Being a specialist in the world of high-roller casino marketing has proven to be a winning bet for Gander Group founder and CEO Josh Blake.
The Irvine company specializes in developing high-end products—think hard and soft-shell luggage, handbags, barbeque accessories and gourmet stoneware—for more than 300 casinos, including San Manuel, Morongo and Pechanga, that are used to gift to loyal gamers.
The company also assists casinos with social media, search engine optimization, email campaigns, website design and other digital strategies.
That’s in addition to a growing licensed products business, one that includes brands such as Kathy Ireland, Chef Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen and Mrs. Fields, which are sold in Macy’s, QVC and other retailers.
While 2020 saw a slowdown in orders, the company never stopped. It inked a number of deals with brands during that time, recently moved to new headquarters on Von Karman Avenue, is ramping hiring and last month pulled $3 million in new financing to fund retail growth.
Gander Group expects to close this year with $60 million in revenue, which is about double from 2020.
Not bad for the privately owned, family-run business.
“It’s a true entrepreneurial story. I had a kid in high school, so didn’t graduate high school. Didn’t graduate college and had to go right to work. We now work with 300 casinos across the country,” Blake said.
The recent financing from Decathalon Capital Partners marks the first time Blake, who is also a co-founder in Fountain Valley-based E-Lux Electric Bikes, has pulled outside capital since starting Gander in late 2015.
“Coming out of COVID, we knew we needed to concentrate our efforts on the specific market we were working on, which is retail, but we didn’t want to give up any equity,” Blake said. “That’s one of the reasons why I hadn’t raised funds in the past.”
Gander “was built from the ground up,” he said. “We’re family owned. My dad works here. My brothers work here. My wife is the culture builder here. It’s fast moving and almost like a creative agency-type feel.”
Casino Vet
Gander Group isn’t Blake’s first go in the casino marketing business.
He’s been in the industry for over 20 years, getting his start working in casinos in southern Mississippi in the ’90s. He moved to California in 2000, working for a company that made promotional products.
Blake, knowing the casino industry, suggested they start doing business in that segment.
He later moved on to another company, making the bold suggestion of removing logos from complementary products given away to high-rollers to build loyalty, so people would value the items more than just a promotional throwaway.
With each new idea he pitched to the companies he worked for, it brought him one step closer to venturing off on his own.
“I never felt valued as the person who kind of created the whole [casino segment at those companies], so I just said well, heck, I’ll just go and do it on my own,” Blake said.
He started a company, called JAMS (Josh, Austin, Michelle and Savannah), in 2010, based out of Costa Mesa. Business surged with lots of hiring to meet the demand.
“We ended up growing really, really fast—way too fast—selling merchandise and products to the casino industry across the country. In 2012, we realized we grew too quick. We could not manage the cash flow,” Blake said.
The first year in business generated $7 million in revenue and then $10 million in the second year before he made the decision to sell in 2013.
He decided at the end of 2015 he wanted to take another crack at running a business and launched Gander in December of that year again in Costa Mesa.
The new company struck a number of licensed deals to bring in big name brands, and began working with larger retailers across some 18 categories—including luggage, bedding and cookwear—selling the product to casinos for their customers or to retailers.
Round Two
Gander’s growth has been just as quick as the first time around.
The first full year in business saw revenue of about $7 million with 15 employees. That jumped to $15 million in 2017, $30 million in 2018 and $40 million in 2019. Last year, business fell to $30 million on account of COVID when casinos were forced to close their doors temporarily in March.
Blake was forced to furlough all of his workers, but around May he began bringing some back as casinos began slowly reopening, and then, finally, brought everyone in August.
Gander’s new office space at the VKCC creative office campus now serves as more of a place for showrooming with employees given the choice of working out of the office or their homes.
During the pandemic, it struck deals with brands such as Vanessa Williams, MasterChef, Discovery, Guy Fieri and The Voice.
“We’re seeing a huge uptick in revenues across the board. Casinos are really the only form of live entertainment right now,” Blake told the Business Journal last month. “They’re still seeing higher revenue now than they’ve seen in years.”
Casinos currently generate about 90% of Gander’s overall revenue, but with retail growing Blake said he could see the revenue split over time becoming 70% casino and 30% retail once the retail department is fully built out.
Gander’s worker ranks are expanding rapidly.
The company this month tapped Jeff Moran as chief financial officer, and in the past three months brought on about 10 people with another 20 expected to be hired this year. It currently employs about 50.
“I think our success that we were having prior to COVID gave us the ability to put a [presentation] deck together,” Blake said of going out to get new business and financing. “We took it as an opportunity to pounce. We pounced and that’s what we got.”
