ADAPTING TO COVID-19 CHAIR MANUFACTURERS
Joshua Corrick, Gary Platt
What range of products are you now offering to help casinos in the post-closure Covid environment?
At Gary Platt, we are constantly thinking of ways to provide unsurpassed comfort, safety, and durability to help our customers succeed. Over the last several months, in addition to the continual work we have been doing hand- crafting casino and hospitality seating, we actively sought out partnerships to help our customers in this new world. We were happy to announce our new Healthy Play line of upholstery as our newest partnership.
Te Healthy Play line offers a wide range of bleach-cleanable upholstery, for new orders or for reupholstering existing casino seating. Our Healthy Play line of upholsteries is antimicrobial and antifungal, and they come in three different varieties and textures with a total of 42 different colours in the collection.
Additionally, early in the pandemic, we dedicated a section of our manufacturing plant in Reno, Nevada to making washable, reusable masks. We were excited to partner with renowned Choctaw Native artist Derek Grant ‘D.G.’ Smalling to create a new mask that he named ‘Spread Love.’ Te masks are available for sale now and a portion of the proceeds benefit the Allied Arts Central Oklahoma Arts Relief Fund for C-19.
Whilst we don’t know the longevity of these products, how important was it to update your product offering to help venues reopen again? When did you start developing the products?
Our customers’ concerns are our concerns, so we acted immediately to find the right partner with the right upholstery to help our customers meet this moment. Of course, we all hope the Covid-19 crisis becomes a thing of the past soon; however, what it has brought to light were some gaps in every industry. And maybe one of those gaps was a long-term solution for better and faster cleaning options, and the Healthy Plan line certainly fills that gap.
Did you work with a specialist partner or develop your own range? How did this process work given the restrictions on work?
Our design teams are known for their innovation and their creativity, in chair creation and in customisation. Because of that, we are always on the lookout for interesting and inventive upholstery and fabrications. So when the Covid-
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19 crisis erupted, we started first searching our known partner network, and we were able to find a solution in the Healthy Play line that rose to the occasion. Finding a partner was just the beginning. We had to make sure the upholstery would work in all of the incredibly wide range of seating solutions and configurations we offer, that we could still offer our customers the customisation they expect from Gary Platt, and that it allowed us to fulfill on our signature handcrafting production. We found all of those answers in the Healthy Play line.
How did your customer base respond to the new products? How many installs have you had? Any notable projects?
It’s hard to convey the amount of excitement we received from our customers. When they saw that we heard the concerns of the industry, we listened. Covid has made the priorities change for everyone, that’s why we decided to move forward with a completely new, revolutionary, line of healthy, safe, anti bacterial products that wouldn’t sacrifice the ergonomics and absolute comfort that’s made Gary Platt the world leader in creating chairs that increase time on device. Gary Platt remains the leader in providing the safest, healthiest and most comfortable chairs available today. We have dozens of new order for the “Healthy Play” material and the first installation is next week and will be with our industry leading Monaco chairs. Te next four large casino openings have selected it.
With no exhibitions and reduced marketing spend, how did you market the new products?
Like every supplier in the gaming industry, we have become even more creative in how we
The Healthy Play line offers a wide range of bleach-cleanable upholstery, for new orders or for reupholstering existing casino seating. Our Healthy Play line of upholsteries is antimicrobial and antifungal, and they come in three different varieties and textures with a total of 42 different colours in the collection.
approach our customers – some new ways, and some old fashioned ways. Te personal connection over a phone call has regained its power in these times.
Are you still developing new products for the post-closure sector? Will they appear at future exhibitions?
Absolutely. We never stop inventing, we never stop innovating. Will they appear at future exhibitions? We certainly hope so. Like everyone else we hope things will get back to a semblance of normalcy quickly. Meanwhile, we are working on several other innovative marketing options that will allow our customers to experience our products. In addition to new seating solutions, we will be announcing other partnerships in the near future that will allow us to provide additional casino services to our customers.
Why have the seating solutions companies been so active in this particular field?
We won’t speak for other companies; however, we will say at Gary Platt helping our customers is at the centre of what we do. We help them keep their players comfortable with our proprietary foam and innovative ergonomic designs. Now as casinos reopen, we are doing everything we can in our sector of the industry to help operators, employees, and players be as comfortable as possible in returning to the game.
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