Shelter Co., technically, is a company that rents tents. But over the past year, the California-based events company has pivoted from outfitting wedding venues, and is now creating outdoor offices for one of the biggest companies in the world.
Focused mostly on the West Coast, Shelter Co. has built its business around providing everything people would need to host a weekend wedding or family reunion outdoors. “The idea is, how do we enable people to throw a party for 200 people in the middle of nowhere, what does that look like, what do you need?” says Shelter Co. CEO and founder Kelsey Sheofsky. Over nine years, the company grew from a handful of tents to more than 500, and has used them to provide accommodations and settings for everything from destination weddings to corporate retreats.
And then the pandemic struck. “It canceled 100% of our business last year, which was startling, to say the least,” says Sheofsky. “But it kind of gave us some downtime to think about how we want to refocus things.”
Compared to previous work on temporary events like weddings or even those outdoor accommodations for restaurants, which had a shorter expected lifespan, the Google project offered a chance to think more deeply about how outdoor spaces could be designed to last a significantly longer amount of time. “It was more like, ‘Hey, what can we do that can work for a year, and maybe reinvent the way that we’re gathering people for the long run?'” Sheofsky says.
The Google project led Shelter Co. to take on other outdoor office space projects, mostly for other tech companies. Due to nondisclosure agreements, Sheofsky is unable to name them, but says her company has done several and is bidding on several more.
Shelter Co.’s experience is being put to use on another project for Google, at its Sunnyvale campus. “This one is a much more modern design,” Sheofsky says. “All the structures are going to be very reminiscent of a greenhouse, so [it will incorporate] a lot of nature.”
Sheofsky says the pandemic effect that’s causing companies like Google to look outdoors for safe office space won’t be a long-term focus for Shelter Co., but that she’ll ride the wave while it’s here. And there may even be a side of this new office work that endures. Sheofsky says the company has recently been booking temporary off-site events for companies that have shifted fully to a work-from-home model. “There’s a much bigger need to be able to gather teams in a safe way that’s also productive,” she says.
Though offices are providing a new source of business for the company, the pandemic may actually be drawing more customers to Shelter Co.’s main area of expertise: outdoor weddings. “People are just not interested in an indoor ballroom wedding right now,” Sheofsky says.
Recognize your company's culture of innovation by applying to this year's Best Workplaces for Innovators Awards before the final deadline, April 5.