By IAN ROSS
A little North Bay company with a solution for slippery floors is making great strides to spread their floor safety treatment across Canada. Non-Slip Solutions cut the ribbon on their new Abbotsford, British Columbia office in March.
The five-employee company, which works out of a modest 2,600-square-foot office in a light industrial park, now counts 23 distributorships in Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, and is making serious inroads into B.C.’s lower mainland.
General manager Dan George says there’s no question the notoriously wet British Columbia climate played a part in establishing a foothold on the West Coast. But they’re also aware that the world will be beating a path to Vancouver’s door for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
They’re getting work from businesses preparing for potential slip-and-fall problems and have done several locations near Whistler Mountain village. One franchisee owns the rights to the upgraded Sea-to-Sky highway and services several shops along the route.
“We’ve got connections out there and it’s basically persistence, phone calls and not giving up,” says George, who spent eight days at a B.C. trade show in March and endured a marathon promotional stretch of 62 hours on only five hours of sleep. “We’re busy beavers.”
The company makes frequent appearances at events catering to industrial health and safety, franchising, hosting and the hotel and restaurant management industry.
Contacts also come from recommendations, one of which lead to Non-Slip recently coating the restaurant kitchen floor of Vancouver -based Food TV chef Rob Fennie.
Since Non-Slip’s establishment in October 2003 by founder Brian Malcolm, the company has been spreading the gospel of the dangers of slippery surfaces. George says Non-Slip has evolved from just applying their floor treatment to becoming a source of information on floor safety and maintenance.
He says they are providing a “much needed” service, addressing a long-standing problem.
Malcolm, who comes from a well-known local stock car racing family, ran an auto repair business for 25 years before selling the shop. While in Florida three years ago, he met a businessman who held the U.S. rights to a biodegradable floor treatment product. It eventually led to another meeting with the Arizona makers of a successful anti-slip solution product.
He purchased the Canadian product rights and started Non-Slip Solutions. The Florida product is used as a basic pre-treatment for hard mineral surface floors. The Arizona treatment is used as a sealer and slip-resistant enhancement.
“We’re completely loaded down,” says George, rhyming off the list of distributorships in GTA communities and southwestern Ontario cities where they’ve set up shops.
The expanding and training of franchisees has become so busy they have sold their North Bay franchise. “We can’t do the work ourselves.”
Last year, they recorded more than $500,000 in corporate contracts and franchise sales, and George is hoping they will easily top that figure in 2006.
Among their clients are Kelsey’s Restaurants, Tim Hortons, Swiss Chalet, the Bank of Nova Scotia and a number of other restaurant and hotel chains.
The company has also enhanced their product under the name SRS - Slip Resistant Sealer.
Non-Slip is now branching out from the industrial, commercial and retail sector to serve the residential market.
George has put together a porcelain bath kit, which they recently marketed at the B.C. Food Service Expo.
They are also working with the Radisson and Holiday Inn hotel chains to treat swimming pools and tubs.
Their plans are working to distribute tub-shower kits in Canadian Tire and Wal-Mart.
George says they’ve “copycatted” themselves in setting up a master distributorship in Winnipeg to attract more franchisees.
“There’s all kinds of biggies out there,” including the Canada Bread Company and White Spot Restaurants. “We’re just going absolutely crazy.”
When it comes to finding prospects, George says they target potential clients with cement, ceramic or hard mineral surface floors. The company also backs up what they sell in guaranteeing a four-year warranty.
For a $39,900 distributorship fee, they provide a five-day training period in North Bay, all the product and technical support, and grant rights for a geographical area.
The company just trademarked in the U.S. and is awaiting the final paperwork.
“We’re going to start venturing in the next couple of months and we’ve already got five or six people ready to roll,” George says.
Franchise queries for exclusive rights for a two-year period have come from entrepreneurs in New York City, Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Cuba, Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Some are seeking master distributorship rights, but George says those rights have to be earned.
He also says the company has no intention of selling their treatment product.
“People have approached us, but we’ve got something good here and we’re not letting it go.”
