John Goddard and his family love where they live. They also love people.
When they acquired the Red River Trout Dock in 2023, they saw an opportunity to create a fun, relaxing, first-rate experience for Heber Springs visitors and locals.
“We decided to join what we know about this area with our love of taking care of customers. We want our guests to feel like they have had the most peaceful and exciting vacation at the same time,” Goddard said.
From sunup to sundown, the family-owned-and-operated business is all about fishing.
Boats can be rented at the break of dawn and returned right before dusk. They also have full-service amenities, from fishing guides to someone on-premises 24 hours a day to a fully stocked bait shop. The staff will happily clean fish for guests or show them how to clean them themselves.
Planning for Acquisition and After
Established in the early 1990s, the business became available when the original owner died and his wife decided to sell. As similar docks in the area closed over the years, they became private residences.
“Our purpose was to keep the resort and trout dock open as a shining treasure for the Heber Springs area,” said John.
Talking to their bank about buying the business and surrounding property, the Goddards learned about the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
They reached out to the center’s Ryan Cole, who has assisted a number of outdoor recreation businesses.
He guided Goddard through securing Small Business Administration-backed financing for the large project.
“Ryan and his team helped us acquire an SBA loan for our resort,” John said. “Without their research on existing resorts and a comparison business plan, it would have been a harder process for us.”
Cole also consulted with them on their vision and plan for the early months following the acquisition.
“With a project this big, it was hard to identify the first things to work on,” Goddard said. “Ryan’s estimated sales gave us a number to shoot for that we could use on budgeting the task ahead of us.”
To achieve the revenue projections laid out in the business plan, they first needed to update the cabins and make a website to reach more customers. Over the next year, that is exactly what they did.
Ten members of the family, including John’s wife, Kasey, their children and spouses, and Kasey’s brothers, have helped transform the land and facilities in their first year of ownership.
They took over operations the week of Memorial Day in 2023. For the holiday weekend, they rented five of eight cabins, no RV spots, and 13 boats. However, Memorial Day weekend 2024, was a different story, with all cabins, 10 RV spots, and 20 boat rentals booked.
On a weekly basis, they saw a 40-100% increase in stays and services from the previous year.
Their online and social media presence went from non-existent to thousands of interactions a month. Notably, the star rating on their Google Business Profile improved from only two stars to 4.6 stars.
Reshaping an Old Business
Year one was a lot of hard work. with repairs and updates and starting from scratch with marketing. As a family, they also had to find the roles that allowed each of them and the business to flourish.
“They experienced issues along the way, but they found ways to work through them and get stronger. They had to adapt and change directions many times in the first year, but they knew the end result would be a success,” said Cole.
For John and Kasey, graduating from vacation rental owners with three cabins on VRBO to operating a resort was a big step. They wear all the hats: fishing guide, motor and facility maintenance, retail sales, and hospitality experts.
While busy, they are embracing the experience.
“If you enjoy serving guests and having fun with them, then I guess it really isn’t a job. Many of our customers now come and visit to just hang out with us,” said Goddard.
What’s Next
The goal is to add more RV spots and cabins. “Hopefully we can enter the building process next year. We want to be a premier destination for people’s vacations with the facilities to accommodate all group functions,” said John.
The ASBTDC helped the Goddards map out a plan for success, and they are well on the way.
“It was nice to see that our vision was verifiable with the information that Ryan and his team gave us. We are not a big company that takes over resorts. We are a family that has a dream,” he said.
His advice for others who want to start or buy an outdoor recreation business is the model the family followed: “Listen to God, surround yourself with good and knowledgeable people, and of course, have fun!”
To learn more, visit the Red River Trout Dock and RV Resort website, redrivertroutdock.com.
(Photos courtesy of Red River Trout Dock and RV Resort)