Today we’d like to introduce you to Pete Koerner.
Hi Pete, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was a Firefighter/EMT in Atlanta and an Instructor for the State Fire Academy when I met Jennifer — who was also a Firefighter/EMT in Camden County, GA and a student in the class I was teaching. This was in the fall of 1996. By July 1997, I had left my public safety jobs in Atlanta and moved down here to be with Jennifer. She had a friend who was opening a kayak business and Jennifer and I trained with him, took some classes, and I went to work managing his store. He was only in business for a couple months before closing his shop, so Jennifer and I — with the help and encouragement of some local friends — decided to open Up The Creek Xpeditions.
We did some research, took out a business revolving line of credit, and acquired dealerships with a few of the most popular kayak brands at the time — Perception, Dagger, and Ocean Kayak. We rented a small kayak trailer from Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base and made a road trip to pick up our first minimum order of kayaks from Perception and Dagger. We acquired some other dealerships with paddle and life jacket manufacturers and found a bargain on some retail fixtures and displays from a business in Jacksonville that had just closed. We rented a space in downtown St. Marys, fixed it up as best we could with our limited resources, hung all of the kayaks and inventory on the walls and newly-acquired display fixtures, and opened our doors in October of 1997.
That first month we didn’t sell anything, but did one large guided trip that earned us $500.00 — not even enough to pay the rent. For that first trip, we didn’t have a trailer, so we piled the kayaks into the back of a small pickup truck and on a cargo rack that was over the bed of the truck. We did what we could do with what we had. Each month following that, we made a little more revenue than the month before and put all of that money back into the business. Jennifer owned and operated a Natural Health practice in St. Marys, so I was able to work without a salary while we got things up and running. By the end of our first year, we had over $100,000.00 of inventory in the store and had purchased a van and a couple kayak trailers for our guided tour operations. By the end of our second year, we had almost 100 kayaks in our retail shop and nearly as many in the tour and rental fleet. We had also acquired additional dealerships with Riot Kayaks and Hobie — who had just entered the kayak market with a pedal-powered sit-on-top kayak.
After 4 years of putting most of the revenues back into the business, Up The Creek Xpeditions was worth almost a half-million dollars. After September 11th, 2001, the business took a pretty big hit and revenues were almost non-existent for the next 3-months. We decided to sell the business and found a buyer who was the President of 3 banks in Illinois. They couldn’t finance the entire cost of the business, so we held half of the note and, in essence remained mostly silent partners for the next several years. By 2009, the new owners of Up The Creek Xpeditions had grown tired of operating an outdoor business. A paddle sports business is a lifestyle business and a family affair. The entire family needs to be engaged in that particular lifestyle — and it needs to be a passion rather than just a way of making money. This was a hard-learned lesson for the new owners and, in 2009, they essentially gave us back the business for the balance they still owed. I told them to keep the retail inventory and sell what they could to recover as much as they could, since I wasn’t really interested in running a retail operation any longer. So they liquidated the stock and we took the tour business — including 2 vehicles, 6 trailers, and nearly 100 kayaks with all the associated gear.
As we were still in the age of telephone directories — like the Yellow Pages — we decided that the name, “Up The Creek Xpeditions,” starting with the letter, “U,” put us too far down a growing list of outdoor businesses. So we decided to change the name to Adventures Up The Creek to not only reflect what we do, but to move us to the top of the stack where advertising was concerned. Soon after that, the internet took over and the name of a business wasn’t nearly as important as its ranking in the search engines. Now, a big social media presence is the key to building and growing a successful business. Facebook events, Google business listings, and sites like TripAdvisor, are instrumental in the success of a business. Good reviews can result in rapid, exponential growth; whereas bad reviews can quickly give a business a black eye when it comes to attracting new customers. We’ve always worked hard at providing the safest and friendliest on-water experiences for our guests, and that has resulted in nothing but 5-star feedback online. We’re currently ranked #1 in Jacksonville for Boat Tours and Water Sports.
Since 2009, we’ve run Adventures Up The Creek as a small business providing mostly kayak tours and rentals. When Stand Up Paddleboards came onto the scene, we quickly added those to our repertoire. We specialize in group outings and corporate events, but also enjoy smaller parties which allow us to spend more one-on-one time getting to know our guests and providing personalized commentary about the local flora, fauna, and waterways, based on their individual interests. Over the years, several new businesses have popped up “borrowing” from our trip menu and operational practices, but we’ve managed to keep a few of our trips to ourselves. Paddling is a passion and lifestyle for us and it shows, so “copycats” really can’t copy that and don’t really have any impact on our business.
This October, Adventures Up The Creek celebrated its 28th consecutive year in business — making us the oldest local paddle sports business in Northeast Florida. Over the years, we’ve watched several paddling businesses open and close, and we’ve seen many changes in the tourism and outdoor adventure industry. We’ve lost 6 of the 9 Original Kayak Guides to time, and one moved out of the state several years ago. But a business built on the love of the outdoors, a passion for being on the water, and the support and encouragement of family and friends, can endure difficult times as naturally as it flourishes in good times. We have a niece (Sofia Dansereau), a nephew (Jack Dansereau), and a grandson (Madyx Endicott) who have grown into excellent paddlers and guides as the 3rd and 4th generations of paddlers who are more than capable of carrying the torch (or paddle, as the case may be) well into the future.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
For the most part, running Adventures Up The Creek has been a relatively smooth road. As is the case with most businesses, money (or a lack thereof) is often a challenge when starting out. In the beginning, we didn’t have enough money to adequately stock the large retail space we were renting, so it looked pretty sparse for the first year.Maintaining the “right” inventory is also a big, ongoing challenge in the retail environment; but shifting to tours and rentals only solved that problem for us. It’s really difficult to come up with any other real challenges after we shifted our focus to tours and rentals. Of course, as an outdoor business, there were a few years where hurricanes shut down local tourism for roughly a month; but, otherwise, weather has mostly been relatively easy to work around.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Jennifer and I were both Firefighter/EMT’s and have extensive training making us experts in safety and rescue. We’ve been able to carry that mindset, as well as many of those skills, over into our paddling business — creating the highest safety standards in the industry and maintaining a perfect safety record for over 28 years. Aside from our high standards for quality and safety, we’re probably most proud of our ability to form strong bonds with our guests — treating everyone like friends and family. Coupled with our public safety and instruction backgrounds, we’re able to make people feel comfortable learning new skills in unfamiliar environments. One of our greatest (and most common) compliments is when people start off apprehensive and then end the trip with a huge smile on their faces thanking us for being so patient and teaching them so much. Empowering people is probably the most rewarding thing we do in the course of this business.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Sharing our love of the water and being outdoors with people who don’t necessarily get the opportunity to spend their time in nature brings both Jennifer and myself great joy. Empowering people and seeing them become confident paddlers in the relatively short time we’re with them is also very gratifying.
Pricing:
- Guided Kayak Tours Range From $55-$85
- SUP Tours and Instruction start at $85/person
- Kayak Rentals start at $40/day for singles
- Kayak Rentals start at $60./day for tandems
Contact Info:
- Website: http://jacksonvillekayakcompany.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UpTheCreekX/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/adventures-up-the-creek-saint-marys
- Other: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60805-d4765164-Reviews-Adventures_Up_The_Creek_Jacksonville-Jacksonville_Florida.html
