Hidden Gems: Meet Gordon Buchanan of Triangle Lawn Games

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gordon Buchanan.

Gordon, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Triangle Lawn Games started and has grown really organically. I was a digital marketing manager for WRAL for five years and learned a lot about web development, SEO, and marketing small businesses. At some point, I decided I wanted to have a side hustle to use some of those skills for myself, and after reading the book “$100 Startup,” I landed on renting yard games like cornhole, Giant Connect 4, Giant Jenga, etc. because it seemed fun and not too hard, plus there wasn’t anyone offering that service with easy booking and low prices. So I built a website, bought some games and got my first order a couple weeks later. I roped my brother in to start one in Houston, and then we started expansion by finding like-minded people in other cities. So now, three years in the business has gone from a side hustle in Raleigh to 13 locations across the country and a bustling company I run with my brother and a large support team of over 20 people.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s definitely been up and down. 2018 was when I started and it was completely just a side hustle I did while also doing marketing consulting. Then in 2019, we started really focusing on lawn games and opened up locations in Houston, Greesboro, and Wilmington. We had some good growth that year and realized it was a real service with some potential. We were very excited about 2020 because we found partners in Austin, TX and Indianapolis, IN and were seeing a much larger number of pre-bookings for the spring and summer. Then… COVID. As an event rental business, it was pretty awful for us. March 2020 was the “month of the refund” for us. We make a point to offer free refunds for events because we just don’t think it’s fair to charge someone for games that they never use (as long as we get 4 hours’ notice). But when every event on earth gets cancelled, obviously that’s tough.

So cash flow was definitely a challenge early in 2020, and we didn’t have a ton of rental revenue coming in that year. We did figure out some other revenue sources like custom cornhole, selling bags, and repairing boards – but a lot of what we ended up doing through Spring and Summer 2020 was building for the future. We wrote a lot of content for our websites, we found additional partners in San Antonio, Columbia SC, Chicago and felt we were prepared for when events came back. As people slowly got back to spending time together, we saw a slight increase in bookings – and ever since more widespread vaccinations and the return to normalcy we are having the best months we have ever had by far. So we feel lucky that we weathered a tough storm and now we are starting to see the dividends of the work we have put in.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My brother Frank and I run a holding company called Bluecannon Ventures, and our main asset is our yard game rental business Triangle Lawn Games. We offer game rentals for parties and events and help people add fun to their celebration easily and affordably. We specialize in games like cornhole, Giant Jenga, Giant Connect 4, and many others. We also help with NERF parties, Cornhole Tournament Facilitation, Water Tag, Custom cornhole and cornhole repair.

We try to separate ourselves in a variety of ways: 1. We offer lower pricing than the rest of the market. Our model is very low overhead and we are able to pass on the savings. 2. We offer easy online booking, which allows people to rent games with just the click of a few buttons. This is much more simple than having to call or email a company and wait for them to get back to you.

3. We offer free cancellation and rescheduling – we realize events are contingent on weather and other factors, and we offer free refunds with just 4 hours notice which is almost unheard of. We also don’t charge large security deposits, just the game rental total. 4. We are insured and focus tremendously on customer service – folks just need to look at our google reviews to see that we value a positive customer experience.

I am super proud that we have built this from scratch and have been able to completely bootstrap it into existence. We have been uber focused on creating a fun and easy-going brand that is hyper-focused on a positive customer experience. We just want folks to know we are able to offer a wide variety of games and services at all levels of price to help add fun to almost any event.

What makes you happy?
I really enjoy the freedom that running my own business has afforded me, and I especially like the business I chose because it’s so fun. Games always bring joy, and even if it’s stressful sometimes to run the business, it has a foundation of fun which helps keep things in perspective. I enjoy hearing from planners, moms and anyone who threw an event that the games were a huge hit and it helped make it more fun. That fills me up and keeps me rolling.

Pricing:

• Giant Connect 4 – $40
• Cornhole Set – $30
• Giant Jenga – $40
• NERF Pack Rental – $119
• Custom Cornhole $300+

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.trianglelawngames.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trianglelawngames/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/trianglelawngames