We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kendria Holmes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kendria, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Rollin Clt was an idea that Kendria had back in 2017. There was a realization that there were no skating rinks in the city of Charlotte. This was a great opportunity for business and to help the community. Sh’niqua, Kendria and Brandi came together in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic to bring this idea to life. What was initially a business model for an indoor rink, the pandemic caused the trio to pivot by taking the indoor concept outside.
Kendria, 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?
Being Charlotte Natives, we grew up going to different skating rinks, hanging out, spending time with our friends, Over time those rinks closed for various reasons. Being that we didn’t have any rinks in the city, we saw an opportunity to really bring something fun back to the city. We started outdoors with setting up a mobile rink and lounge at various locations, that also allowed us to travel around and host private parties for our customers. We’ve done company events, college events, church events, birthday parties in living rooms, any where there’s a flat surface, inside or outside, we will set up.
Our company also offers skating lessons 3 days a week and various YMCAs across the city. These lessons are hosted by some of the top skaters in our city.
One of our main goals we are focusing on for 2023 is to acquire our own building. We have started searching for a building, raising capital through grant funding and crowdfunding via our gofundme page.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
We learned the importance of being able to pivot in business in the beginning stages. Our initial business model was for an indoor rink, however, due to a lack of capital and a pandemic it caused us to pivot our business. So we came up with the idea to just do it outside. It actually worked really well in our favor because it allowed us to be able to open a business in the midst of a pandemic. It allowed us to expand our business model.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
As we are continuing to build our reputation in the market we are in, we simply rely on quality service across the board. The main focus points are always customer service, punctuality, and quality events. We always show up early and over communicate with our customers, making sure to leave them with a memorable experience and a vibe they will never forget.
Contact Info:
- Website: rollinclt.com
- Instagram: rollin_clt
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollinclt704/
Image Credits
@rollin_clt