An Orange County surfboard maker is winning fans among large corporations.<\/p>\n
Last year, Costa Mesa-based Almond Surfboards created 100 foam boards with custom art for Rivian Automotive Inc. and 200 limited-edition surfboards for Porsche 911 vehicles. The latest collaboration is producing six exclusive surfboards and related apparel for the California Almonds farmers\u2019 organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to figure out where you can add an insane amount of value and then lean into that,\u201d founder Dave Allee told the Business Journal.<\/p>\n
Allee and Griffin Neumann-Kyle opened Almond Surfboards in 2009, delivering customized boards designed and shaped in Santa Ana to customers worldwide. They are in an industry that was once famous in Orange County and has struggled in recent years, with names like Gordie Surfboards, Bruce Jones Surfboards and Clark Foam going out of business.<\/p>\n
The pair has figured out how to survive, generating about $2 million in annual revenue. Besides surfboards, it also sells typical surf shop wares, including apparel, towels and other related products.<\/p>\n
The five-employee company is an example of Orange County\u2019s thriving small business climate. This week, the Business Journal is highlighting a variety of small Orange County companies as well as our annual list of SBA lenders (see page 20).<\/p>\n
One Year to Survive<\/p>\n
Allee shaped surfboards in his parents\u2019 backyard in Costa Mesa while attending Chapman University and came up with the Almond concept while doodling in class. After graduating with a business degree, he decided to give the surfboard company one year to succeed before getting \u201ca real job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allee said he was inspired by the surf shops and boards of the 1960s, including a 1967 Hobie surfboard that a family friend let him borrow as a kid. The earliest board templates he designed were based on that surfboard, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to make surfboards that were going to be enjoyed for many decades because I was enjoying boards that were 40 years old,\u201d Allee said.<\/p>\n
He and Neumann-Kyle, the shaper, set out to make boards that would work for everyday surfing conditions\u2014\u201cboards that are realistic to the conditions that we face day in and day out, because that\u2019s what our customers are facing,\u201d Allee said.<\/p>\n
They started with single-fin longboards and have since added mid-length and shortboards made from foam and fiberglass, starting around $399 apiece.<\/p>\n
Before Rivian unveiled its R1 electric vehicle in 2018, its design team members would stop by the Almond store. They bought surfboards that they would hang on Rivian\u2019s walls for inspiration during their design process, Allee said.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Foamie\u2019 Advantage<\/p>\n
In 2018, Almond introduced the R-Series, foam boards recommended for beginners. A video on the website shows the boards, also known as \u201cfoamies,\u201d being run over by a car without any damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilt from tough closed-cell foam that won\u2019t soak up water, these boards don\u2019t need wax, shrug off dings, and ride with the feel of our best-selling fiberglass models,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for \u201cfoamies\u201d soared, Allee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best way I can describe it is seven years of demand in 18 months,\u201d he said.
Almond\u2019s online store accounts for 75% to 80% of the total business, driven by high engagement from its email list, according to Allee.<\/p>\n
The manufacturer has distributors in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and France to service markets in Asia and Europe.<\/p>\n
Almond also makes custom boards, ranging from $1,200 to $2,500. Boards can be made that include art supplied by customers.<\/p>\n
Each board is designed by Allee and shaped by Neumann-Kyle in Santa Ana; Waterman\u2019s Guild, a neighbor, applies fiberglass to the boards. Its foam manufacturing partner is based in Salt Lake City, and the surfboard blanks are provided by US Blanks in Gardena.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery board is like a one-off. We\u2019ve never made the exact same board twice,\u201d Allee said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Orange County surfboard maker is winning fans among large corporations. Last year, Costa Mesa-based Almond Surfboards created…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-299645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}