MC Fireside Chats – November 20th, 2024

This is MC Fireside Chats, a weekly show featuring conversations with thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and outdoor hospitality experts who share their insights to help your business succeed. Hosted by Brian Searl, the founder and CEO of Insider Perks, empowered by insights from Modern Campground, the most innovative news source in the industry.

Brian Searl:

Hey everybody, my name is Brian Searl with Modern Campground. We’re super excited to be here at the 2024 KOA convention in San Antonio, Texas.

Brian Searl:

Gotta keep that thing pointed at me.

Brian Searl:

We’re using, we lost our wireless mic, so we’re using this little phone giant janky thing here.

Brian Searl:

We have a really professional production going on here. It’s not unlike KOA though, or is unlike KOA. They’ve got a really great setup here. Everything is just amazing. KOA puts on, as you guys all know, we’ll talk about here in a second, just an absolutely great production show. So super excited to be here and covering this. We’ve got a bunch of special guests here we’re going to talk about. So I’m going to just shut up and let them introduce themselves because they got better things to say than I do. So let’s just go around the room and Gwynn first.

Gwynn Sullivan:

Hi, Brian. First of all, thank you so much for having us. Hi, everybody. I’m Gwynn Sullivan, and I’m the executive director of Care Camps Foundation. And again, just happy to have this opportunity to connect with you.

Jamie Rademacher:

Hello, I’m Jamie Rademacher. I have the privilege of serving as a board member on the Care Camps Foundation as well. Glad to be here. Thank you, Brian.

Ben Quiggle:

I’m Ben Quiggle, editor of Woodall’s Campground Magazine, and sort of a friend with Brian. We’ll cross that bridge.

Kevin Theuson:

Sort of. Yes. Hi, I’m Kevin Theuson. I’m one of the partners in KCN Campgrounds. We’re a multi-park. We have a bunch of K-Wigs.

Mark Lemoine:

I’m Mark Lemoine, Senior Vice President of Franchise Operations for KOA. And I am also a proud Care Camps Foundation board member.

John Kieffer:

Thank you for allowing us to be here. John Kieffer, we own the Blue Ridge/Toccoa River KOA in Georgia. My daughter is the general manager. We enjoy owning a KOA campground and providing all the services and the experience that we hope our campers enjoy. We want to provide what we would want ourselves.

Ali Kieffer:

Hey, I’m Allie Kieffer. I’m the general manager at the Blue Ridge/Toccoa River KOA in Georgia.

Beth Kieffer:

I’m Beth Kieffer, now assistant manager since Ali took the general manager job. Mother turned it over to daughter, husband built it, and we just won Rise and Star.

Brian Searl:

Well, we got a lot of exciting stories here.

Brian Searl:

Obviously, we want to dive into care camps and all the great things that they do. We want to talk about KCN, your experiences here, your different parks, and Mark, your new role. We got to talk about that. We got to talk about your new role, too. I don’t know if I yelled if it’s going to be too loud in here, but I’ll yell. That’s fine. And so I think I want to start, though, with my sort of friend, Ben Quiggle. So Ben is sort of kind of a competitor of ours, but I really value his input. He’s been in the industry a long time, and I was in Niagara Falls this morning at 3 o’clock doing the Canadian national show, but Seth has been here all week, so I just wanted to bring him on the show, get some of his takes, a journalism perspective. I have missed. Ben, take it away.

Ben Quiggle:

Yeah, I mean, it’s been great. Fantastic. I started off, you know, got to go up to a groundbreaking in Fredericksburg KOA, their building out near Fredericksburg, Texas. That was great. On Saturday. On Monday, I got to go to the San Antonio KOA and take in some workshops. There was about hundred or so people that took part in those workshops. Those were fantastic. If you’ve never been to the San Antonio KOA, it’s worth stopping by and looking at the park. And then yesterday, Toby O’Rourke and some of the other KOA officials gave some really great insights into the industry and what KOA is working on. And Mark Lemoine, who’s over here, gave some really great insights on what they’re going to be doing to push the You know the franchise forward the company forward and today’s been great just recognizing the award winners and I think it’s just been fantastic just touching base with our donors and it’s great going to conferences, because you can hear about. the industry and how people are being impacted by things going on. And, you know, each conference gives a different perspective on different things sometimes. And it’s, you know, it’s better to see people in person than to just keep emailing them back and forth. So, oh, where’d Brian go?

Brian Searl:

I will tell you, I’m just going to float behind you. So, I will tell you, like, there are so many industry conferences I know you do too, and I think KOA is one of the ones that we look forward to every year because just the polish, all the things, all the little details that they take care of, but yes, not to promote any of the other conventions or conferences in the industry, but it just feels like a step up, doesn’t it, Ben, to come to KOA?

Ben Quiggle:

I mean, they do a really good job of producing it. I think all the conferences are really great. You know, they each have their different perspectives and different things that they’re focusing on and maybe some of the, you know, like this one obviously is a franchise system. I know we went to Ohio last week and there’s some franchise parks there, but a lot of them, too, are mom and pop or some other corporate locations. So it’s just interesting seeing the wide diversity of parks in the industry when we go to these campuses.

Brian Searl:

Last question for you, Ben. What’s the most interesting thing you’ve heard in your time here?

Ben Quiggle:

Most interesting thing I’ve heard? Um, you know, I think some of the subtopia work spoke about yesterday about the revenue and the occupancy numbers. Some of that was interesting. I think some of the thoughts she had on how she wants to, uh, do things to kind of turn things around to where, you know, the, make sure the revenue keeps going up, make sure the occupancy numbers keep going up. I think some of that was, uh, interesting or focus on, you know, the guest satisfaction and ensuring that guests have a great experience and, uh, That’s really what we’re trying to do in the outdoor hospitality industry. Awesome.

Brian Searl:

Thank you. Let’s go over to Mark. I want to take over to Mark for a second.

Kevin Theuson:

I’m always getting skipped over.

Brian Searl:

Mark, I know you’ve been doing this for quite a while. Do you have any new things you’re doing?

Mark Lemoine:

Is that fair to say? That is fair to say. I think in my introduction, one of the things I did not state is that my wife and I have been franchisees of K-Way for eight years, but having Or. work well done is more work and earlier this fall I was honored to be invited by Toby O’Rourke to join her senior executive team as the new CWP franchise operations. So with everything that we’ve been doing in our own park I now get to focus on that more broadly on behalf of all of the Gateway family and really convention is like a family reunion to us. We come together we have over 500 parks in our system and of them are here this week. Learning things, celebrating our successes, licking our wounds on perhaps some of the things we’re all experiencing, but looking forward to a strong 2025. Well, I have a number of things that are in my purview. And as Ben had just shared, you know, K-Way as an organization, we have 500 properties. 50 of them are owned by Corporation and Balance. 450 are all franchisees. Some of them are multi-part owners, and others are mom-and-pop operators or single-owner operators. So my area oversees our training. It oversees our site development. It oversees all of our events, like this marquee event right here. as well as our education. So it really is… Anything you don’t do? Very little, very little. But it’s certainly, it’s almost easy to do it in such an organization with so many high-performing campground operators.

Brian Searl:

One thing that you look at coming from both the outside and

Mark Lemoine:

Well, you know, it’s not unprecedented, but it’s been a long time since a franchisee has been around the senior executive table. So the very first thing that I bring and immediately is the fact that I’ve walked a mile in the shoes of all of our franchisees. I know what it’s like to buy a park that needed a lot of work. I know what it’s like to sacrifice paying ourselves, my wife and I, to fix up our park. meet and greet the guests and do everything that they need. I get to bring that immediately to all of the conversations.

Brian Searl:

I want to go around the room a little bit here and just talk about the first couple days that everybody’s been here. We’ll just go one by one. What’s something that really you’ve taken away from an education or learning piece from the KOA convention so far?

Mark Lemoine:

I’ll pass. We’ll make Kevin last.

Kevin Theuson:

Make Kevin last? Excuse me. I need the longest to come

Mark Lemoine:

All right, the one thing I’ve learned is I still got more people to meet. I’ve been blessed to get to know a number of people through the eight years that we’ve been a part of the KOA family, but I got a lot of other family members to continue to meet and get to know as I’ve worked to serve them.

John Kieffer:

So I think my takeaway as a mom and pop of one Campground owner is that we learned so much from the other 500 plus properties that represented at the convention. We talk to people, we network, we learn through the breakout sessions, everything from revenue management to social media marketing to how to better manage our parks. You think you have the answers until you come and you share your stories and you learn so much more and better ways to address the challenges that we face as a small business owner and a single campground

Ali Kieffer:

So I would say one of the things I’ve learned is when it comes to marketing, there are endless opportunities. I had a chance to be on stage in a presentation yesterday and having our campground shown and seeing some of the others, how they market. It’s really a testament to the fact that as long as you experiment with new marketing, your campground can soar to new heights. And there’s always something new that you can learn from them.

Beth Kieffer:

I think one of my takeaways probably falls back under why we actually became KOA instead of being a true mom and pop. We came into the brand because KOA carries so much knowledge, so much, they have the things that we needed. And then we come and we find out, like yesterday, I loved yesterday morning where Toby and the whole leadership team stood up and talked about what they’ve seen in the past and the struggles that they know that we’ve gone through and here’s the way the things that they think that they’re going to move forward to help us. And I loved hearing about all of the different initiatives that they’re going to have happen down the line that did impact me in a positive way. I sat there going this is why we’re here, this is why we’re a gateway because they provide, they continue

Gwynn Sullivan:

Hi, everybody. I gotta say the thing that has inspired me the most here is the heart of these campground owners. They are so generous on top of all the other work that they do just to operate their campground day to day. They take time out to fundraise for Care Camps Foundation and to help us support camps for children with cancer across the United States and we just couldn’t be more grateful for this legacy of a partnership together. For 40 years we’ve been doing this together so we just thank you so much here and it really is it’s the heart of KOA that’s so inspiring.

Jamie Rademacher:

That’s great, Gwynn. That’s such along the same lines of what I feel. I feel like I’m in a bit of a different position at this convention than I’ve been before. I’ve been to 13 years of KOA conventions, and now with my primary role here being a part of the Care Campus Foundation, I get to witness the generosity and the care of the people that I know and love as friends and family with K-Way. So I think the thing that I have really felt this week is that, I think Mark had mentioned it earlier, it’s like coming to a family reunion. I’ve said that multiple times this week, that we’re spending time together and we’re connecting. And to be able to feel that, learn from those people, even after being here for so long, there’s still so many things to learn. But to feel and understand the generosity that they have to learn about the different ways that they support Camps Foundation, the many different stories that they have to tell about the work that they’re doing in their campgrounds has been really impactful for me already.

Ben Quiggle:

I feel bad for Kevin. Is Kevin ever going to get to talk, Brian? I don’t know why. We’re saving the best for last. I always get excited because you learn so many new things. I think it’s been really neat to see the evolution of the technology, especially in the last three to four years. When we come to these conferences, You know, more park owners are talking about data and the technology they use at their parks. And you know, you can see the evolution of the data and what’s coming down the pipeline. People are adding even more reports and they’re tracking more data in their businesses. So it’s going to be really neat to see how that evolves. And I’m sure Kevin, Kevin, maybe you can talk now about some of that too.

Brian Searl:

Okay.

Kevin Theuson:

Yeah. Hi. Thanks, Lisa. You know, we, we come into these events, we, I’ve been coming for, for several years now. We always come with a plan. It’s really tactical. We need to focus on this in our business this year. We, we have plans to do this. And there’s always some session that’s designed around helping us learn and execute that. But that, I mean, as great as that plan is, when we get here, it becomes, Who are we going to meet? Who are we going to talk to? And what we take out of it’s very different than I think a lot of times what we go into it trying to get and that’s what I like about it is It’s never the same And even though a lot of the sessions and workshops if we do cover the same topics you always learn something new And you learn how someone else has done it and implemented it in a way that you didn’t realize And so you can learn a lot from that and you know for us is we’re operating eight parks right now And and I learn more from single park mom-and-pop Operators how they are doing things the next you think things really well And so we like to come and see how that’s translating into the success that you’re having, because that’s a piece of our business that we need to try and maintain within our culture that’s harder when you are running more of a portfolio. And so that networking and just seeing how this is playing out for other people is really helpful for us.

Brian Searl:

It’s fair to say you started as a single franchise owner here at the Gateway Convention. Properties now, how does your mindset change one property?

Kevin Theuson:

Everybody has a plan Yeah, so when I got into koa I started as an operator that was important Because my plan was always when I left my previous career. I was I wanted to build business. I wanted to build something that I could grow, that I could incorporate a team and build into something significant. But I didn’t know what I was doing. And I wanted to make sure before I brought anybody else on board that I felt comfortable that I actually understood it. So I started as an operator. I moved into one of the little cabins and did that until I felt that I was comfortable in learning the business. And so it’s just, it’s every time it’s, you know, the mentality is that the business itself is not complex, right. But when you start to expand and acquire more parks and build out that portfolio and And i’ve gone from being the operator who’s living in one of the cabins on site and checking people in and cleaning toilets and doing all that So now my days are all spent on the phone And in zoom meetings and i’m not at my parks very regularly It’s how do you maintain that same culture that same experience? Because it gets a lot harder when you’re not the one there and you’re not directing it. And so a lot of the focus really becomes how do we build our team and get the right people in place that can do that and execute across multiple parks, geography, states, and all those different things. And so as we come to these events, it’s just trying to pick up little tidbits of how we can incorporate that in.

Brian Searl:

I think what you said really kind of hit home with me in a minute or two. being willing to ask that question, right? How do I maintain that? And many businesses, I don’t think, maybe they don’t know to ask the question, right? So from your perspective, how do you, how do you tackle that problem? Like, how do you, like, and I guess I’m asking from a, I also identify in the same way, right? The first year, I think we started signing up clients that I didn’t even know, right? And so I’m like, no, I need to know you, baby. Talk to me on the phone. I need to know your service. So is there a balance that you guys have started to find?

Kevin Theuson:

I mean, it really comes down to the team that we built. And I think part of that is when I was a single park operator, I felt like I knew what I was doing. I understood everything. And then as you step back from that, you have to recognize that, Yeah, maybe I know how to do it, but maybe someone else can do it just as good or better. And I don’t need to be the one that’s telling them exactly what to do. I need to just find the right people that have the right heart and mind and motivation to let them do their thing. And then my job is to provide them tools and resources and training and mostly just opportunities so they can go out and they can execute on what they’re capable of doing. And I just kind of have to get out of the way.

Ben Quiggle:

Hey, we did a great job of that with some of the key, the Ryan S yesterday. Were you there for that? Yeah, he was great. Some of that customer employee, you know, making, you know, your attitude, reflex, you know, your culture, stuff like that. Yeah.

Kevin Theuson:

It’s been a big challenge, honestly, because the, the experience you get when you’re dealing with your guests face to face, it’s a lot easier for you in that moment to go above and beyond and try and understand like who they are, what they want and deliver that. And, you know, as you get further removed from that, it’s a really hard expectation to put on your people to have the same level of care and motivation that maybe you had when you were in that seat. And that’s that’s really be our forever focus is how do we build within our company? How do we build that culture and have that be the DNA of what we’re doing so that our people just automatically do that. And for us, like what we’re learning is it’s really how we treat our team. Because that’s how they’re going to then treat their people who are then going to treat the guests. And I’m not saying that we’re perfect at that, but we recognize that’s what we have to do. So that’s what we’re trying to achieve with KCN. We can treat our team as if they’re our guests, but they will treat their guests as if they matter just as much.

Mark Lemoine:

That’s right. As I think both as an operator, an owner operator, and now wearing the hat of a franchisee, the biggest thing that we bring to the marketplace, especially with all of the options that are out there, is that we are a family. And we are part of the team. We’re the largest network of privately owned campgrounds in the world. We have over 500 properties. Nobody else holds a candle to that. So as we come together, we have a level of quality that we intend to apply consistently across our brand from property to property so our guests know what they’re going to get whenever they see a yellow sign. We have a tremendous marketing opportunity specifically with even our reservation system. KOA was one of the first hospitality organizations in the world that used internet reservations. Now it’s all commonplace as it is today, but today the majority of our reservations still come through koa.com. So as a small operator, we get to benefit from that. Even if you own multiple properties, we get the benefit from that. KOA really gives every one of us the opportunity to be in business for ourselves, but not alone.

Brian Searl:

So anyway, no news. Super excited. You know I’ve been a little bit. I feel like I still don’t do nothing. Tell us about your camp.

Gwynn Sullivan:

Goodness, so as Brian mentioned, I’ve been at the helm here for a couple of years and we made a strategic decision this past year to add foundation to our name to better clarify our mission. And our mission is to give joy and hope and healing power of the outdoors to children with cancer in their families. And how we do that is that we fund for 120 pediatric oncology camps across the United States and Canada. That’s what we do. We wake up every single day here to develop partnerships, to continue partnerships and develop more partnerships so that we can help all these children with cancer, get to camp at no cost here. So I’m just super proud of this mission. The thing that’s so extraordinary that I just got to go ahead and call out, and Jamie can add some exclamation marks to this, is that Care Camps Foundation got started by just a few KOA campground groups. years ago said, you know, we want to give back. And again, this goes back to the heart of this industry, the heart of this community. They said, we want to give back. And they actually raised money to give to one pediatric oncology camp that is based out of New Jersey. And that camp now is still going to this day. And now, 40 years later, with the generosity of the KOA campgrounds and actually other campgrounds, the RV industry, individuals, Now we’re able to fund, again, over 120 camps across the United States and Canada. We’re just super proud of this. And then, you know, yeah, we added foundation to our name and a new logo came with it. And so we’re real proud to showcase our new logo here, Care Camps Foundation, and really embraces the core attributes of our name, which is caring, which is true. I think one of the great things about being here and being able to celebrate the way.

Jamie Rademacher:

is just that, that we can celebrate what these franchisees have done. They’re so involved. They are the heart of this organization. Our legacy partner, our largest partner, the biggest contributor are made up of our franchisees and KOA corporate from the amount of time that they give, the effort that they put in. We are excited to be here and feel that energy from this group of campground owners, operators, uh, and excited about what’s coming next. You know that what’s on the horizon, right? It’s that, um, we want to reach more. We don’t want to just stay stagnant and stay where we are. There are opportunities for more kids to go to camp and for us to better fund operations in these camps and what they want to do to continue to improve and change programming. Um, it’s some of the social things that these kids experience that we can adjust programming to in the camps, be able to look at funding those things. We are privileged to work with COCA, the Children’s Oncology Cancer Association, and work with their accredited camps and provide them With more we want to deepen that relationship and find out what they need and how we can better support them and our. Our. partners here at KOA are eager to do that and to learn what they can do to continue to grow their contribution. And we are privileged to be here to have the opportunity to thank those partners. Truly thank you to all of you who have donated, whether it’s a dollar, $1,000, $10,000, it all matters. And we just want to thank those franchisees and KOA corporate for what they’ve done, what they continue to do.

Gwynn Sullivan:

You know, what’s fascinating that these camps, particularly since COVID, have innovated their camping program. They do the traditional outdoor camp, you know, where the kids come to camp. And here, when I go and have the the real honor and privilege to visit with these camps. There they are. They’re like going down zip lines. They’re playing in the pool. They’re doing pranks with their counselors. Like a camp and you know honestly when you walk into these camps you don’t realize that these kids are have cancer and how this this camp environment really moves them and supports them and gives them community. so that they can be with other kids that have, they don’t have to explain the situation to them. And these camps are doing more programs now. They are providing actually camping programs for those kids that can’t get to them. So through Camp in the Box, they do sibling camps for the brothers and sisters of the children that have cancer, siblings that have cancer. And the parents and the families, they do family retreats, you know, for the families to be able to get together, or just the moms to get together, the dads to get together. And they’re also going into schools and doing school outreach. They’re doing in-hospital camping programs and going to pediatric oncology clinics. So, you know, this is a way there’s so much more that we can do and want to do to help them, you know, with their innovative camping just everyone’s support.

Brian Searl:

All right, I’m going to throw a little bit of dirt because I don’t prep my questions, right? Just in something you said about what’s next, right? So other than sending more kids to camp, all want to do that, right?

Jamie Rademacher:

If you had $5 million tomorrow, that’s such a great question, right? I think, you know, our goal is any of the coca camps that apply, we want to be able to fund them. And we have done that to some level. be able to continue to do that. But I think a big part of it is some of these innovative things that the camps want to be able to do. So they’re looking at, you know, we were talking the other day, and if you think about how a child has to step out of their own life, out of reality for the period of time that they have an illness, right? So they don’t get that socialization. They don’t get to be a kid. They don’t learn how to interact that way. And these camps are working on There’s, there are some camps that are working on, um, redeveloping social skills and looking at the new ways to be able to do this. Um, we all know as campground owners, that capital investments are huge things that are needed as well. And so at this point, we’re able to do some small capital grants as well to the campgrounds, but would love the opportunity to be able to deepen that and to do even more. We’d love to be able to provide, you know, the physical equipment that they need.

Gwynn Sullivan:

One of the things that one of the many things that I’m proud of is that we support these camps basic operations. I came from my previous career. I actually lived off of grant funding and, you know, That grant fund didn’t go to the program. It didn’t go to basic operations. And that’s what we do. We support these camps, basic operations, and costs are going up. And even though that the majority of the people that run these camps are volunteers that come in, and particularly the medical staff, which is extraordinary. All these camps are medically supervised and the medical teams that come in to support them. these kids so that the parents can drop them off with their medicines, their chemotherapy and whatever else they need. They are all showing up as volunteers, but still the costs are going up for these camps. So we just be able to always be committed to supporting their operations. And with that, we’d like to help them do more.

Jamie Rademacher:

So as we think about how do we do that? know, a big dream that the board has that we’ve recently discussed is creating an endowment and being able to do that to fund care camps perpetuity to continue to have that income come in, you know, and that’s something that we can do. We believe we can do that, especially with the backing of this yellow family and beyond. You know, we’re not okay. Way will always be a trusted legacy partner. We’re reaching outside to more outdoor hospitality industries, more RV partners, medical groups, and pharma. Pharma, big pharma. I was like, what is that word? Yeah, so I think that there are ways that we can continue to do that as we diversify our board and bring in new resources. It’s a really exciting opportunity to see what all of those folks bring. And of course, you know, a really great thing that’s coming up very soon, too, is Giving Tuesday, which is a great opportunity to be able to give. It’s an international day designated specifically to giving. And so that’s coming up the first Tuesday in December. And we would love to just ask you all to think about care camps on that particular day.

Brian Searl:

I would love to ask them all to donate today and then again on giving. Absolutely.

Mark Lemoine:

I want to talk to the Rising Star Award winner over here.

Brian Searl:

Mr. President, tell us a little bit about your campground first and kind of what goes into that. And then we’ll dive into the Rising Star.

John Kieffer:

Our journey with KOA started six years ago. My wife and I have been campers our entire life. Our kids grew up camping with us, took them all over the country. And in 2017, we found an area of North Georgia that we love, the Ridge Mountains. Found a piece of property that’s on a pristine trout stream and an area that we wanted to hire. We purchased the property, went through the design process, built Blue Ridge to Coa River KOA. Everything involved with that was challenging from all the work associated with building something from the ground up. But also it was just prior to COVID. We had to complete our construction during COVID challenges. And during COVID, interestingly enough, So many people that could not travel outside the country or on cruise ships or airlines chose to get into the camping experience. They purchased campers for the first time, decided to camp for the first time. If it was not for KOA that helped support us and get us through the construction and the opening of our campground, we would not be in a position we are today to receive the Rising Star and we’re so appreciative of the support that gave us. Our first weekend that we opened, we were full. We opened in August. Our computer software system opened on August 17th, Labor Day, two weeks later. 94 sites were full. And we had our hands full. We had no idea what to take to staff and run that campground. It was a labor of love. My entire family was involved, my wife children and now my daughter who’s our general manager. But again, today’s Rising Star Award, we could not be more honored and appreciative of the support the KOA has given us. That’s a true honor and it’s just a testament to not only all the hard work that we’ve put in our campgrounds the last five years to get it to the point where it’s a top rated campground, one of the best rated campgrounds in Georgia, It’s also a testament to KOA for the support they gave us and helping us succeed. They are very hands-on, supportive, franchising, franchising, it’s just been a tremendous help to us. Again, we’re grateful for this opportunity and we’re excited about the future. And as was mentioned, appreciative of Toby’s comments today and of course appreciative of Mark, a friend and a member of our 20 group who’s helped mentor us and help us continue to succeed as KOA campground owners. Again, we could not have done it without the support of the KOA family. They’re the ones who do the day-to-day and do all the hands-on and social media, everything associated with what you have to do in today’s world to be successful. And we’re excited and appreciative of the recognition of today’s Rising Star.

Brian Searl:

I’d love to hear from each of you. Just one thing that you think really contributed to allowing everybody to win the Rising Star Award. And then the second part is, is there a key code you can give the other candidates so they win next year?

John Kieffer:

Go ahead. In my opinion, the reason I think we were successful in winning the Rising Star was our NPS score, our customer service score. We have worked tirelessly from the time we opened to make sure that we had as good a customer service score as possible, the NPS. And every year we try to figure out what we can do to improve our customer service. It starts with great staff, good people, good management. And keeping our MPS score above 90, we’re at 94 this last quarter, is a critical part. And I think that’s helped us a great deal.

Ali Kieffer:

I would say most definitely it’s treating people the way you want to be treated, especially in the outdoor hospitality industry. You never know who’s going to come in to your campground. And so if you can greet them and you can build a rapport with them, And you can bring them back to your campground and make them part of your family, especially your staff. If you treat them the way you want to be treated, you want to come and they want to work for you. And so we’ve been able to build that over the past four years. And it’s really something humbling that we were honored by this award today.

Beth Kieffer:

I’m going to say that we were successful because my husband is brilliant with vision. He saw the park. He saw it from the first time he saw the property. He called me and said, there’s a beautiful piece of property in particular. He took me there and I said, what? And it is beautiful. The way he was able to grade the land and create and build and design, it is beautiful. I have to thank my daughter because she was caught up in that COVID during her master’s in Asheville and COVID hit and she lost her job, she lost her, she lost, they put everything online and so she had to come home and I was like, you come home every weekend to help us with the park so why don’t you just take over as general manager? I had been general manager for the first year and she knew the media, like she’s a media whiz and so she We kind of side-by-side trained for about a year and a half, and she knows what she’s doing, so why would I stand in the way? I think, thirdly, the reason for success, well, there’s probably more reasons. Thirdly, because of our staff. We have some staff members that have been with us since we opened. They know it is all about heart, and it is all about accommodating what they need at the time. There they are. We try to accommodate that the best we can, and that’s probably the most enjoyable part of the job. 31 years in the school system, I think my interaction with people is probably the most important. But the fourth reason we’re successful, and probably the first and foremost reason to be successful is because of the guests that come. Not only do they enjoy the park, but they share their enjoyment. And it’s nice to always be there when people get there. We call every day a Friday. Because everybody’s coming in on vacation, they’re having fun. It’s nice to see our return guests. From the very beginning, we’ve had return guests, people that live in that one hour, 20 and a half hour radius. And it’s just a pleasure to be able to look at names on the roster for the day and say, oh, they’re coming back, that’s nice. So, there’s lots of pans in the pot. We’re very humbled about winning the Rising Star. As I said, I’m a former teacher, administrator in the school system, so 100 plus is always my goal. I think this is it.

Brian Searl:

I have one more question. And then I’m going to go around the room after this and I’d like to know, and I’m recognizing this answer might change from all of you, we’re going to wrap up the show, given that we’re only halfway through the conference. What’s one thing you think you’ve seen so far that you will take home and immediately put into action for big respective businesses or care camps or something like that, right? For you guys, though, we talked about, heard Mark talk about, many people here about how KU is one big family. I’m interested in hearing your perspective on the benefits of operating a generational campground.

Beth Kieffer:

I think my husband has owned multiple businesses of his own, and we have two children, and when Allie showed interest in helping open the park, it is kind of a nice thing to be able to have something to give down to your your children. So that part has been very nice. We talked in the very beginning when my husband and I opened it, we talked about how long we do this and now with Allie involved, it’s not how long we do this, it’s forever could be an option. And we are amazed at the 10-year parks, 20-year parks, 30-year parks, but then you hear that we’ll be in 50-year parks. And I think in the back of my mind, maybe we can make it to that 20 years, 30 years, because it’s kind of neat to see that.

Ali Kieffer:

I think having something that we literally built from the ground up that we can continue to grow upon and I can continue to build in 20, 30 years, seeing what we’ve come is just a phenomenal thing. And being able to come to convention each year and network with people and meet new people. That’s only going to push you more in your business. Even if you’re a multi-generational, you’re still going to pick up on things that one person in your family is not going to have thought of. So it’s nice to come in to learn those things and to put those in action as you came out.

John Kieffer:

I think it’s a different world we live in today from when I was my daughter’s age. I see the challenges of today and the challenges that young people today have. getting into business, starting businesses. It seems there’s so much more red tape, so much more regulation, so many hurdles. And nobody cares about your business more than you do because you own it, helped build it. But being able to pass down that ownership to someone that you know is going to care about it just as much as you do, but also give them an opportunity to pick something up and carry it forward. that they wouldn’t otherwise have. That opportunity is a special gift that we’re excited to be able to give to her. And we’re also going to benefit knowing that it’s in good hands and somebody’s going to care about it as much as we do.

Brian Searl:

Kevin, you’re first.

Kevin Theuson:

Oh, I was just reading my notes. No, for me, I really enjoyed the keynote yesterday with Ryan Esses and his focus on human-centered leadership. And I went to a session afterwards. It’s what all my notes have been about. And it was interesting because this has been something we’ve been trying to do for a while. Last, a year ago, coming out of convention, we implemented our first company-wide book club. And we all read Unreasonable Hospitality. And we’d meet with all of our managers and our team once a week. about four or five months, and everybody took turns leading that chapter, that section, and talking about what they learned, and we shared it. It was an incredible experience, so we decided to do that again this year, and we’re reading Fans First, which is the book about the Savannah Bananas, which, ironically enough, is one of the things that Ryan talked about in the session yesterday. He was on the board of the Savannah Bananas and knows them very well, and so for us, the The implementation is how do we take those concepts of building that empathetic leadership, and what are the ways that we do our day-to-day of modeling the way that we want our people to interact with their guests, to behave, and to operate? That means that we have to do it ourselves first. And then how do we coach them? How do we provide them with opportunities? Those are the things that we’re taking away from this, again, with this whole idea If we can get better at this at our corporate level, it’s going to then impact all of the people on our team, which is going to help more people want to work with us and stay with us, which is then going to translate into the guest experience that all of our campers have. So that’s not something new necessarily that we are taking away from this, but it’s definitely the big thing that’s kind of hit me as this needs to be a everyday thing.

Ben Quiggle:

It’s difficult for me because I don’t actually own a park. I just cover the industry. Although I come to these things, I think maybe I should get a park. But, you know, I think it just, you know, one of the things these conferences do is just help re-energize people. And that’s the goal is to, like, make the park owners, you know, feel like, wow, it was a long summer, long year, but you can feel re-energized, maybe get some new ideas, new things you can focus on. I think from my perspective, And, you know, that’s kind of what it does for me too, is it just kind of makes me understand the industry, you know, I get to cover and we all get to work in and amazing people. And maybe just, you know, refocus ideas for the new year on what, what to focus on, you know, as we do the magazine for 2025. And then, you know, just to hear things from like Care Camps Foundation and the amazing work that they’re doing. And just, you know, hopefully we can find ways to support each other and the park owners have a great, great year.

Mark Lemoine:

Yeah, I will say, in addition to supporting care camps, what I love most about this industry, really, whether whether it’s the sharing of ideas from operations or the connecting with our guests on a real human level, the mission of KOA is connecting people with the outdoors and each other. And and that that really, that really is what it all boils down to. I mean, as our guests come in, we’re not just selling a campfire. We’re not just selling, you know, the a 30 amp site or with the physical property on it as nice as Poly Furniture is, what we’re selling is that experience that families and friends are enjoying outdoors and they’ll remember that well beyond the time frame that they’re with us. As a family within KOA, we really get to encourage each other onto greatness to fulfill that mission in space.

Gwynn Sullivan:

You know, going home, I got to say that this really helps to fill my tank and our team’s tank here of just interacting with all these very gracious campground owners. And I love it. All week, they come up to us and say, hey, Gwynn, this is what we did at our campground. It’s like, wow, what a great idea. had Angie from Fancy Gap KOA that said, you know, we started this new thing. It’s a date with the book here. And we wrap up books and then make a donation to Care Camps. And, you know, it was like, wow, what a great idea. And so we’re just learning all these wonderful new creative ideas here that the campgrounds are coming up with themselves. In addition to the fundraising toolkit that we do have online at carecamps.org, So, again, I’m just, you know, it’s just the camaraderie and the partnership, and yeah, we’re all working really hard, and, you know, we’re a bit tired, and at the same time, our hearts are so full from all this, and that really keeps us going, and we’re just really excited here for the new year.

Jamie Rademacher:

For me, I think the key word, the key takeaway is relationship. This whole week is a reminder about the relationships that I have in KOA, the friendships that I have, the professional relationships, the relationships through Care Camps Foundation, and the importance of those, the impact that we can have on one person that we don’t even know or don’t know that we’re making. So on a personal level, I feel like that’s something that I need to continue to focus on is deepening those connections. But I think for Care Camps Foundation, as well as we move forward, Those are things that we’re looking to do too, is to deepen and strengthen relationships with our donors, with our partners, with our camps. And I think that this setting is a perfect visualization of that for me.

Beth Kieffer:

There are several initiatives, like I said earlier, that K-Way is going to institute, and I can’t wait until those come on board. But my husband and I sat through 101, 201, and 301 of rate management. And so, of course, while the relationships are hugely important, and I think the biggest takeaways are always going to be from listening to others, we’re going to walk back and look at our rates and figure out the pieces of rates that we need to deal with.

Ali Kieffer:

So one of my biggest takeaways is camp store design. We’ve been working on the past couple of years to grow our ancillary revenue. And one of the things we are going to do when we get back is redesign the store so that the items people want to see are up front. The items they don’t necessarily know they need, but they see, those are going to be some of the items that we put up front in our store. So that was one of my biggest takeaways.

John Kieffer:

So I probably have 15 pages of notes to take away so far. I think that one that strikes me the most is the amount of data that KOA provides for us, for our use. And the reports that they provide are amazing. If anything, I have dramatically underutilized the ability to analyze the data they provide us to better manage, better run our campaign. So my biggest takeaway, I’m going to get much better at understanding the reports, generating reports that we need to make good business decisions. Because at the end of the day, yes, our goal is to provide an exceptional experience delivering people to the outdoors and the experience of being in the outdoors, but it still has to work. Business has to work financially. So we’re going to work on

Brian Searl:

All right, well, I’m excited to have my own takeaway here when I’ve been landed for more than an hour and can actually attend something. So maybe we’ll update you on that later. But thank you guys for all joining us for another episode of NC Fireside Chats. I hope you get back to all your takeaways. I really appreciate everybody being here, your insights on the discussion. I think it was a pretty good one. So I appreciate you guys, and we’ll see you later.

Mark Lemoine:

Thank you, Brian.

SPEAKER_00:

This episode of MC Fireside Chats with your host, Brian Searl. Have a suggestion for a show idea? Want your campground or company in a future episode? Email us at hello at moderncampground.com. Get your daily dose of news from moderncampground.com. And be sure to join us next week for more insights into the fascinating world of outdoor hospitality.