On this episode of What the Floor we had the opportunity to interview Heather Bauer from the Ronald McDonald House Charity in Seattle. We talk to her about what RMHC is, how it works and how we have partnered with them through our new WPC product called Sparta.
Our new product highlight segment “Fire in the Hole” focused on introducing our new WPC product called Sparta to the world.
Links
Ronald McDonald House Charities WW & Alaska
Sparta Premium Luxury Planks & Tiles
What the Floor is a T&A Supply Company Inc original production. You can find out more about us at tasupply.com or tasflooring.com. This show is produced by Jose Morales with help from Toni Collier and Jessica Riser. Tell us what you think of the show at wtfpodcast@tasupply.com or #whatthefloorpodcast on social media to let us know what you think.
On this episode of What the Floor we had the opportunity to interview Heather Bauer from the Ronald McDonald House Charity in Seattle. We talk to her about what RMHC is, how it works and how we have partnered with them through our new WPC product called Sparta.
Our new product highlight segment “Fire in the Hole” focused on introducing our new WPC product called Sparta to the world.
Links
Ronald McDonald House Charities WW & Alaska
Sparta Premium Luxury Planks & Tiles
What the Floor is a T&A Supply Company Inc original production. You can find out more about us at tasupply.com or tasflooring.com. This show is produced by Jose Morales with help from Toni Collier and Jessica Riser. Tell us what you think of the show at wtfpodcast@tasupply.com or #whatthefloorpodcast on social media to let us know what you think.
This is What the Floor from T&A Supply Company Inc, a podcast for the flooring industry. I'm Holiday Van Erem.
Michael Goria:And I'm Michael Goria. We'll be exploring the hot topics of the flooring industry with a little humor and a new set of eyes Well, hey, today Holiday, we're excited for podcast number three.
Holiday Van Erem:Yes, we're very excited.
Michael Goria:Yes, today we have a very special guests. We have Heather Bauer with the Ronald McDonald House who we are partnering with.
Holiday Van Erem:I am super excited to have her on today. We had the opportunity a few weeks back to go on a tour of the Ronald McDonald House here in Seattle, and meet Heather and have her walk through the whole program. And we thought we really need to have her on the show and go in depth and explain to our customers and our sales team and every one that we interact with more about the Ronald McDonald House.
Michael Goria:Absolutely. So thank you, Heather, for joining us. How are you today?
Heather Bauer:I'm good. Thanks for having me. And I'm so glad that your group was able to come and tour the house recently.
Holiday Van Erem:Yes, thank you for having us. Do you mind giving us your official title and your role at the Ronald McDonald House Charities?
Heather Bauer:Sure, I'm the Director of Annual Giving here. And that means that I focus on bringing in bringing in as much money and donations as possible, but also in kind gifts to support the families that live here at the house. We have a facility that houses families when they have to come from out of town for extended treatment for their child. So a family and say Yakima learns that their child has a very serious cancer diagnosis. They're often coming to Seattle. And our average day is 65 nights right now, but not uncommon for a family to be here for six months to a year. So we provide the housing and support that families need so that they know that stuff is taken care of, and that they can focus on their child and their treatment and all of the stuff that goes along with having a very sick child.
Holiday Van Erem:Wonderful. So the first thing that I wanted to ask is just like ground zero, when we came to the tour, we've got to figure out where we're going and where it's located. I had never seen the Ronald McDonald House, so I wasn't sure where we were headed. So where in western Washington and then there's also an Alaska house, where exactly are you? And what hospitals are your are you serving, and how's that connection work?
Heather Bauer:We are in the University District, kind of over by Laurelhurst. In Seattle, the Seattle houses and we are connected directly to Seattle Children's Hospital. So all the family staying here have children that are patients there. And we're actually just two blocks from the hospital. Most of the families that are here and medical situations where they have to be 15 minutes or less from the hospital at all times. So we allow families to do that. And also, all of the hotels and housing that people can get around here is pretty expensive. And so it's really wonderful to be able to provide a no cost housing option to families so that they don't have to worry about the financial aspect of that. And then in Alaska, we have a floor on a sixth floor housing weighing housing building that the Alaskan Native medical center built. And so a lot of the people that stay there are expectant mothers who live out in small towns and villages and need to be near their doctors when they give birth. But they're also families with sick children that are being tricked being treated there as well.
Michael Goria:How often are their families from out of state? Or is that allowed?
Heather Bauer:Oh, definitely. Actually, before we had the Alaska house, and still a lot of families come from Alaska, to the Seattle house. I would say just by the nature of the fact that a lot of hospitals use children's as a pediatric reference hospital. We have about 70% of our families from Washington State, but really common for us to have families from Montana, Alaska and Idaho. Families come from wherever often when you have a rare diagnosis. People start trying to figure out what doctors are maybe doing experimental treatments, or who is the most skilled in treating that specific diagnosis. And that's the beauty of the Ronald McDonald House system. There's so many Ronald McDonald Houses throughout the country and families have the option of staying and then being able to be where their child can be treated best.
Holiday Van Erem:How long has the house been? In Seattle in the University District,
Heather Bauer:We open this organization in 1983. We it was just started as a small 22 room house. Then, in 2002, we expanded to add rooms. And we're actually getting ready to expand or open an expansion that we've been building next month to be able to house 105 families per night in Seattle. And then our Alaska house has 34 rooms.
Holiday Van Erem:That's an incredible amount of families. But I know when we did our tours of the you have a waitlist. Usually for families, again, how long is the current waitlist.
Heather Bauer:I heard recently that they we had met had as many as 30 families on the list. But we have definitely gotten up to 50, before pre COVID. Our numbers are a little lower right now. But we're really looking forward to this expansion so that we can really work on that waiting list and make sure that more families have access to our services,
Michael Goria:How our families selected, what's the process to be able to come to the Ronald McDonald House? How do they find out about it? How do they then apply to get in?
Heather Bauer:Sure, a lot of the families that end up staying here have been having health concerns for their child, they've been at their hometown doctor, maybe get some test results back and realize, Oh, my goodness, something really serious is happening, the doctor says, you know, go straight to children's are waiting for you. So you get here and you're not really imagining what the reality can be. So often families find out about us when they're in the hospital from your social worker, we do have families that have been here, you know, maybe a family has condition that our child has a condition that needs repeat surgeries. So they'll check in with us and try to get space. But really, we get referrals to the hospital, the conditions to stay here are that you need to live at least 45 miles from the house, we only do stays a four nights or more. And if families need fewer nights, they work with the hospital to get medical housing rates at some local hotels, and have a child who's a patient at Seattle Children's. So that's pretty much it. We don't ask any financial questions, we know that any family regardless of their financial situation is going to be significantly impacted by a long term medical treatment situation. And we know that the support in the community that we can provide is very meaningful for everybody.
Holiday Van Erem:What is the typical age range for your patients? Are you mostly serving families with very young children? Do you are you serving families with older children.
Heather Bauer:It's kind of all over the map. 50% of our families are under the age of five, then 25% of our kids are you know, six to 12 and 25% are teenagers. And interestingly, children's Seattle Children's now treats people up to 26 years old if they had previous treatment at the hospital, just the continuity of care and the knowledge of you know, what happened in any previous treatments is really important. So we definitely have had people that have been in their 20s that have stayed here, too. But it really is based on children's and the patient's needs.
Michael Goria:Have you ever had families who have had to come stay that had such a wonderful experience they've been able to give back to the house? Is that something that that has happened in the past? Or do you have a story about?
Heather Bauer:Yeah, I actually just was signing a thank you note to a family that stayed here in 2016. And they sponsored a meal like you guys do, which is pretty awesome. We have an event called Kilts for Kids. It's a virtual fundraising event that we just completed. One of the families, they lost their child when they were here. But the dad and the son do Kilts for Kids and raise money in honor of their son and brother. And it's really special to be able to have a connection with them. So yeah, we definitely see people come back and mean that's not in the cards for everyone, for many reasons. But yeah.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah, that's great. I know we have a sales rep that I didn't know about until just recently after we'd started internally talking about partnering with the Ronald McDonald House that actually utilized that house a long time ago for his daughter, and was really excited to see that we were working with them. Gives him a way to kind of work towards giving something back that maybe he wasn't able to 30 years ago when he was having that problem with his own child. So I think it's it's you never know who has utilized that service or who it's touched and how It's attached to them. So I think as we've talked more and more with people about our work with the Ronald McDonald House, we hear those stories more and more often.
Heather Bauer:Yeah, I mean, people are very connected to us because of the intimate nature of the care that we provide. So it's really wonderful that you know, maintain those connections and see people again,
Holiday Van Erem:Now, you mentioned, the food service. So T&A Supply has been for several months now, offering you have a food service program where we can volunteer to pay for a certain amount of meals for a certain amount of days, every month, can you explain how that program works, and where that came from, and how others if our listeners wanted to get involved, how they could get involved in that?
Heather Bauer:Sure, well, I feel like at the house, and everywhere else, we kind of live our pre COVID and post COVID lives, pre COVID, we had volunteer groups come in and prepare meals for our families. And that meant coming in and, you know, purchasing food and preparing it under the guidance of our kitchen managers, and then serving food for families. And it's a really wonderful volunteer opportunity, because it's very full circle, get to do something nice for someone, and then you get to give it to them. So I think it feels really good for the volunteers and families really appreciate knowing that they have a nice warm meal waiting for them at the end of a long day. Once COVID started, we used to have between 700 - 800 volunteers in the house every month. And obviously that had to change really quickly because our families are so immune compromised. So we transitioned to boxed meals. So donors were sponsoring meals from local restaurants to be brought in for families, takeout style. And we've continued that we were still doing that right now. And it's been a really nice way to provide variety and consistent meals for our families. Additionally, we've also been able to provide breakfast buffets for families every day. Typically, we have these kitchens that are really wonderful. And they're shared. So families can come in and make food whenever they want. But we've really tried to close down our shared spaces as much as possible. During COVID. They're starting to open back up, but you just didn't have enough time in the kitchen to make food. So yeah, it's been really great. If people are interested in learning more, you can go on our website and check out our volunteer opportunities. And we have a calendar on the website that gives you an idea of when we need meals. And Eleanor, who is an incredible volunteer, runs our meal program for us. And so she's the expert and can give guidance on where to buy meals has been a great vendor to us. But we also just had a test run with a seasoned volunteer group coming in making meals last night. So we're hopeful that we can do that again soon. And then I don't know what it'll look like it could be a combination of box meals and prepared meals for families. And we're just kind of navigating that as we go.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah. And you mentioned your website. We'll make sure that that's in the show notes so that everybody can take a look at that and take a look at the website and see what opportunities there are. You mentioned earlier that you're expanding? Can you talk a little bit more about what that expansion means? What's being added? What additional, uh, we saw some different rooms and activity spaces that were being added? What are you getting with your expansion?
Heather Bauer:Sure, well, we're getting 25 new rooms, which is really exciting. In addition to those residence rooms, there will be a laundry room specific to that group, we have some den spaces, one is going to be a really incredible craft room. We've never had a dedicated space for that before. So that's going to be really fun for our families. We have groups that come in and do craft nights and things like that. So it's going to be great to have that space, we're going to have a family den where families can come in and play games, and watch TV. We have another one of those in the building. But with more families, we want to add a second. And then we also are going to have a quiet space where parents can go for worship or meditation or just reflection. I think this is such a challenging time as a parent to be here. And there's moments of grief and moments of joy. And sometimes it's just really meaningful to have that space, our rooms that families stay in or like a hotel or motel room size. So people just take a breather, and this is going to be a really great space for that.
Michael Goria:I was so impressed with all the little things that you guys have thought of over the years to create these spaces for families, I mean, it was to really put myself in that position, a father of three to have to have a child be in those circumstances. I loved what you guys have built, it just was so impactful and meaningful to think of, you know, the meditation room or, you know, the game rooms. And I know things have changed with COVID. But, you know, hopefully, like you said, things will open back up. But to provide these spaces for families during such a difficult time is just an amazing, an amazing thing.
Heather Bauer:Well, that's such a tribute to our operations team. They are really frontline with our families, and are such a compassionate group of people. They just have a great understanding of what's helpful for our families, and they get a lot of direct feedback, and they take that really seriously and incorporate it into the work that we do.
Michael Goria:How does the Ronald McDonald restaurants play in? Or do they play in to the Ronald McDonald House?
Heather Bauer:Yeah, there's a couple of different ways McDonald's, as a corporation, they helped establish Ronald McDonald House Charities, global offices, those offices act as kind of a guide for the Ronald McDonald House brand. And they do have some nationwide fundraising things that happen. And so global helps with those. But really, the majority of the support that we get comes from our local owner operators. They're an amazing group of entrepreneurs and individuals. And as a group, they have made the commitment to support the house, they do it in many different ways. For example, they raise money for our expansion by a portion of sales from shakes and their restaurants. They have canisters that you can put money in and the restaurants, I'm sure you've seen them. So that money comes to the regional house where they are, but they just been so creative. And whenever we have asked, they've said yes, and figured out how to make it work. So there are really great people.
Holiday Van Erem:So outside of your owner operators that are helping out, what where does the rest of the money come from? Is that all on you to be bringing in donations and finding groups to help? I mean, I'm, I'm wondering, it's, it's a lot that you're providing, and you're not asking these families to pay anything they're, you know, utilize all of the meals and the kitchen spaces and everything. I'm sure that you know, the owner operators are helping but they're not footing the entire bill. So where where's the rest of it coming from?
Heather Bauer:Definitely. Well, it to give you an idea of kind of the financial situation for our families, I would say 60% plus of families either arrive here on Medicaid or go on it while they're here. So we do get funding through Medicaid for their stays. That's a very small portion of what we do. We fundraise just like any other nonprofit, that McDonald's money makes up about 20% of our fundraising budget, or actually, our overall budget, which is $5 million. And so we have several different events that raise money for the house, we tell our story, whenever and wherever. And we have different specific needs that we talk about. It comes through in kind giving, foundation grants, all different all the different ways we do them all.
Michael Goria:That's exciting. You probably never thought you'd be reaching out to the flooring industry for a sponsorship.
Heather Bauer:There's lots of things that we never expected. And I think the connection to the house is been really amazing. And it brings wonderful groups to us. So we love it.
Holiday Van Erem:So I know we're helping you out with the meals. That's an important donation that we provide. From a company standpoint, we really enjoy being able to provide that. We're going to talk in a moment a little bit about the partnership with the flooring brand that we're bringing out. What is some of your biggest needs? What are what can other donators listeners that want to provide some kind of donation? What is it that the house needs the most? Is it just money? Is it volunteers? Is it assistance in some other way?
Heather Bauer:Sure. I mean, money is always accepted. I think for us, we are in a time of rapid growth and supporting that growth is really important. So just giving general donations to our operating efforts is incredibly meaningful. We also have a wish list on our website. And we have we are still collecting items for our expansion as well. So those things you can sign up for our newsletter on our website that will give you a direct line to the things that we need. But yeah, you can raise money for the house, people have done really cool projects, you know, kids collecting money instead of presents for their birthdays, things like that. And honestly, just telling people about the house, I'm sure that when you came here, if that cool, we're gonna go see the Ronald McDonald House today. But everyone that walks through our doors, realizes that it's so much more once they've been here. And to tell people about that impactful experience just encourages more people to get engaged.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah, I was, I was shocked at how large your pantry is, and how much you're providing to families and their shampoos and diapers and all sorts of stuff. That I mean, doesn't come out of thin air, it's got to come from somewhere.
Heather Bauer:Yes, definitely. So supply drives, food drives, all those kinds of things are really meaningful. And we can always help people understand what emergent needs we have. The other thing that's happening right now is that we are starting to open things back up. And you know, all these incredible volunteers that we've depended on for years, maybe are comfortable being at the house or have decided to start supporting a different organization or other things have happened in their lives. And so we are going to be looking for new volunteers to help us fill our shifts, and make sure that we can continue to do this work for families.
Holiday Van Erem:That's great. It's glad to hear that you're able to open up a little bit more and get those volunteers, I'm sure you had a lot of volunteers that came very, you know, often. I can't imagine what they're doing in their free time, if they haven't been able to come for a couple of years now and how it's all right, all those volunteers are glad to be able to come back and do what they were passionate about.
Heather Bauer:Yeah, and I would say that we miss our volunteers. We've had a core group of people that have helped us through this. But it's really wonderful to come into the house and see our volunteers at the front desk and all the different things that they help with around the house. As a staff, I love to see them. But our families are really connected to our volunteers as well. And having someone around that knows that you're going to the hospital and you're waiting for some really important medical news and what what's that going to be, or even someone that just knows you and is there to smile at you when you walk in the front door. That's the community, the type of community that we strive to create. And without our volunteers, we're missing some of that. So it's going to be exciting to bring them back.
Holiday Van Erem:I bet. So I did want to talk a little bit about the partnership that we're creating with you. So for our listeners, and hopefully our customers have seen started to see this in their stores, we are bringing on a new product line called Sparta it's a product that we've created under our T&A Supply brand. And we decided when we created it, we wanted to not just only create a new product line, but we wanted to find a way to give back to the community that we're selling into, we are very passionate about charity work. But we never really advertise that anywhere. We don't tell anybody about the things that we do throughout the year. And instead of just putting it in our company Christmas letter that here's the things that we've done. And we wanted to let people know that this is what we're doing and get them connected to it and give them an opportunity to also feel like they're a part of that. So all of the samples and displays for Sparta will notate that a portion of sales will be going back to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Washington and Alaska. It's included on their website and all of our marketing materials. And we're really proud of that connection. And we really appreciate you wanting to work with us. And let us promote that. And let people know that we're donating a portion of sales back to that. I think that the product line is gonna be fantastic. So hopefully, we'll be donating a lot of money, we'll be heading your direction, I think we're gonna knock it out of the park on the product line. The colors are beautiful, and the floors are gonna look fantastic. But it's you feel really proud being able to tell our customers when we're doing presentations, that that's this additional connection, not only are we bring you a great product, but we're bringing you this opportunity to connect with your community. And they get to pass that along now to their customer and talk to the homeowner that's coming in about that connection that they can be a part of as well. So my last question for you, Heather. We have a very large footprint. We're not just in the Western Washington region we are selling into Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, down into Oregon, Hawaii. I know but there's other houses in our footprint. How are you connected or not connected to those houses? I know we talked a little bit before about how families in some of those regions may be utilizing Seattle Children's. And that's, you know, that's the hospital that they need to go to do you have any affiliation with the other houses.
Heather Bauer:Each house is separate. And we all have our own governing board. And we raise money in our own regions, and obviously have relationships with the McDonald's owner operators and the donors that are in our regions. But that said, we definitely use each other, to learn more about different programs and discussed best practices. So it's really nice to hat know that you have this network of people that are having similar experiences, running programs so that you can always bounce ideas off of them or ask questions of them.
Holiday Van Erem:Is there anything that we didn't touch on that you would like to talk about?
Heather Bauer:I think one thing that I did get to mention is, and I kind of talked about it with the volunteer community, but really one of the most special parts about the house is that families can make connections with each other here, living in this communal situation can be challenging, but when you see people on the wards at the hospital, and then see them back here, it's hard not to connect them in some way, these families are all going through really difficult situations. And they often understand each other better than anyone else can, when your child is so sick, you automatically have a different mindset, and even a new vocabulary that you didn't have a week before diagnosis. So to be able to talk with those people, and you know, share your joys and your grief is a really special thing. And a lot of families kind of find second families here and can then continue that connection after the house. So that's really one of my favorite parts of this place. Just being a venue where people can make that connection and build that community.
Holiday Van Erem:someone else that you can talk to about what is happening. And it's extremely traumatic in your life that is going through that same exact thing. I think everybody always is looking for somebody they can talk to and relate to.
Michael Goria:Definitely building community, which is great.
Holiday Van Erem:All right. Well, thank you so much, Heather, we really appreciate you are spending some time to talk to us about the house and partnering with us and continuing to partner with us. And please let us know if there's anything that else that we can do as a company down the road. If there's other opportunities or programs that you're running that we couldn't possibly help out with or promote for you.
Michael Goria:I'm excited to get word out. You know, I think this is a great cause. The way we're partnering with you guys I think will really be a great thing for the flooring community for our customer base and just allow us to give back in a great way. So really appreciate you joining us today.
Heather Bauer:Well, we're incredibly honored that you have chosen to partner with us. It definitely says something about how you see the house and it feels really good.
Holiday Van Erem:Hey, Michael, it's time for a new segment
Michael Goria:and what's it going to be called
Holiday Van Erem:Fire in the Hole
Michael Goria:I like it.
Holiday Van Erem:We've got a brand new product and we're going to talk about this product spotlight segment called Fire in the Hole.
Michael Goria:Perfect
Holiday Van Erem:Today, it's about Sparta. It's a WPC.
Michael Goria:Yeah, we haven't come out with a new WPC in a while but excited just to get this out into the market.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah, it's a fabulous product. And we went with a WPC because we still think that there is room in the market for more really great WPC products. So I'm gonna give you the specs on it real quick. Let's see eight millimeter overall WPC. It's a 6.5 with a 1.5 premium pad attached. And we've got 16 plank visuals and eight tiles. So you've got 8, 12 by 24 tiles, and you have 16, 7 by 48 inch long planks. Some of the great features about Sparta are one is waterproof. It's WPC. So that's one of the fabulous features of that product. Besides the fact that it's also eight millimeters thick. It's got the attached pad on it. It's great for sound deadening thicker than an SPC product, which I think is warmer underfoot and adds that little extra sound deadening gives you a little bit more cushion with dents and scratches. There's just a little bit more there in the product. It's not quite as rigid and a little bit more forgiving. It's a 20 mil thick product with a polyurethane coating, along with some antimicrobial and anti scratch coatings mixed in there into that secret sauce. And it's an angle angle.
Michael Goria:Yeah, so I mean, it's a real premium product, right? Yes, this is premium WPC. Yeah, so many of our SPC products are thinner. And that's obviously for a cost savings. And we love that because we sell a lot of those. And they actually perform very, very well. However, we do have customers that are looking for a thicker product, something with like that 20 mil premium wire layer, I think is what the market is after these days.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah, and when a consumer is looking at a product, apples for apples right next to each other, they're looking at all of the different specs, and they're holding the two pieces up to each other. I think the same thing happens with laminate and hardwood, thicker is better. That's just the thought process, it's a little bit thicker, maybe not as brittle, it's not a sin, it's gonna be it's gonna stand up higher. For whatever reason, consumers tend to think that if the product is thicker, and must be better.
Michael Goria:I think it's one of the easiest things for customers just to see. Right, they can see thicker, you can't always tell what the wear layer is, or the AC rating, or how many coats of finish are on hardwood. So you can tell how thick a product is. It's why a lot of customers still think they want solid hardwood, even though there may be a better product for performance in their home. They perceive it as better because it's thicker.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah. And we've seen that time and time again with the selling WPC and our own additional lines. So when you are going to compare this to other products that we have, and other products that are in the marketplace, Sparta is going to be substantially cheaper. We're sourcing and better, we've got some really great partnerships that we put together when we were producing this product, you're gonna be like about $1 cheaper than our competition, which is fantastic, especially for a premium WPC product.
Michael Goria:Yeah, and we're really going to market different with Sparta, we haven't come out with our own, what I'll call private label collection in a long time, we've put a lot of focus and emphasis on the TAS collection over the years. And so Sparta what's exciting about it is it's our new own premium brand. It's not something that's going to be in the TAS towers. So one of the caveats with this is if you don't have a display, you won't be quoted a price on this product, because we really want customers to feel that they have an advantage, not everybody will have this in the marketplace.
Holiday Van Erem:Yeah, I think that's great for stores that are concerned about being shopped. And we want you to buy into the program, we want you as our dealer and our customer to feel some kind of ownership with it, getting the display, putting it out in your showroom, you're kind of locked into that package, and you're part of the program. So not everybody's gonna have, it's not going to be like you said, it's not going to be an TAS program, which a lot of customers have, it'll still be labeled as a T&A Supply product, that'll still be part of the branding, but it won't have that TAS label on it.
Michael Goria:Exactly. And then of course, as you just listen to, we are taking a portion of sales and donating them to the Ronald McDonald Charity. So it's got this great story for everybody from, you know, our retail customers down to the homeowners purchasing this product, they can feel good about buying a product that is giving back into their community.
Holiday Van Erem:Which again is incredible, because we're selling it at a fairly competitive price. In addition to giving back a portion of that sales to a fabulous charity. So it's almost like we're giving it away practically it's, it's a great value for what you're getting the patterns, the visual, the look that you're getting with this product, all of the bells and whistles, the antimicrobial and the anti scratch. It's a fantastic product, you have that that spill and splash ArmorGuard everything is built into this fantastic product, you're getting it at a really great price point. And you're feeling good about giving back to charity. In addition to that, it's the complete package.
Michael Goria:No really is. I think one last thing to mention is you know, it's got a 10 year light commercial warranty as well as a 10 year multifamily. So here's a product a little thicker can but up to different transitioning products better. And I think that's what a lot of builders and multifamily folks are looking for. So we look forward to seeing this products put in, you know, to all of our aspects of our company, not just into residential, yeah.
Holiday Van Erem:And the displays are available, they're going out into the field. Now, if you're listening to this, and you're one of our dealers, you may already have it being set up in your store now. We'd love to get your feedback on it and let us know. If you have questions. If you want more information. You want one of our sales reps to come in and do another PK for your staff to make sure that everybody's aware of all of the great selling features. And we hope that we see some great success with it in the coming months.
Michael Goria:Oh I think we know we will this is a product that we've gotten great feedback on already. I I see no reason this won't be one of our top performing products. So within a year, yeah.
Holiday Van Erem:All right. Well, that was Fire in the Hole.
Michael Goria:First time.
Holiday Van Erem:Our product spotlight.
Michael Goria:That's right. many more to come.
Holiday Van Erem:Fabulous. Well, Michael, I think today has been a really great podcast interview with Heather. We're talking about our brand new product Sparta the whole thing is coming together from the R&D to the marketing to selling out in the field. It's all coming together and it's very exciting.
Michael Goria:It is, long time in the making. So glad to see We're finally out there.
Holiday Van Erem:What the Floor is a T&A Supply Company Inc. original production. You can find out more about us at tasupply.com or TASflooring.com.
Michael Goria:This show was produced by Jose Morales with help from Toni Collier and Jessica Riser, hosted by Holiday Van Erem and Michael Goria. WTF!