Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Amy Hunt. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Amy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the decision of whether to donate a percentage of sales to an organization or cause – we’d love to hear the backstory of how you thought through this.
As part of our ongoing partnership with New Belgium Brewing, this year we’re working overtime to raise more money for the adaptive sport charity, High Fives Foundation. The High Fives Foundation aims to help injured athletes and veterans get back to doing what they love after life-altering injuries in outdoor action sports.
Last year we had a group of about 30 adaptive sports athletes join us for a 12 hour surf session and munch on some classic Texas BBQ so kindly donated by Helberg BBQ here in Waco, Texas. This year we’re going bigger and better and working on a second day of adaptive surfing, which will be open for adaptive surfers across the nation to join and learn from the High Fives team. We have $5 donation opt in button on every public surf session we sell online, as well as an online retail store donation button where you can donate to the High Fives Foundation and we’ll send you free stuff! All those donations go directly to High Fives Foundation to help them to spread the stoke to even more adaptive athletes.
Amy, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Amy Hunt and I’m the Director of Sales and Marketing here at Waco Surf! I am originally from Sydney, Australia but I moved to the USA with my husband (who is the General Manager here at Waco Surf) in May 2019. We started in Hawaii, before moving to San Diego and finding ourselves consulting on the Waco Surf project as it was being acquired by the new ownership group. We officially purchased the property in March 2021 and got to work updating, upgrading and rebranding what was an existing business with so much potential.
Our property is almost 500 acres, with only about 150 acres of activated and guest accessible space at the moment – so we have lots of room to grow! We host one of the only public accessible wave lagoons in the country at the moment, being proudly labelled as “the peoples pool”. We also have a 13 room hotel right on the sand by the waves, 7 cabins varying in size from 2 person to 14 person capacity, 5 RV spots with full hook ups and 3 private houses located on property. On our waterpark side we have the 4 Wedge Water Slides (you might recognize these from multiple viral clips online) and allegedly the country’s longest Lazy River – taking 45 mins to do just 1 lap! We also hold one of the country’s biggest and best cable wakeboarding parks, with an island in the middle hosting our 4 resident ringtail Lemurs! We’re building and improving our on site food and beverage programs each year, and this year we’re stoked to offer new menu items at our Surfside Shack on the beach, the Star Bar hotel bar sponsored by Rockstar Energy, the Dive Bar swim up pool bar, the Wedge Grill over by the slides and also our Lakeside Saloon overlooking the cable lake (and the aforementioned Lemurs).
If you ask around campus what we’re most proud of here, it’s the vibe. Since taking over in March 2021, we’ve worked overtime to create a place that’s fun and safe for the whole family – and as a result, it’s hard to come by a guest without a huge grin on their face! We’re a laid back bunch who just want people to leave stoked, and ready to come back and visit us as soon as they can. Watching families come and hang out on the beach in summer with their buckets and spades while they watch the surfers shred is one of my favorite sights.0
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
Mike received a call from an old friend David, offering his backyard apartment as a space for us to live in San Diego when we relocated there for my previous role. David was in the early stages of acquiring the Waco Surf property at that time and they needed a consultant to conduct due diligence on the property before signing the bottom line on the deal – in stepped Mike! Flying back and forth from San Diego to Waco for almost 2 years and reporting back to the new potential ownership group weekly was where it all started! Myself and Mike, as well as David and his family made the move to Waco, Texas from San Diego, California to be closer to the business and have boots on the ground for daily operations. The ownership group all wanted to create a space where they felt like they could escape the daily grind, and feel comfortable bringing their families along with them – and I think we nailed the brief!
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Between Mike and myself – there’s always someone to run ideas past, vent frustrations, and create processes and plans efficiently and effectively. As we are the first in this space to offer waves to the public, and also offer a resort style experience – mistakes are bound to happen as we learn. We ensure all team members feel comfortable making mistakes, and learning from them to grow – because no one likes to make mistakes! Having a voice and feeling heard is one of the keys of a good working team, and with a fluctuating staff of between 30 to 150 in peak summer – it’s important everyone feels like they are being listened to and respected.
And hey, the surf sessions we give to the staff every few days don’t hurt morale either…
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wacosurf.com
- Instagram: @wacosurf_tx
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wacosurf
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/waco-surf-tx/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WacoSurf
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Wacosurf