Outdoor Living Brands is a franchisor of four outdoor-focused brands: Archadeck, Mosquito Squad, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives, and Renew Crew. The company seeks franchisees who love the outdoors and offers incentives for veterans, including discounts on franchise fees. Approximately 32% of Outdoor Living Brands' 336 franchisees are veterans. The company provides franchisees with training, support teams, and marketing assistance to help them launch and grow their businesses.

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Outdoor Living
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2. Cover Story - Outdoor Living Brands
A true love of the
outdoors and helping
people better their living
spaces are the two most
important characteristics
a franchisee needs to
prosper with Outdoor
Living Brands.
Factor in veterans’ ability to successfully
execute policies and procedures, and that’s
a combination for franchising success.
Outdoor Living Brands is the parent
company for Archadeck, Mosquito Squad,
Outdoor Lighting Perspectives and
Renew Crew, Chris Grandpre, who serves
as Chairman & CEO for the company,
explained during a recent interview from
the headquarters in Richmond, VA.
Archadeck started in 1980 in Richmond
as a company that designs outdoor living
spaces and oversees the construction of
those spaces. A family member of one
of the company founders ran it. The first
franchisee was a builder in Boston who
was looking to diversify his business.
Mosquito Squad, meanwhile, is a
subscription based franchise where people
will subscribe to the service of having
a mosquito treatment applied on their
property every 21 days.
A full-service company, Outdoor Lighting
Perspectives designs and installs outdoor
lighting for residential and hospitality
locations. They use low voltage products,
Grandpre said, and also design, install and
store holiday lighting displays for their
clients.
Renew Crew is an environmentally
friendly outdoor surface cleaning and
restoration franchise.
Across all four of the brands, 336
franchisees call Outdoor Living Brands
home, with approximately 32 percent of
those being veterans. In fact, the company
has just added five more veterans to the
family this year, said Grandpre.
Deals for Veterans
The company launched a veteran’s
awareness program several years ago,
offering VetFran discounts for qualified
military personnel. That first year with the
vet discount, they added 12 veteran-run
locations across all four brands. A year
later, they doubled the discount.
They continue to double the discount
during May, which is Military
Appreciation Month, and November in
honor of Veterans’ Day.
They’ve also partnered with GI Jobs,
Recruit Military, Corporate Gray and other
veteran organizations to help highlight
opportunities for veterans. They’ve also
done seminars for veterans to tell them
about these various opportunities.
“We’re always looking for new ways to
educate military professionals and recruit
them to be a part of our family,” Grandpre
said.
Veterans make great franchisees because
they can take policies and procedures
and implement them with great success,
he added. This is in addition to the great
leadership qualities they have and it’s
an honor to bring them into the Outdoor
Living Brands family.
Renew Crew specifically has announced
up to 100 percent financing for qualified
candidates for the initial franchise fee at
three percent above the prime interest rate.
Plus, the brand will waive payments until
franchisees are up and running.
Ideal Franchisee
It’s no surprise that the ideal Outdoor
Living Brands franchisee is someone who
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Outdoor Living Brands offers
outdoor
loving veterans
plenty of opportunity

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loves not being stuck in an office and who
enjoys being involved in their community.
“Typically, our ideal franchisee is someone
who absolutely loves the outdoor living
category and they love being outdoors and
interacting with clients,” Grandpre said.
“They have great personal skills and can
manage several moving parts at any given
moment.”
Archadeck franchisees tend to be more
executive types, he said, while Outdoor
Lighting Perspective franchisees are
more owner-operators who want to be
involved in the day-to-day running of their
business.
A lot of Mosquito Squad franchisees run
other businesses or have their other jobs,
he said, including active duty firefighters
or police officers. The franchise also tends
to attract families.
Renew Crew has been around since 1993
and franchisees usually work in their
business.
Getting on Board
Each brand has its own educational
discovery process, Grandpre said, and
they will answer any questions franchisees
have at any time. The onboarding process
involves having potential franchisees
watch a series of videos that present what
their brands and business models are all
about. After that, they go through the
brands’ core offerings and marketing and
lead generation. After each video, they’ll
have a conversation with the candidate to
answer any questions.
Every franchisee has their own dedicated
ad agency, Grandpre said, which consists
of two dedicated marketing managers to
focus on inbound and outbound marketing
tactics in the franchisee’s territory. They
also have a brand strategist, in-house
graphic designer and copywriters to help
franchisees.
Outdoor Living Brands has dedicated
individuals to help franchisees launch their
businesses and help them as they grow
in the future. They also offer franchisees
the latest technological tools to help them
promote their businesses.
“Every franchisee has a dedicated support
team,” Grandpre said. “Whatever they
need, we have dedicated professionals here
in Richmond, Virginia for their specific
brand.”
VeteransinFranchising
For Archadeck, a corporate team will
prepare 3D renderings, photo realistic
drawings and building plans to ensure
projects meet the brand’s codes and
standards. They also send out a field
support team that does a pre-training and
post-training visit.
Weekly and monthly webinars to discuss
different tactics the company is thinking
of doing with the various brands, plus
discussions of new national marketing
campaigns, products and services are
also a feature of the company’s support
systems.
Training
Archadeck has a three-week training
program in Richmond and the other three
brands have a one-week training program
there.
They also have regional and mid-year
training classes for brands and Outdoor
Lighting Perspectives has a holiday
training session in August. The annual
meeting for all brands is in January and
involves four days of preparing franchisees
for the coming year.
The four brands have locations across the
country. Outdoor Lighting Perspectives
has 52 locations in the U.S., but also has
locations abroad in Canada, Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia. Archadeck has 52 locations
mainly in the U.S. with one franchisee in
the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
Mosquito Squad has over 175 locations
in the continental US and is working to
expand internationally. Renew Crew has
33 locations concentrated on the east coast
and the mid-west.
Territories are available everywhere,
Grandpre noted. And although Mosquito
Squad is more sold out than the other
brands, there are still many attractive
territories left that the company is eager to
develop with new franchisees.
For veterans who love the outdoors — and
they basically all do — Outdoor Living
Brands offers them the opportunity to join
a family based around a mutual love of
the outdoors and helping others enjoy it as
much as they do.
www.outdoorlivingbrands.com
“We’re always looking for new ways to educate
military professionals and recruit them to be a
part of our family.” – Chris Grandpre