The ArrKann Formula
Big dreams, Big Plans, big work, big play...
Imagine going to work every day where customers come to play. Where the walls are completely adorned with spectacular scenes of Alberta landscapes, and your main job is to make sure that the customers who see you everyday have an amazing vacation.
Welcome to the world of ArrKann.
Founded in 1976, ArrKann Trailer and RV is one of Edmonton’s greatest treasures in the RV industry. Now operated by the second generation of Friedenbergs, this company has gone from being a tiny upstart manufacturer to a player to be reckoned with in a highly competitive industry. And the real fun is just beginning!
ArrKann Trailer was born in 1976, when Rube Friedenberg began selling and renting RV’s from the back of a hardware store in south Edmonton. In 1981, having recognized that this RV thing was more than a ‘flash in the pan’, the family began manufacturing and selling fold down tent trailers under the ‘Leisurecraft’ banner. As funds allowed, the company purchased land adjoining their location and by 1984, they were ready to launch their outlet offering a full line of camping and RV products, under the name Camper’s RV.
On July 30, 1987, Black Friday, the business was totally destroyed.
Edmonton’s now infamous tornado took only a few minutes to decimate the building that housed the Friedenbergs’ dreams for so many years. But while the building was destroyed the vision, ideas, and plans for the business remained fully intact and perhaps buoyed by the crisis. The decision was quickly made to rebuild.
Early in 1988, the company reemerged bigger and better than ever. A new building was built and the growth began the next years saw the addition of new lines, a move to new premises, significant expansion of the parts and accessories line, etc.
In 2004, through Predictable Futures, FLJ had the great privilege of working with the ArrKann team to develop a strategic plan to give clarity to the company’s long term direction. The planning process brought together the entire management team to share their perspectives on the current state of the company the good the bad and the ugly. Then together a plan was designed that addressed the issues of the team, crystallized the ‘Big Picture’ for the company, and gave them a step-by-step action plan to make that big picture a reality. The first steps in making the dream a reality happened quickly. In May, 2005, ArrKann opened its second store on the St. Albert trail, implanting a bit of that ArrKann magic over to the North side of our great city. A third, temporary, location also operated through the summer.
Although the work can be stressful just imaging squeezing 12 months of work into 5 months the team puts feet to Ken Friedenberg’s oft heard credo, ‘we’ll make it happen.’ Rather than shrink from the sometimes overwhelming demands, somehow the challenge of making sure that their customers’ playtime is superb, awakens the best within this remarkable team.
Plans for the future - well only the ArrKann team can share that, but let us just say ‘watch out‘ you’ll definitely be hearing more about this extraordinary company! And the story continues.
Printed  October, 2005
Momentum!  the Newsletter for Friends and Associates of
FISHER LANGFORD-JONES & Associates Ltd.