When it comes to promoting his company, Scot Reedy of Paradise Graphix takes a low-key approach: He prefers to let his work – typically a vehicle wrap or graphic – speak for itself as it rolls through the area. If someone likes what they see, they can ask for referrals, or check his website (www.paradisegraphix.com).
That’s how Nick Insco, owner of Blue Ash Chili in Cincinnati, discovered the company. Owner of two restaurants locally renowned for their special brand of chili, he was planning a mobile extension of the business with his first food truck. After reviewing the Paradise site’s online portfolio of completed wraps, he contacted Reedy about transforming Blue Ash Chili’s big boxy food truck into a mobile billboard.
That particular truck may have been new to Reedy, but it’s the kind of challenge he welcomes.
Reedy got started in business with a vehicle-accessory and graphics shop. About a decade ago, he bought his first digital printer, a Mutoh solvent inkjet, to produce specialty graphics – flames and stripes, etc. – for the auto aftermarket. Customers liked the work and began asking him to do more. Reedy completed a few wraps, printing the panels on that Mutoh and laminating them by hand before painstakingly applying them for a precise fit. It was a labor-intensive introduction to opportunity.
With an investment in a larger machine – a Mutoh Valuejet 1614 printer – and a Seal laminator, Reedy staked his claim as a local wrap specialist. Today, the company – located in Germantown, Ohio, just outside of Cincinnati – specializes in vehicle wraps. “They represent 90 percent of what we do,” he says. And while cars and car advertising account for most of his business, he’s also wrapped bikes, boats, dragsters, and golf carts.
So for Reedy, the food truck wasn’t much of a problem. Insco brought him a design worked up by the marketing company that handles his promotion and advertising. “But he also knew I did this for a living, and wanted to see what I would come up with, too,” Reedy says. Working with Blue Ash Chili’s logos, photos of its meals, a QR code, and other graphic elements, he conceived an alternate design – one that Insco preferred.
“The biggest challenge to this job was having to create our own templates,” says Reedy. “These trucks are very flat, but you run into a lot of rivets and places where different parts of the truck come together.”
It took between four and six panels to cover each side of the truck, front and rear. Reedy used the shop’s ValueJet to print these sections at 720 dpi onto 3M 180-series vinyl. “We print at a higher quality than some of the other companies doing vehicle wraps around here, and people notice the difference, especially when you’re up close,” he asserts.
The project took about two days. The truck and graphics are expected to be in service for years, as an advertisement for Blue Ash Chili, and testament to Paradise Graphix’s special expertise. “I’m always excited, when something like this comes out good, and my customer is happy with the results,” Reedy reports. “When people like what they see, they ask who did the job.”