Duck Call: C-Suite Veteran Chuck Browning Hunts ROI with Waterfowl Apparel

Foldout plastic tables and foldout camouflage chairs serve as office furniture, and merchandise, from waders to decoys to flannel shirts and pullovers, sit or hang on display.

Cardboard boxes line the floor, and a feisty toy spaniel named Molly keeps watch over the comings and goings. Indeed, the home office of Springdale-based Banded Holdings Inc., which makes clothing and gear for duck hunters, has the look and feel of a classic garage startup.

And though Banded is far from that, it’s also true that like a startup, the company is young, exploding with growth, and is led by someone, chief executive officer Chuck Browning, who is passionate about new beginnings.

The C-Suite veteran of such companies as Capital USA, Thompson-Murray Inc., Kimbel Mechanical Systems Inc., Acumen Brands, and Trestle Tree, is at it once again. And this time around, he’s at the top, and from his vantage point, most of what he sees is covered with a splotch-work of green, brown and gray.

“I think it’s an art,” Browning said, referring to his talent for taking a small company and making it big. “I love to build businesses and I love to grow businesses.”

In July, Browning doubled-down on his bet with the waterfowl market by acquiring Memphis-based Avery Outdoors, which was mired in a nasty receivership case in Shelby County Chancery Court.

“It was quite an ordeal to get the deal done,” Browning said.

But the effort was worth it. In Avery, Browning took control of a 20-year-old company, what he calls a “strong legacy brand,” with an established product line and infrastructure. The company manufactures a wide array of gear under the Avery, Greenhead Gear and Avery Sporting Dog brands, and touts itself as “the nation’s number one manufacturer of waterfowl hunting equipment.”

Banded merchandise retails at big-box stores like Bass Pro Shops, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Shields Pro Shops, and Cabela’s, as well as at independent dealers like Bill’s Sporting Goods in Claremore, Oklahoma, and Townsend Outdoors in Hope.

Browning makes so many phone calls and receives so many emails that he can’t keep count, and even though the 2015 season is about to begin, he and his team are knee-deep in planning for the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

“We’ve burned out our first pair of track shoes, our second pair of track shoes, and now we’re on our third pair,” Browning said.

 

Core Business

Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that Banded is located in Arkansas. The state, after all, is situated in the heart of the Mississippi Flyway, the most heavily used migration corridor for waterfowl and other birds.

Stuttgart, in southeast Arkansas, is considered the duck hunting capital of the world and is home to both Mack’s Prairie Wings, a leading retail outlet, and the annual World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest & Wings Over the Prairie Festival.

Last year, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission sold over 100,000 duck licenses, with 45,000 issued to nonresident hunters. In 2011, duck hunting in Arkansas generated $288 million in spending, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. The typical Arkansas duck hunter, according to the report, spends nearly $3,000 a year.

In an obvious nod to the importance of the state’s duck hunting industry, Arkansas supports habitat protection in Canada. In its 2014 yearly report, Ducks Unlimited honored the state’s $5.2 million in cumulative annual contributions.

The industry context is not lost on Browning, who predicts a significant surge in Banded’s 2015 revenue compared to that of 2014. With a stable overall industry and an aggressive outlook for Banded, Browning has the perfect backdrop for his next move — a line of flannels, lightweight pullovers, and goose down jackets.

“We’re testing the market,” Browning said.

Since the company already has brand loyalty, the climate is favorable for new merchandise. But rather than branch out into something like camp stoves or coolers, Browning is sticking with apparel, something Banded already does.

“I’m staying within my core business model,” he said.

 

The CEO Hat

Browning was always attracted to the markets, and during college at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, where he earned a degree in finance, he took a job with Dean Witter. Browning soon realized that a stockbroker had to mount a pretty hard sales pitch to build a base clientele, and that’s something he didn’t want to do.

So after college he went into banking, and worked at Capital USA, the boutique vendor bank founded by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. heiress Alice Walton. He then went to Thompson-Murray Inc., and helped quadruple the size of the marketing company before it was sold to Saatchi & Saatchi. From there he went to Kimbel Mechanical Systems Inc., helped it negotiate the Great Recession, and then to Acumen Brands, where he oversaw the $83 million private equity raise led by General Atlantic.

Throughout that time, he worked behind the scenes as a chief of this or a chief of that. But with Banded, he’s finally out front with the flashiest title of all — chief executive officer.

“I feel like my journey has led me to this,” he said. “Wearing the CEO hat is different than any other C-hat.”

And friends say he’s up to the task, too. One in particular, Randy Laney, chairman of the board of Empire District Electric Co. of Joplin, Missouri, and a member of the Simmons Foods advisory board, said Browning has put in the time and now it’s time to thrive.

“This is his deal and I’m proud of him,” said Laney, who in some shape, form or fashion, has done business with Browning for 20 years. “He has a love for transactions, creating wealth, and he’s motivated by putting together resources and people. I see him building a significant brand.”

The apparel that Banded makes is not for the average waterfowl hunter. Rather, Banded merchandise is for high-end, diehard enthusiasts who each year undertake multiple duck hunting trips. Looking at industry research, Browning’s core demographic seems to be in ample supply and well capitalized.

According to the 2015 addendum to the 2011 fish and wildlife report, in comparison to all hunters, waterfowl hunters have a higher percentage of college graduates and a higher annual household income. According to the report, in 2011, 2.6 million waterfowl hunters nationwide accounted for about $1.8 billion in expenditures. The list of essentials for waterfowl hunters includes a boat, a trained retriever, decoys, blinds and calls.

Browning looked at, and passed on, a couple of opportunities before going all-in on duck hunting apparel. Sizing up the industry, and the competition, he knew there were opportunities.

“The market had gotten lackadaisical,” he said.

As a hunter and outdoorsman for most of his life, Browning understands the desires of his clientele. They want to be warm and dry, they want to enjoy the experience, and they want to impart their knowledge to the next generation. Browning said as long as he focuses on the basics, Banded will endure as a true company instead of withering, as many have, as the short-lived infatuation of a big-picture entrepreneur.

“Hopefully I won’t fall into the trap of the founder-CEO,” he said. “They invent something, but they can’t build all the elements of a successful business. They chase too many shiny objects.”