June 13, 2024
Kevin, left, and Donny Vasquez
Made in the Shade Tent Rentals, West Sacramento, Calif., began in 1990 as a part-time supplemental business opportunity for Nancy Vasquez and her family. Today, thanks to the family’s commitment to customer service and safety, it is a thriving tent and structure rental operation that handles everything from large festivals, concerts, sports and state capital legislative events to manufacturing, farming and refinery projects in Northern California.
The company has come a long way from its humble beginnings.
“Back in 1990, we were looking for something to do part time. I had changed my full-time career at a Fortune 500 company to take a University of California, Davis, 50 percent job-share position in chemistry. We wanted something to fill the gap,” says Vasquez, the company owner, president and chief financial officer.
“This company was for sale by a family friend. They had just under 30 small canopies and about three or four local customers. They said they received calls all the time, but because the business wasn’t their main source of income, they turned down many jobs. My husband, Donald, and I both believed in the business, so we bought it for $10,000 and started working out of our garage,” she adds.
Nancy was the primary operator of the business since her husband had another full-time job. Being a woman entering a mostly male-dominated field with no rental experience didn’t stop her. In fact, it motivated her to learn on the job and grow the company.
“We started with small canopies — 10 by 10s and 10 by 20s. We put them together to make them larger. It was always OK with our customers. As we started getting jobs, I would hire my college student workers on the weekends, even having to pick them up at the university to go to jobs because they didn’t have cars. It was good for them and for us. We started out with small festivals. We made a go of it,” she says.
By 1994, the business had grown so much that Nancy quit her part-time position at the university and started working full time in the rental business. The following year they moved into a small warehouse.
Their sons, Donny, Chris and Kevin, helped in the business as they were growing up. Today, Donny serves as CEO and Kevin is chief operating officer with Nancy stepping back a little to handle the business’s accounting needs. While her husband is essentially retired, he assists with big projects. Chris is working in a related field and no longer involved in the business.
While tents have always been their primary focus, they expanded into the table and chair arena when they opened a party rental store in Vacaville, Calif., about 30 miles from West Sacramento. By 2013, however, they had closed that store and focused on “being a premier tent company,” Nancy says.
Made in the Shade Tent Rentals’ handiwork at the 2023 Aftershock Festival
As customer demand for their services kept growing and their inventory and staff expanded, they were running out of space. In 2015 they moved into a larger facility, which they built out to meet their needs. It included a 35,000-sq.-ft. warehouse, a 20,000-sq.-ft. yard and nearly 8,000-sq.-ft. office space. It continues to serve their needs today.
Safety has propelled their growth.
“We tell our employees our goal is for each and every one of them to go home the way they came in — healthy and with no accidents. We invest a lot of time and money to make sure our culture is centered on a safe atmosphere. We provide the tools and personal protective equipment (PPE) they need to stay safe,” Nancy says.
To accentuate that, “we have a clock on our wall that employees see that shows the number of days since our last incident. We are pushing almost 700 in the next day or two. That is our culture,” says Kevin, adding that the company now employs about 30 people.
Membership in the American Rental Association (ARA), the Manufacturers and Tent Renters Association (MATRA,) the Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) Tent Rental Division and the California Rental Association (CRA) has helped them strengthen this commitment.
Donald and Nancy Vasquez
For instance, they transitioned from water weights to blocks in 2014. “We said we need to go this direction because of safety. We have been manufacturing our own blocks since then,” Kevin says, adding that at present they have nearly 1,800 cement blocks, varying in weight from 350 to 4,700 lbs.
In addition, they recently installed a Fastenal machine for PPE at their operation. “It is like a soda machine. If an employee’s safety glasses break, they can go to the machine, put in the code and quickly receive another pair of safety glasses,” Kevin says.
And they have a safety consultant who looks after those needs and goes out on jobs with particular safety concerns.
Safety training goes hand in hand with all that. They are strong proponents of ARA’s new Foundations of Safe Tenting course. “That is an awesome resource,” Kevin says.
This course has become a central part of their training protocol, which involves a new onboarding process. “A new employee’s first day includes doing all the paperwork, taking different classes, including the Foundations of Safe Tenting course, which has helped a lot in allowing our employees to understand what is involved for erecting tents safely. Then they go on a warehouse tour and the next few days they work with a lead on a frame tent and then buddy up for a structure tent,” he adds.
Hiring qualified employees is another piece of the growth puzzle.
The team recently implemented a vetting process, narrowing the field of interview candidates down to those individuals who show the greatest potential for retention.
“Before a prospective hire ever comes in to fill out an application, we know they have hiring potential, they understand our culture and can essentially join the team. The goal is to find qualified new hires who will ultimately stay on the team. Through this new approach, we anticipate a higher retention rate and a much better return on the [training] investment,” Nancy says.
Another large install
Another driver is customer service.
“Our customers know that when we get winds, we are going to go out and service our tents. Our customer doesn’t need to call us. It is our specialty, and I think it is what has gained us the respect of our clients because they know we are going to take care of them. And if there is a problem, it is fixed within a day or two at the most. They also know that when they call us they will get an answer. I answer my phone. Kevin and Donny answer their phones. Our customers have all our numbers because customer service is a high priority,” Nancy says.
Because of their expansive inventory — tents and structures that range from 10-ft.-wide to 100-ft.- wide — and the intricate work they handle — often having jobs that encompass at least 9,300 sq. ft. of space — they have developed long-term and loyal customers.
“We are not looking at a one-and-done kind of thing,” Donny says. “We have a decades-long relationship with our clients who may rent our equipment for a weekend event or have it up for months and months.”
The future looks bright.
“We plan to grow as far as personnel. We are looking at bumping up our upper management and moving people into place as far as leadership positions. I also see us continuing to advance with technology. Then there will be navigating the whole electrification of vehicles and equipment. We are getting ready for whatever may be in the future,” Kevin says.
Growth is the constant. Whether it is handling jobs at the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi Stadium, concerts at the Aftershock Festival, the Chevron facility or farmers getting ready for cherry-picking season, Made in the Shade Tent Rentals will be ready to serve the tent and structure needs of the community.
As a former tent manufacturer salesperson earnestly said, “You talk about Northern California tenting and you talk about Nancy. That is Northern California tenting for you,” Kevin remembers.
