“Being a business owner, you gotta try.”
That’s what it took for one Utah entrepreneur impacted by the pandemic shutdowns in Spring 2020: giving something new a shot.
Dan Ray has been a Wasatch Front entrepreneur for nearly two decades. The avid snowboarder entered the confection industry working at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory between powder turns at Snowbird.
He would go on to run a chocolate-focused catering business and other franchise locations before operating his current Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory locations: one at City Creek Center and a Fashion Place Mall location that opened in Fall 2019.
Unable to sell marshmallow Easter eggs as stay-at-home orders temporarily closed malls and later opened to reduced foot traffic, Ray and his businesses were hit hard.
“I was in a dark place and my businesses were closed. I was devastated,” he recalls. “So I thought, what I else could I do?”
Pandemic Pivot: From Chocolate to Hypochlorous Acid
Watching news reports showing aggressive efforts in Asia to stave off the spread of COVID-19, he saw service workers using disinfectant guns to spray down streets and surfaces in Taiwan and Singapore. He decided to pivot to a new opportunity. Viruserv was born.
He originally conceived of Viruserv as a scalable service business, using electrostatic sprayers to clean and disinfect local businesses and schools. He landed a contract with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and even helped disinfect the University of Utah football practice building.
But he quickly saw the opportunity to evolve Viruserv into a distribution business for the cleaning equipment — electrostatic sprayers and atomized foggers that distribute the hypochlorous acid, a safe cousin of chlorine said to be the least toxic and safest disinfectant on the market. His products include the two types of electrostatic sprayers, four sizes of disinfectant foggers that fog that sanitize rooms, disinfectants and PPE.
Now, 80% of his business is through wholesalers, medical and industrial suppliers. He has also sold equipment to Salt Lake City School District, Canyons School District, Nebo School District, Rocky Mountain Care assisted living facilities, as well as agricultural operations and pet boarding businesses. Individuals from across the country wanting to start their own cleaning businesses also buy his products.
Ray believes some fundamental approaches he’s taken over the course of his career helped him take the leap. He shares his five tips for pivoting a business.