker cleaners in spring 2011, Aire-Master executives have turned into a new product line called Nuvera that has amassed sales projected to reach $1.5 million by the end of the year.
Through Bed Bath & Beyond, Aire-Master officials say 500,000 bottles of Nuvera coffeemaker cleaner sold in the first year of production through July, and the Nixa company is filling the retailer’s orders daily through an electronic network.
“(Bed Bath & Beyond) went out into the vendor community, and everybody said what they were already making was fine,” said Aire-Master Retail Director Jeff Poore, who came on board in October 2011 to help build Nuvera sales. “They didn’t want those. They wanted something that was more specific to the Keurig-type of coffeemakers. So, they said, ‘Can you do this?’”
Aire-Master has since developed 18 products in the Nuvera line that it is shopping to big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores and Target, said Vice President of Operations Eric Reese. Products found on Bed Bath & Beyond shelves in Springfield and 585 other stores in the U.S. and Canada clean coffeemakers, showerheads, barbecue grills and patio furniture, Poore said.
“That single-cup coffee cleaner just exploded. It was an amazing thing to watch happen as far as not just sales, but acceptance of the brand,” Poore added.
Reese said Bed Bath & Beyond representatives felt a specialized cleaner for single-cup coffeemakers would sell, and Aire-Master was thrilled to put together a proposal. He said the company had packaging and branding in place within 36 hours of its first meeting with Bed Bath & Beyond officials.
“If you listen to the buyer, they’ll let you know what will work,” Reese said.
Since Bed Bath & Beyond began selling the Nuvera coffeemaker cleaner in July 2011, the retailer has ordered four other product types, Poore said. Aire-Master officials said the deal is exclusive to the store level and Nuvera products are not available at BedBathAndBeyond.com. Danielle Sherman, a spokeswoman for Bed Bath & Beyond, declined to comment for this story.
Aire-Master recruited Poore in October 2011 from Bellingham, Wash.-based private equity firm Homax Group Inc. to help grow demand for the Nuvera line. Reese said through Poore’s connections, the company has hired roughly 15 representative groups nationwide that negotiate product sales with national and regional retailers. For example, Poore said he’s working with a company known as the Moscoe Group that sells multiple product lines exclusively to Target.
“When you are trying to launch a brand from scratch, it is extremely hard,” Poore said. “The advantage we have is our national footprint with Bed Bath & Beyond, so that is the story that comes along with the product. That’s the only way we would be able to get into a Target, for instance, because it has all of these national brands that it is already buying from.”
Reese said the groups representing Aire-Master typically target stores in a certain geographic area.
“Out West, they’re going to be calling on the Fred Meyers and the Costcos – those type of retailers,” he said.
While executives manage the new sales pipeline, the two-year-old Hands First sanitizer manufactured at Aire-Master is experiencing a spike in orders.
Reese said Aire-Master is gearing up for orders from the Royal Rangers – an Assemblies of God youth service organization comparable to the Boy Scouts. Royal Rangers from across the country will launch a fundraiser this fall selling the Hands First sanitizer, which was developed locally by Dr. Roger Huckfeldt and is manufactured at Aire-Master’s Nixa production facility.
Aire-Master derives roughly 30 percent of its revenues from contract packaging, such as the sanitizer line, and Reese said the company is projecting $3 million in revenues this year. Revenues from product sales from the company’s 89 franchise locations comprise 20 percent of revenues, he said, and sales from its own service division, which includes the Nuvera line and four corporate janitorial services stores, make up 35 percent. The other 15 percent of revenues comes from franchise fees and private-label production.
Reese said the company, buoyed in part by the prospect of its emerging line, purchased a 55,000-square-foot warehouse in Nixa for distribution in September 2011. The company has hired one full-time worker in its shipping department to handle the distribution of the product.
“Now, we’ve got plenty of room to expand in terms of distribution,” Reese said.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
