415: Sitting Pretty: How Eustis Chair is Redefining Comfort and Style w/ Brian Langhorst

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:05.088 --> 00:00:19.649
Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs from mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light.

00:00:19.649 --> 00:00:25.344
Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place.

00:00:25.344 --> 00:00:27.083
I'm your host, denny Corby.

00:00:27.083 --> 00:00:28.548
Welcome to the show.

00:00:28.548 --> 00:00:42.713
In this episode I am chatting with a great friend, friend of the industry, another good human, a good hooman, brian Langhorst, the CEO, or Eustace Chairs.

00:00:42.713 --> 00:00:52.902
They make some of the most durable, amazing and comfortable chairs available, all made here in the States, a truly fantastic product.

00:00:52.902 --> 00:00:54.503
That I mean.

00:00:54.503 --> 00:01:05.257
His chairs can be found in places like the Harvard Freshman Dining Hall, the New York Public Library, in clubs and spaces all over the country.

00:01:05.257 --> 00:01:10.591
He even saw some of his chairs in Fenway Park, which is really cool.

00:01:10.591 --> 00:01:15.831
But he and I have such a great fun conversation.

00:01:15.831 --> 00:01:22.442
It's always a good time when he and I chat, always good energy and to hear how much Pat.

00:01:22.442 --> 00:01:38.793
So we hear about his story of how he went from working in real estate software to running literally one of the most respected chair companies in the country, if not in the world, and we talk about what that journey was like and just how someone can have so much passion for chairs.

00:01:38.793 --> 00:01:47.448
It reminds me of almost Ron Swanson from a Parks and Rec episode with like the chair convention, but we have a lot of good laughs in this episode.

00:01:47.448 --> 00:01:50.769
We learn about him, his story and what makes his chair so special.

00:01:50.769 --> 00:02:00.504
And what cracks me up is I had some like I don't want to say funny jokes for him or things that I just thought were funny, but there were actually things so I asked him about.

00:02:00.504 --> 00:02:05.920
We talk about like what's the average sit life Like?

00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.086
Is there tests that are done to measure how much like up and down sitting a chair can take?

00:02:09.086 --> 00:02:13.103
And I didn't expect a yes, but like there is, and we talk about that.

00:02:13.103 --> 00:02:25.389
We also learn about what Eustace chairs can and can't do and we learn about just the cool customization and the cool types of chairs and things that Eustace does for their clients all over.

00:02:25.590 --> 00:02:33.743
And it's funny you bring up perspective and bringing on different people and talking about different things and there's little details.

00:02:33.743 --> 00:02:44.104
That of course, when we brought it up in conversation you're like, oh, of course that makes sense, but when you don't think about it from like one perspective, one point of view, it makes sense.

00:02:44.104 --> 00:02:48.848
So, for example, we talk about different chairs for different rooms and for different people.

00:02:48.848 --> 00:03:01.350
And if you have a card room that's primarily for older women who play bridge, that's going to be a different chair you're going to want to have in there than, say, if it's more used for a men's lounge poker room.

00:03:01.350 --> 00:03:07.468
Those chairs are going to be a different style, a different cushiness, a different support.

00:03:07.468 --> 00:03:11.301
So we talk about things you did not even think you needed to know about chairs.

00:03:11.301 --> 00:03:14.169
But pull up your favorite chair and listen in.

00:03:15.794 --> 00:03:34.542
In all seriousness, though, it is such a cool honor and pleasure to have him on, to learn about him, his story, the Eustace story, the history and how much just passion there is for chairs and for helping clubs and helping clubs get the best chairs possible for their members and I hate to.

00:03:34.542 --> 00:03:39.932
There is an art to the chair, to getting the proper chair for your club.

00:03:39.932 --> 00:03:50.872
It's like almost silly to think about, but it's not, because it makes so much sense for how much people are going to be using them, and sometimes people don't put that much effort into things like that, but they should.

00:03:50.872 --> 00:04:00.705
So before we get to the episode, quick thank you to some of our show partners Kenneth's member vetting Golf Life Navigators and Concert Golf Partners, as well as myself, the Denny Corby Experience.

00:04:00.705 --> 00:04:06.830
If you want to learn more about having one of the most fun member event nights at your club, head on over to dennycorbycom.

00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:11.054
It's one of the most fun evenings your club is going to have guaranteed.

00:04:11.694 --> 00:04:14.197
And while you're searching the interwebs, go to privateclubradiocom.

00:04:14.197 --> 00:04:22.471
Sign up for the newsletter, because I will be releasing the club entertainment guide soon.

00:04:22.471 --> 00:04:26.204
Everything you need to know about putting on and having the best events possible, early access to people who are on the newsletter.

00:04:26.204 --> 00:04:27.891
So make sure you sign up, privateclubradiocom.

00:04:27.891 --> 00:04:30.783
Enough about that, listeners, get ready.

00:04:30.783 --> 00:04:35.422
This is such a fun episode, lots of good laughs and you're gonna learn more about chairs than you needed to know.

00:04:35.422 --> 00:04:41.473
Let's welcome to the channel, mr brian langhorst, for you great man.

00:04:42.403 --> 00:04:58.834
Um, you know, just uh dealing with all the fun stuff in chair furniture world now do you get a lot of people who are going into the new year or looking at the new year now going like we got to spend some money, let's get some new chairs.

00:04:58.834 --> 00:05:00.040
Like, do you get a lot of like that?

00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:03.187
Like, okay, we got money to burn, you know?

00:05:04.410 --> 00:05:07.869
Occasionally there's, like you know, always the issues that pop up.

00:05:07.869 --> 00:05:20.964
Like one of the local clubs, they realized their boardroom chairs were like just kind of getting long in the tooth, not looking as sharp as they might like.

00:05:20.964 --> 00:05:49.192
And here you're talking about, you know, really nice club, really distinguished members, um corporate leaders, whatever else and, like you know, sitting in like the the peeling, cracking chairs, like oh, that's not quite the the level of of hospitality that they're giving out everywhere else, but it's like that boardroom that's kind of tucked away yep, yep, I got you so, yeah, occasionally there's that.

00:05:49.232 --> 00:05:53.307
But then it also rolls into like oh hey, we want to replace chairs.

00:05:53.307 --> 00:05:58.925
But then the committee kind of goes well, what about the walls, what about the drapes, what about the carpets?

00:05:58.925 --> 00:06:00.591
And then all of a sudden like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:06:00.591 --> 00:06:04.386
Okay, we need to kind of now go back and what are we doing here?

00:06:04.386 --> 00:06:09.975
Are we actually going to go through a full renovation and spend you know $15 million?

00:06:09.975 --> 00:06:14.411
Are we just going to replace chairs for, uh, you know a hundred thousand or something like that?

00:06:14.411 --> 00:06:14.940
Yeah, yeah.

00:06:15.942 --> 00:06:16.824
Now is there.

00:06:16.824 --> 00:06:19.870
Is there like a like?

00:06:19.870 --> 00:06:22.634
Is there a?

00:06:22.634 --> 00:06:29.831
I don't know if threshold is the right word, but like how many times a butt is supposed to hit like a chick?

00:06:29.831 --> 00:06:31.906
Is there like a like a, like a?

00:06:31.906 --> 00:06:34.185
Is there like a like a threshold of like?

00:06:34.185 --> 00:06:38.269
Okay, hey, this chair is going to last about like a hundred thousand sits Like.

00:06:38.269 --> 00:06:38.870
Is there?

00:06:38.870 --> 00:06:42.088
There is testing.

00:06:42.108 --> 00:06:46.595
That is hilarious, Like how many times can I like sit down on this or like have a kid?

00:06:46.595 --> 00:06:47.600
That's like jumping up and down.

00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:55.000
No, because to me, like you know A, because, like I always go to like the funny but also the B of like, that would be a great selling To me.

00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:56.668
I would use that as like a selling point.

00:06:56.668 --> 00:07:01.833
But listen, oh you, like you do, like you know X amount of weddings, or like you know so many events.

00:07:01.833 --> 00:07:13.305
But listen, x amount of weddings, or like you know so many events.

00:07:13.305 --> 00:07:16.533
But listen, this chair, right here, a hundred thousand sits like guaranteed, a hundred thousand asses guaranteed.

00:07:16.533 --> 00:07:22.822
But no, but like like sort of kidding, like sort of not like is there like, but they so like there is testing that's done about?

00:07:22.843 --> 00:07:23.322
oh for sure they have.

00:07:23.322 --> 00:07:43.814
Like there's a testing lab and there's several around the country and we kind of have our own little testing lab factory where they literally take a sandbag and, you know, fill it with, like you know, 200 pounds, 150 pounds, whatever, and they literally just drop it from you know 24 inches, 36 inches, and like plop, plop, plop, you know, like rope, back up again, plop it again.

00:07:43.814 --> 00:07:47.204
You know you can just cycle, test it for as many cycles as you want.

00:07:47.204 --> 00:07:49.028
So it could be 100 000.

00:07:49.028 --> 00:07:58.550
We think our, our chairs are probably, um, uh, good for 250 000 sits that what?

00:07:59.230 --> 00:08:00.293
what's the chair rating?

00:08:00.293 --> 00:08:03.144
There's like there's ratings for tires and like other stuff.

00:08:03.144 --> 00:08:04.586
It's like what's what's?

00:08:04.586 --> 00:08:06.512
What's the what's the chair sit rating?

00:08:06.512 --> 00:08:07.072
Oh my God.

00:08:07.093 --> 00:08:08.435
That's so sit rating.

00:08:08.435 --> 00:08:09.839
Do you have Z rated tires?

00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:13.050
Oh no, we have 200,000 sit tested chairs Absolutely.

00:08:16.259 --> 00:08:18.004
So, so how.

00:08:18.004 --> 00:08:24.235
I think you told me once but how did you end up in the chair biz Like?

00:08:24.235 --> 00:08:30.108
Did you just wake up one day thinking like the you know what the world needs better chairs or was it more of a slow burn?

00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:45.312
It was a very slow burn and just like you know completely, you know it's one of those like serendipitous things that you're like, you almost can't like, whether it's fate, serendipity, god you know.

00:08:45.312 --> 00:08:46.722
Whatever you know, pick your thing.

00:08:46.722 --> 00:08:47.043
You're like.

00:08:47.043 --> 00:08:49.029
It certainly wasn't on my plan.

00:08:49.029 --> 00:08:53.799
I wasn't like, okay, we're going to do this, then we do that, and then I'm now, I'm going to go buy a chair company.

00:08:53.799 --> 00:09:12.854
It's like, oh well, you know, I think the last company I worked at I didn't even have a chair, so we had like standing desks on cinder blocks and we were a real estate software startup, so we didn't have really I think we had chairs in the boardroom and stuff like that or like the meeting room, but definitely not at my desk.

00:09:13.019 --> 00:09:17.292
We were just, you know, stand up calling, talking.

00:09:19.261 --> 00:09:21.802
So how did you get it, like, how did you find?

00:09:21.802 --> 00:09:24.931
Because it was a family owned business, right, yeah, exactly.

00:09:24.971 --> 00:09:44.796
Yeah so, fred, fred, fred Eustace's father, bill Eustace, started the company out of like nothing and so he bought a factory out in western kind of central Massachusetts what used to be the hardwood chair capital of the country in Ashburnham, gardner, Massachusetts.

00:09:44.796 --> 00:09:45.562
Are you serious?

00:09:45.562 --> 00:09:57.009
Um, yeah, and so like they have a giant chair, um, and you know, then I think, the nexus moved down to like north carolina, which is kind of what everyone presumes is the hardwood chair capital of the country.

00:09:57.009 --> 00:10:11.745
Yeah, um, but yeah so, bill, uh, bill eustace started it in 1989 and then fred bought it from his dad in the late 90s, um, and fred's four daughters wanted nothing to do with the business.

00:10:11.745 --> 00:10:25.307
Uh, they're all you know great uh, people there are, you know, lawyers, teachers, consultants, um, and then a sailing captain, um, so they're all doing their things and nobody really was interested in chairs.

00:10:25.307 --> 00:10:26.250
Nobody caught the chair bug.

00:10:28.642 --> 00:10:30.990
And at this point you were already working for them.

00:10:30.990 --> 00:10:34.509
Like, how did you even come into, like, how did you even get involved into it?

00:10:35.259 --> 00:10:39.130
So we moved to Boston from my wife's grad school.

00:10:39.130 --> 00:10:48.700
She's a nurse practitioner at Children's here in Boston and she was coming to get her master's in nursing at Boston College.

00:10:48.700 --> 00:10:53.932
We moved to Boston from Seattle in 2012.

00:10:53.932 --> 00:11:09.062
And I worked for this real estate software startup for two or three years there, two or three years there.

00:11:09.062 --> 00:11:55.644
And while I was doing that, there's this really cool group of business owners locally in New England called the CEO Roundtable, and the founder owner of my previous company was a member of that, and so is my brother's father-in-law and in the crazy small world up in Andover, massachusetts, my sister-in-law babysat and was kind of the you know favorite babysitter for Fred Eustace's four girls growing up in Andover, and so that's kind of this crazy small world, and so I was literally up at my brother's house for like a family dinner and Dick Sundberg kind of was our matchmaker and he's like hey, I know you do websites for real estate brokerages.

00:11:55.644 --> 00:12:03.330
I know you can't help my friend, but at least maybe you could like tell him what he needs to know and give him a quick, you know primer.

00:12:03.330 --> 00:12:04.152
He's got a website.

00:12:04.152 --> 00:12:08.350
He's had a website for a long time, but you know he kind of needs to update it.

00:12:08.350 --> 00:12:08.991
Would you meet with him?

00:12:08.991 --> 00:12:10.243
I'm like, oh, yeah, sure, absolutely.

00:12:10.243 --> 00:12:18.630
So I met with Fred at the Harvard club of Boston and we sat down for coffee and we're chatting for a while and I looked, did a little bit of research.

00:12:18.630 --> 00:12:27.423
I was like, oh, that seems like a cool company.

00:12:27.423 --> 00:12:30.638
And I kind of gave him like a list of maybe three or four companies that could help him with his website and said, hey, here's what you need to look for.

00:12:30.638 --> 00:12:33.288
You should interview each of these companies and anybody else you feel like.

00:12:33.288 --> 00:12:36.240
And you know, but it looks like you got a cool company.

00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:37.965
But good luck, godspeed.

00:12:37.965 --> 00:12:40.912
You know I'm off doing my real estate thing.

00:12:40.912 --> 00:12:43.243
I'll check you later, let me know if you need anything.

00:12:43.243 --> 00:12:46.448
And so I didn't think anything about it after that meeting.

00:12:46.448 --> 00:12:59.909
It was great, always nice to get together at the Harvard Club of Boston, because it's just what you think of as quintessential Boston and Steve and his team there they do just such an incredible job.

00:13:02.402 --> 00:13:10.250
But yeah, and then fast forward, maybe a couple months later, later I'm up at my brother's house again, and then Dick was like hey, brian, come here, I want to chat with you for a little bit.

00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:16.719
I was like, okay, he's like, so it turns out there's more to the story than just replacing his website.

00:13:16.719 --> 00:13:24.889
He really needs help growing the business and and you, he, he, he needs somebody to buy him out.

00:13:24.889 --> 00:13:29.515
And I was like, who, who, what me, how am I going to do that?

00:13:29.515 --> 00:13:31.144
I don't have that kind of cash.

00:13:31.144 --> 00:13:32.246
So.

00:13:32.246 --> 00:13:35.927
But of course, you know those, these deals aren't really cash deals.

00:13:35.927 --> 00:13:46.423
Me sometimes they are, but a lot of times it's this kind of slow transition and kind of you know handoff, so that's we kind of you know handoff, so that's what we kind of.

00:13:47.586 --> 00:14:01.496
I like to think that Fred and I dated, so to speak, for probably six months or a year, over lunch dinner, you name it, and kind of seeing if, hey, is this the right fit?

00:14:01.496 --> 00:14:32.230
But the more I thought about it, what Fred had built was really cool in the sense that in my previous role selling real estate software and agent productivity tools, it's so fast changing that people are redoing their websites every year or two, three, maybe five at the very max, and so it's this very fleeting thing that you know like, okay, great.

00:14:32.230 --> 00:14:41.903
Or there's lots of industry consolidation compasses buying up seemingly every real estate brokerage they can, and it's challenging, I get it.

00:14:41.903 --> 00:14:47.833
But you know real estate's awesome, but that you know it was cool to go into Harvard's freshman dining hall.

00:14:47.833 --> 00:14:57.115
That is just one of those truly magical places with the soaring ceilings and wood paneling and all of these.

00:14:57.115 --> 00:15:02.149
You know historical paintings and busts of famous Harvard alum.

00:15:02.149 --> 00:15:10.027
And you kind of go wow, and those are our chairs that we installed in 1994 for 650 chairs that are all still there.

00:15:10.027 --> 00:15:20.633
And you kind of go wow, okay, that's kind of cool that we can build something that can truly last and we have a really better product.

00:15:20.633 --> 00:15:22.663
That's like that was the biggest thing for me.

00:15:23.524 --> 00:15:35.432
Cause, cause, I grew up my uh, mother's side of the family has a commercial cooking equipment company in Chicago, um Keating of Chicago, and so I grew up going to trade shows in the restaurant industry.

00:15:35.432 --> 00:15:49.854
So I grew up going to NRA and NAFM and regional trade shows and stuff like that and my grandfather had invented he forgot, he didn't patent it fast enough but he invented like the convection oven, essentially what, yeah?

00:15:49.854 --> 00:16:01.041
And so he was like, oh, hey, if we're making an oven, because they were making ovens and ranges and grill like and like deep fat fryers, heat lamps, everything that would go in a commercial kitchen.

00:16:01.041 --> 00:16:06.760
And so he's like, hey, we can decrease the cook time if we just blow the radiant heat around a little bit better.

00:16:06.760 --> 00:16:46.761
And so we put a fan motor in the back pretty simple, but he was the first guy to do that, but he didn't't, wasn't able to patent it fast enough, um, but he did all kinds of things, and so his thing was always trying to build better um, and so you know, his thing in our like claim to fame in the kitchen world is that, uh, keating of chicago deep fat fryer, when you drop a basket of french fries, the temperature goes way down really fast because you're putting in a whole bunch of frozen stuff usually, or maybe it's fresh cut, but either way like a huge temperature differential, and so the temperature the oil drops way down, and then that makes it cook longer.

00:16:46.761 --> 00:16:58.592
It has, the cook time has to be longer, and so what my grandfather invented was a better way to kind of allow for more even heat distribution so that you can cook fries faster and more evenly to be more crispy.

00:16:59.934 --> 00:17:09.696
And so that's kind of the same thing that I was like, oh, this is kind of like what my grandfather had done in commercial kitchens.

00:17:09.696 --> 00:17:28.212
He's the Fred and his dad kind of had done for chairs, that literally we had better chairs, that instead of every other chair kind of being built the old fashioned way and just kind of that's good, we could do something way better, that could be stackable, more functional and also way more durable.

00:17:28.212 --> 00:17:30.606
So I was like, hey, yeah, absolutely, what's not to like about that?

00:17:30.606 --> 00:17:31.851
Like this is a cool business.

00:17:31.851 --> 00:17:57.772
Like this is a cool business.

00:17:57.772 --> 00:18:00.194
And, yeah, we have this really awesome historical group of of um places we've installed chairs, but then there's so many people that have never heard of us even today.

00:18:00.194 --> 00:18:00.923
Like it's like we're still a little little tiny company.

00:18:00.809 --> 00:18:01.282
So it's like, oh, wow, I can grow this.

00:18:01.282 --> 00:18:01.897
This is an awesome opportunity.

00:18:01.897 --> 00:18:02.425
So, um, it'll kind of just made so much sense.

00:18:02.425 --> 00:18:03.940
I would have, uh, probably never forgiven myself if I didn't at least give it a try.

00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:04.846
Yeah, and so, um, then fast forward.

00:18:04.846 --> 00:18:08.295
Like you know, 2018, fred and I uh closed, sent him into retirement.

00:18:08.295 --> 00:18:09.875
Um, so he's off.

00:18:09.875 --> 00:18:22.333
You know, sailing, golfing, enjoying his club on the cape as much as he can and going to visit his grandchildren and his daughters and, you know, travel with his wife and just enjoy, uh, being in your mid-70s.

00:18:22.393 --> 00:18:34.125
So, um, it was great yeah yeah, can you spot your chairs, like can you go into almost any place and know if it's a use of shit.

00:18:34.125 --> 00:18:36.592
Like are you that good?

00:18:38.040 --> 00:18:48.124
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I mean it's, it's you know, you get it got brainwashed in the sense that it's like, oh my gosh, I'm definitely now the guy that goes into like Starbucks and like huh, who built this chair?

00:18:48.124 --> 00:18:49.167
Let me flip this thing over.

00:18:49.167 --> 00:18:51.343
Oh, what kind of chair glides do they have?

00:18:51.343 --> 00:18:53.807
You know, look, walk into this library.

00:18:53.847 --> 00:19:06.251
That place like, oh, ah, shivari chairs, ah, bane of my existence now, when you so now would you go into a place and you recognize one of your chairs.

00:19:06.251 --> 00:19:06.933
Is it like?

00:19:06.933 --> 00:19:09.265
Is it like a proud papa moment?

00:19:09.265 --> 00:19:10.347
Is it like a you know like?

00:19:10.347 --> 00:19:13.961
Is it like a senior kid on stage at like the school play?

00:19:13.961 --> 00:19:16.945
Or is it like like, ah, I gotcha.

00:19:17.006 --> 00:19:17.567
We here.

00:19:17.666 --> 00:19:18.208
Absolutely.

00:19:18.208 --> 00:19:18.868
What's the?

00:19:18.868 --> 00:19:19.509
What's the?

00:19:21.874 --> 00:19:24.319
So true, oh my gosh, it is so kind of ridiculous.

00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:30.844
But like my friend from college is like one of my best friends in the whole world, he's one of my, he's my best man.

00:19:30.844 --> 00:19:32.650
At my wedding he was in town.

00:19:32.650 --> 00:20:33.592
He works for the Seattle Seahawks in their press uh department and so he was here when the uh seahawks were playing the patriots and he has saturday as an off day, um, and so we were doing a tour at fenway and you know we just paid regular kind of off the street, and so it was me and my wife and my, our two little girls and my buddy john uh, taking a tour of fenway, um, and it was kind of cool, cause they were setting up for the Pearl Jam show that was on the infield, that that uh next day, on Sunday, and uh, it was like Sunday and Tuesday, I think, were the show days, um, it was cool, like they're rigging and you know, getting the stage all set up and doing sound checks and stuff, um, and then we walked by the uh deli mc club and like, sure enough, my bar stool was like literally like just out, kind of like right in, like the breezeway, um, and I was like, oh my gosh, and we're at the tail end of the line of like the tour, as we're kind of going up to the press box, uh, behind home plate, and I was like, hey girls, hey, quick, sit up in that chair really fast.

00:20:33.912 --> 00:20:39.268
And so both my girls like skibble up into the bar stool or whatever and I'm like taking pictures being like, oh, this is not fast.

00:20:41.682 --> 00:20:44.328
So yeah, seeing my bar stools or chairs in the real world.

00:20:44.328 --> 00:20:48.611
They're like oh, get a picture with me and you're like playing in the chair.

00:20:48.611 --> 00:20:50.847
Check out my bar stool yeah.

00:20:54.020 --> 00:21:00.141
But it is so ridiculous, but, but it is so ridiculous.

00:21:00.141 --> 00:21:00.602
But yeah, it is, it is.

00:21:00.602 --> 00:21:04.048
But it is really cool when you like walk into um like a club, like the club at carlton woods.

00:21:04.048 --> 00:21:14.371
That's just one of those amazing top tier clubs where they are just doing such an extravagant level of customer service and hospitality.

00:21:14.371 --> 00:21:23.095
Like steve salzman, as you know, I mean, he's just amazing, yeah, and like the level of like just kind of like incremental.

00:21:23.095 --> 00:21:33.548
They're already like amazing, but he keeps on finding little ways to get better and better and better and like, bring in like that super master chef that there's only like 50 of in the whole entire world.

00:21:33.808 --> 00:21:41.200
Yep, and you know that that's the guy that's, you know, making the wine dinner pairings and creating this beautiful cuisine.

00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:46.009
It's like you're going to 11 madison park with danny and will, but no, you're.

00:21:46.009 --> 00:21:50.827
You're in texas, um, at steve's place, um, living your best life, yeah, um.

00:21:50.827 --> 00:21:56.530
But to walk into a place like that and see our chairs is always super special.

00:21:56.530 --> 00:22:01.805
It does kind of make you like, oh yeah, this is pretty cool, this is really special.

00:22:02.406 --> 00:22:07.910
Yeah, and all your stuff is like every it's all USA made here.

00:22:07.910 --> 00:22:08.892
Yeah, yeah.

00:22:09.133 --> 00:22:09.874
Absolutely yeah.

00:22:09.874 --> 00:22:10.984
So everything gets made to order.

00:22:10.984 --> 00:22:20.195
So you get to like you know, kind of goldilocks your chairs, a little bit like oh, this one's a little too big, this one's a little too small, oh, this one's just right.

00:22:20.195 --> 00:22:29.505
So we kind of have a lot in that, in our line of like, okay, this one's one inch wider, this one's you know, one inch smaller, this one's okay, perfect, okay.

00:22:29.505 --> 00:22:37.741
And we can also like change the amount of foam that we put in the cushion so like like, hey, we want ours extra squishy.

00:22:37.741 --> 00:22:39.548
Actually, that's too squishy, we don't want.

00:22:39.588 --> 00:22:48.357
We don't want that level of squish now, do you ever have like where there's the squish, where it has a sound, and how do you handle that like?

00:22:48.357 --> 00:22:52.002
Do you have like or is there fabrics that you don't use anymore?

00:22:52.002 --> 00:22:53.105
Or if like, is there like?

00:22:53.105 --> 00:23:04.803
Have you found there's a certain fabric and like squish level that is just like not good, like that combination just calls for, like fart sounds?

00:23:06.144 --> 00:23:07.827
um, we have it.

00:23:07.827 --> 00:23:09.571
I can't think of anything.

00:23:09.571 --> 00:23:14.385
I mean, there are some of like the um, faux leather vinyl.

00:23:14.385 --> 00:23:22.529
That's great because it's easily cleanable, it's durable, it's good for you know, like um, you know years and years and years um.

00:23:22.911 --> 00:23:38.653
But some of them are a little like squeaky, more of just like that kind of you're like that's a little annoying, um, but you know, so many of those manufacturers have done such an incredible job of like making really great stuff that you almost can't tell if it's real leather or not.

00:23:38.653 --> 00:23:44.073
Now in some of the really high end vinyl companies you're like, oh wow, that's, that's pretty impressive.

00:23:44.681 --> 00:23:51.791
Have you ever had like a real wild request, like we wanted to match our golf carts, or like they want to do something like crazy?

00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:58.320
do something like crazy.

00:23:58.320 --> 00:24:07.048
Yeah, we did have one pretty interesting one where they wanted us to send the chairs unfinished and unupholstered to Arizona and it was going to this guy's private dining room for 24.

00:24:07.048 --> 00:24:26.647
I was like, wow, that's like I don't know, I can't even imagine the size of the table, but the he was going to have the table company that was local in arizona finish our chairs in the same finish as his table and then he was getting some, you know, fancy leather or something like that for his seats.

00:24:26.647 --> 00:24:28.771
I was like, hey, that's cool that's.

00:24:28.992 --> 00:24:29.621
That's pretty neat.

00:24:29.621 --> 00:24:32.567
You need more, more clients like that.

00:24:32.567 --> 00:24:36.877
You do all the work you yeah, you do all the work.

00:24:37.118 --> 00:24:38.141
We'll just build the chairs.

00:24:38.141 --> 00:24:43.573
You can finish them, you can upholster them off you go, good luck the ikea model.

00:24:43.712 --> 00:24:45.003
No, exactly like.

00:24:45.003 --> 00:24:46.429
Oh yeah, you can just build it yourself.

00:24:47.251 --> 00:24:48.476
Do you perfect newton the?

00:24:48.496 --> 00:24:54.791
you know whatever do you have a like a studio there or like, do you send samples?

00:24:54.791 --> 00:24:58.647
Like it's like, what if, like a club is like interested and they're like hey, we're torn between like these.

00:24:58.647 --> 00:25:01.106
Like do you have like shippable ready chairs?

00:25:01.106 --> 00:25:01.407
Do you like?

00:25:01.407 --> 00:25:04.147
Do people come to you Like what's the how does that work?

00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:23.267
Yeah, we have like a fleet of I think it's 266 sample chairs that live in the old accounting office at the factory and the old accounting office at the factory and we just send them out so we can send you usually like to send two if we can, because you can fit two side chairs in one box.

00:25:23.267 --> 00:25:27.059
So then it's not astronomical shipping and we don't lose tons of inventory.

00:25:27.059 --> 00:25:32.079
But you know we get it Like a lot of clubs have board turnover.

00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:42.520
We had some sample chairs out there for like two and a half years as the board kept on turning over and then they got a new GM and then the board turned over again, whatever.

00:25:42.520 --> 00:25:45.127
So I was like, yeah, just keep the sample chair, don't lose it.

00:25:45.127 --> 00:25:47.363
But yeah, take your time, no rush.

00:25:48.085 --> 00:26:32.855
So yeah, we love to send out sample chairs because there's nothing like sitting in a chair and kind of going oh okay, how is this really going to feel in a long meeting in a nice dinner and so many of the chairs out there are either really really big, like just the other day a club called and was like oh yeah, we bought these chairs five years ago and it was just like we didn't see it first and everyone, even some of the men have to put a pillow behind their back because the chair is just too big and you're like, oh, that's not really cool for a nice club to have your members kind of having to put like a little throw pillow behind your back so that you can be comfortable during dinner with your friends and getting together.

00:26:32.855 --> 00:26:33.721
Like, oh yeah, I get that.

00:26:33.721 --> 00:26:34.729
So, um, you know, we'll see, hopefully they get.

00:26:34.729 --> 00:26:35.474
They'll like oh yeah, I get that.

00:26:35.474 --> 00:26:42.368
So you know we'll see, hopefully they get, we'll get some chairs for them that's the right size, that aren't gonna swallow them up.

00:26:42.851 --> 00:26:45.207
Yeah, do you so?

00:26:45.207 --> 00:26:47.673
Is there like there must be chair education?

00:26:47.673 --> 00:27:00.636
Then, like, at that point Cause I'm assuming like no, for that same reason people are like, oh, we like love these and want these, and you're probably like you being the expert doing it, so long it's like you know they might not be the best fit, or, you know, have you had a line?

00:27:00.636 --> 00:27:07.847
Do you have a line that after a little bit it was just like, hey, this is just not a good fit, we're just going to not even offer it anymore.

00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:13.582
I can't think we don't have anything like that.

00:27:13.883 --> 00:27:47.342
That's good, because all the things we release are very known to us and they've gone through a lot of testing, so we kind of like okay this is, you know, tried and true, and then we send it out so that we make sure that you know, like we've learned over the years, no-transcript, and so, like card room chairs, it's not one size fits all.

00:27:47.342 --> 00:27:58.759
You kind of need to know the project, because ladies cards, they're all sitting upright and kind of, you know, more engaged in their game, whereas like men's card rooms, completely the opposite.

00:27:58.759 --> 00:28:12.375
Those guys are, like you know, holding their cards sitting way back, hanging out, relaxing, and so they want a much more reclined chair that's kind of like able to like, really give them a lot of, you know, lean back.

00:28:12.375 --> 00:28:33.720
And so, you know, once we sent out sample chairs, uh, to a club in california and the gm didn't specify whether it was ladies or men's cards, and sure enough, he ordered chairs, um, and this was for men's cards, and these were like member dining chairs and the members were like we can play cards in this.

00:28:34.211 --> 00:28:35.576
I can't lean back far enough.

00:28:35.576 --> 00:28:36.894
My buddy's going to see my cards.

00:28:36.894 --> 00:28:37.738
What the heck is this?

00:28:37.738 --> 00:28:40.980
And so cool story.

00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:44.000
This is the only time we've ever resold our chairs.

00:28:44.000 --> 00:29:13.503
Resold our chairs, um, and lynn lafondaluka, uh, the wonder woman, um, she uh got us in touch with the club at pasadena and sure enough, like, um, you know, they now have those chairs that just weren't the right fit, um, so that was like our one kind of like oh shoot, yeah, we didn't ask enough questions, or the gm, you know, didn't know the question to ask, or whatever to know, like, hey, ladies card room not the same as men's card room, for sure.

00:29:15.171 --> 00:29:15.711
Yeah, I did.

00:29:15.711 --> 00:29:20.682
As soon as you even started going down that rabbit hole, I was like I would not have even thought about that.

00:29:20.682 --> 00:29:25.601
Like the different types of card room chairs and just those, those little bit of details.

00:29:25.601 --> 00:29:27.477
No, that all makes a huge difference.

00:29:27.497 --> 00:29:29.219
types of card room chairs and just those those little bit of details.

00:29:29.219 --> 00:29:29.980
No, that all makes a huge difference.

00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:40.039
Yeah, and also, I mean even just like things like fred eustace is six two and his wife lisa is five, three or four, something like that.

00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:45.792
Um, and so you know, you also want to have maybe lots of members sit.

00:29:45.813 --> 00:29:59.957
Test that sample chair so that you know, hey, is it going to be comfortable for everybody, or are we just all catering to the demographics of the board or whoever's the house committee that might be choosing the chairs?

00:29:59.957 --> 00:30:16.635
Make sure you get a wide population of people that are testing it out, making sure that somebody that's 5'3" or, or five, five or six, two, that they can all sit in the chair and it's all comfortable for them, because we can, you know, make the sitting height a little bit shorter, a little bit taller.

00:30:16.635 --> 00:30:24.420
Um, so I could only imagine, for probably, like michael jordan's club in florida, he might have people that are all tall.

00:30:24.420 --> 00:30:41.863
Maybe there's not a lot of short people at his club, because it's all you know maybe ex-basketballers and, uh, you know, nfl guys and whatever else out there, kind of taking each other's money, um, but I don't know, that's who knows yeah, I even think about that, do you?

00:30:41.982 --> 00:30:50.119
so do clubs have like, will they set up, like will they put like a chair out front and say, hey, like we're thinking about, like thinking about getting these like take it for a spin?

00:30:50.119 --> 00:30:58.814
Like do they sometimes get like two or four and there's like a table set up and they can like test drive it for a meal or something Like do clubs actually do that Like?

00:30:58.854 --> 00:30:59.635
is that like a thing?

00:30:59.635 --> 00:31:00.499
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

00:31:00.499 --> 00:31:02.454
I mean, that's absolutely, that's what we encourage them to do.

00:31:02.454 --> 00:31:08.791
Yeah, you know, sit in a meeting in this chair.

00:31:08.791 --> 00:31:12.097
You know, eat in this chair, see, if you like it, uh, take it for a spin.

00:31:12.097 --> 00:31:32.461
Absolutely so, it's so true, but it's just like so, oh my gosh, like if you would have asked me 10 years ago or whatever, I guess no, it was maybe about 10 years ago if I would be like talking to, uh, denny and private club Radio about sit testing, chairs and whatever else and seat height and foam density and all the other silly things.

00:31:32.461 --> 00:31:34.798
Like what kind of world do you think this is?

00:31:34.798 --> 00:31:38.559
But yeah, that is the life in the chair world, that's for sure.

00:31:40.711 --> 00:31:50.490
Jim ever have any clubs that are way too excited about chairs that it might challenge your level of excitement that you get from chairs?

00:31:51.614 --> 00:31:56.323
No, no, I think you know understandably.

00:31:56.323 --> 00:32:05.838
I mean I have so much profound respect for everyone in the club industry and the way that they handle.

00:32:05.838 --> 00:32:09.704
You know all of the complexities of these clubs.

00:32:09.704 --> 00:32:28.157
You know they're having, you know record rounds, record membership levels and doing an amazing job of creating hospitality, and you know bringing on these amazing new, young and up-and-coming people in the club industry and so it's just so cool.

00:32:28.157 --> 00:32:30.297
But they have so much going on.

00:32:30.297 --> 00:32:34.560
So to see anybody have like crazy level of excitement of chairs right and like I get it.

00:32:34.560 --> 00:32:48.761
You got a lot of stuff that you got to worry about pots and pans and carpet, and you know go carts and you know golf carts and all the other good stuff, and it's like, oh my gosh, like you just need to keep everything humming at that high level so I can get the.

00:32:48.761 --> 00:32:55.439
You might not get excited about this that you just need new chairs and you want to keep moving on and have your members stop griping.

00:32:59.391 --> 00:33:03.271
What's what is the superior chair Like?

00:33:03.271 --> 00:33:05.980
What is your Rolls Royce of chair?

00:33:07.611 --> 00:33:10.259
Well, there's two that come to mind.

00:33:10.259 --> 00:33:14.441
There's this one chair that's like one of those iconic chairs.

00:33:14.441 --> 00:33:27.201
So in New York City, right off of Battery Park, there's the New York Public Library in Midtown and it's that, you know, they have the two lions out front, yeah.

00:33:27.201 --> 00:33:57.036
And then there's this amazing reading room called the rose reading room and it is just one of those jaw-dropping rooms with cathedral ceilings and beautiful paintings on the ceilings and skylights and it's just as you walk in there and it's almost like going into, you know, notre dame or something like that, or a beautiful church where you're just like wow, this is amazing.

00:33:57.576 --> 00:34:08.621
Like I can't even imagine how long these craftspeople took to build this and the marble and the you know, granite and all the different like detail.

00:34:08.621 --> 00:34:14.605
You're like wow, it just makes you feel really small and kind of just like wow, um.

00:34:14.605 --> 00:34:43.527
But they have these amazing chairs that have a lot of detail to them, um, that are kind of classic boart style chairs and we were lucky enough to be asked to replicate their chairs and that chair is amazing but it's very detailed, really comfortable, but it's super special, but lots of steam bendings, lots of labor, lots of material costs.

00:34:54.289 --> 00:34:56.434
So you guys have your catalog, but you also do custom work and whatever they, yeah, really want.

00:34:56.434 --> 00:34:57.036
That is cool, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:34:57.036 --> 00:35:03.733
So we've had a lot of clubs, um, that have come to us and said, hey, this chair manufacturer, we have these chairs that are, you know, 100 years old, 50 years old.

00:35:03.733 --> 00:35:05.336
The manufacturer's long gone.

00:35:05.336 --> 00:35:07.179
We love these chairs.

00:35:07.179 --> 00:35:09.885
Can you make this chair stack?

00:35:09.885 --> 00:35:15.300
Like sure, absolutely, you know, um, here's what it's going to take.

00:35:15.300 --> 00:35:18.394
It's not not, you know, like we can't just whip it up in two weeks.

00:35:18.394 --> 00:35:28.391
It's going to probably be a year-long process of first drawing the chair up in cad and like giving them a pdf to be like, hey, here's how it's going to look, do you like that?

00:35:28.391 --> 00:35:32.340
And then they can say, oh, let's make it a little taller, shorter, wider, whatever.

00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:35.775
And then, hey, now we'll actually build up a real sample.

00:35:35.775 --> 00:36:16.556
And we have amazing craftsmen that can build up a sample chair, um, and that takes a couple weeks, uh, once you actually get their attention, because a lot of times, you know, we have new chairs in production and whatever else, and so they're working on projects, and so it might be a two-month queue of projects before the craftsman can really dive into that chair and then we build that chair, send it out to the club, make sure that they like it, um, and then they say yes, and then all of a sudden, then we come back and you know, build up, sudden they would come back and you know, build up that chair, create the fixtures, and you know jigs and everything like that to shape the parts and machine the parts and then off we go.

00:36:16.556 --> 00:36:31.016
So we've definitely done that, but it is, you know, a special project and we're happy to do it, but it definitely costs a fair penny and it definitely takes a little bit of time.

00:36:31.016 --> 00:36:32.985
But, uh, we definitely do that.

00:36:33.005 --> 00:36:33.467
So we've done.

00:36:33.467 --> 00:36:39.380
You know, thomas Edison's workshop chair from his old lab and bell labs in New Jersey.

00:36:39.380 --> 00:36:50.445
That's now at uh in Dearborn at um the Henry Ford museum, and literally they have that same chair and I think they had originally had that.

00:36:50.445 --> 00:36:58.152
That's the one that's at Harvard's freshman dining hall that we call the Edison chair, and so we've done that for Harvard.

00:36:58.152 --> 00:37:09.282
Rice University has those in one of their dining halls, penn has them in one of their dining halls and Bowdoin College has them in their dining hall.

00:37:09.282 --> 00:37:11.092
So it's super cool.

00:37:11.132 --> 00:37:15.952
We have some of those chairs, like the New York Rose Reading Room chair and the Edison chairs.

00:37:15.952 --> 00:37:27.702
We have some replica chairs, for sure, and then lots of other ones that have just kind of gotten created, you know, with working with general managers and their designers.

00:37:27.702 --> 00:37:52.873
Like there's a really popular chair, uh, called the council room, that we designed, um with one of the new england general managers and his interior designers and architects, um for the yale club of new york city and they have one of their really cool rooms called the council room and you know we said hey how cool would it be to have your own chair named after your kind of signature meeting room, um.

00:37:52.893 --> 00:37:55.280
So the council room chair got born for that.

00:37:55.981 --> 00:38:04.376
And then, uh, and then we created, we sent that chair down to, um, the park city club in Dallas, uh, which is a really cool spot.

00:38:04.376 --> 00:38:15.503
If you're ever down in Dallas they're in the high rise up on like the 19th floor and Harry and his team down there and Michael like that chair and like this is going to be perfect.

00:38:15.503 --> 00:38:21.777
But we need to make this thing two inches wider and one inch taller because it's Texas sized.

00:38:21.777 --> 00:38:31.221
So the Park City chair got born for the Park City Club in Dallas and it truly is like a great chair, that Texas size.

00:38:31.221 --> 00:38:37.523
But you know, now all of a sudden we have that chair in Ohio and down in Florida and all over the place it's a great chair.

00:38:37.690 --> 00:38:46.202
So, yeah, that's kind of more of what we'd end up doing is like, hey, take this chair and kind of make a little small modification, you know, make this chair more decorative.

00:38:46.202 --> 00:38:58.467
Hey, you know, fore bendy, down at river oaks, they really liked one of our stacking hardwood chairs that has a really neat design in the back and he said, hey, could we do this with a ball and claw foot?

00:38:58.467 --> 00:39:05.612
We said, absolutely, here's 20 ball and claw foot options to choose from, and so now we have a river oaks chair for joe and his team.

00:39:06.152 --> 00:39:08.918
Yeah, what's what's like a?

00:39:08.918 --> 00:39:18.873
It's probably hard to say, but like what's like the maybe average, like what's like the premium that people will pay for a cut like a totally custom chair.

00:39:20.278 --> 00:39:21.929
Oh, that's a good question.

00:39:21.929 --> 00:39:25.780
I'd say that probably a lot of it depends on the quantity.

00:39:26.050 --> 00:39:28.719
I was gonna say probably quantity and also the amount of detail.

00:39:28.719 --> 00:39:37.543
If it's taking something that you already do and have before, you just want to change a few, like cosmetic things, it's probably yeah, so I okay.

00:39:37.945 --> 00:39:40.998
Yeah, that's a tricky one, but yeah, it's a good question.

00:39:40.998 --> 00:39:41.760
So, yeah, I mean that's.

00:39:41.760 --> 00:39:43.456
You know.

00:39:43.456 --> 00:39:51.494
It's really easy to say, oh yeah, hey, can you make this chair one inch taller?

00:39:51.494 --> 00:39:53.498
Yeah, we can do that, that's not a problem, that's pretty darn easy.

00:39:53.498 --> 00:39:56.431
Um, can you, you know, put one more inch of foam in the seat?

00:39:56.431 --> 00:39:57.614
Absolutely, that's.

00:39:57.614 --> 00:39:59.460
You know, we can do that in our sleep.

00:39:59.460 --> 00:40:03.143
What kind of, what kind of uh, what kind of uh operation of uh chairs do you have over there?

00:40:03.242 --> 00:40:06.452
you got a bar stool I have you, uh, have a standing desk.

00:40:06.452 --> 00:40:07.554
What are we working with?

00:40:07.554 --> 00:40:16.811
This is probably uh, this is a way too old like adjustable stool that's on like a, on like a ball almost.

00:40:16.811 --> 00:40:26.336
Oh yeah, so it just kind of like kind of yeah, so because I don't yeah, because I have a standing desk, so I'll sit or stand.

00:40:26.838 --> 00:40:49.581
Yeah, um kind of like back in your old uh, your old uh days yeah yeah, so I wish you congratulations, uh, in person, for your 410th now episodes like I, just like, I think it is so cool well, hey, I want to thank you for coming on.

00:40:49.670 --> 00:40:58.599
You know, keeping us absolutely keeping us on the edge of our seats and you are too kind, denny, that was.

00:40:58.619 --> 00:41:09.400
That was like right up my alley of like home run through it over the green monster uh oh, the green monster green monster.

00:41:09.822 --> 00:41:12.831
yeah, yeah, sadly we don't have any chairs.

00:41:12.831 --> 00:41:33.420
Because you can sit now on the green monster, um, and they're like really sought after tickets, because you get a pretty cool view, because you're like right by the pesky pole, yeah, um, in carlton fisk fame and stuff like that, so they're cool seats and then you can also kind of like turn around and like you can see like Boston and the Charles River and all that stuff.

00:41:33.420 --> 00:41:34.021
So it's kind of cool.

00:41:34.021 --> 00:41:37.916
But yeah, we don't have any chairs there, just only in the private club levels.

00:41:37.916 --> 00:41:44.954
But that is definitely my dream is to be able to watch a Red Sox game in one of my chairs or bar stools.

00:41:44.954 --> 00:41:48.018
So maybe someday we'll have to get you out of here for that.

00:41:48.018 --> 00:41:50.023
Ooh, now we're talking.

00:41:50.023 --> 00:41:51.465
Yeah, yeah, yeah, buddy.

00:41:52.630 --> 00:41:53.876
Hope you all enjoyed that episode.

00:41:53.876 --> 00:41:54.617
I know I did.

00:41:54.617 --> 00:42:01.418
If you want to learn more about Eustace Chairs, link in the bio or head over to EustaceChairscom.

00:42:01.418 --> 00:42:05.117
If you've not done so already, sign up for the newsletter.

00:42:05.117 --> 00:42:12.849
No-transcript.