Patio Pleasures

Patio Pleasures has a running list of customer requests that gives staff a chuckle every time they add to it.

A few examples:

Do you sell floating ashtrays?

Can I please schedule a pool opening and request the cute guy with the nice arms?

Them: That “thingy” in my sand filter is broken. Can you come fix it today?

Us: Thingy … can you be more specific? And, today, like July 3rd today?

Adrianne Morgan, vice president of retail operations of the Wisconsin-based pool and spa company, says watching the relationships between customers and her staff develop is the best part of the business.

One customer in particular stands out, she says: the Swanton family.

“We built their fiberglass pool in the summer of 2023,” she says. “Since then, we’ve been invited to pool parties, gotten to know their dog, Bodhi, who loves the pool, and their cats. I’ve seen the incredible memories they’ve already built in one short year with their new pool. When they heard the news of being grandparents, we were included in the announcement.”

To have customers feel like family starts with creating a welcoming space for them in the showrooms, too, Morgan says. For a company that started in an old gas station, the now “Joanna Gaines-inspired vibe” is a massive upgrade that has put them in the national spotlight for their design and customer experience.

“It’s especially gratifying when we get calls from other pool and spa retailers, referred by industry reps, who want to tour our showrooms and replicate what we’ve created,” Morgan says.

What’s even more surprising about this business — run by Morgan, her twin sister, brother-in-law and Morgan’s ex-husband — is how they came into the industry.

Rene Huston, Patio Pleasures president, started in print publications. During that time, her husband and brother-in-law were doing electrical side work for a man who owned a pool and spa company. He asked if they’d be interested in buying the business, and the rest was history.

“I love our story,” Huston says. “And hopefully it provides a lot of inspiration for other people out there who are maybe looking at doing something they never thought they would do because they don’t know enough about it.”

Huston says, “We knew nothing about swimming pools or hot tubs and decided to venture into this industry.” Two years later, she left her corporate job and went full-time at Patio Pleasures.

That was nearly 20 years ago.

“When we bought Patio Pleasures, it was an existing pool and spa store, but we had zero experience in the industry,” Morgan says. “We had no connections, no resources — just a lot of ambition. We called it ‘ignorance on fire.’ We stumbled, we made mistakes, but we learned from each one and kept improving.”

While their ideas may not always have aligned — they’re family after all — Huston says “the blessings outweigh the challenges.”

Now in their 40s, they figured the time was as good as any to start looking at a succession plan. That’s when an employee stock ownership plan came into play. A family member mentioned the idea after the company they worked for converted to an ESOP. Huston says they started talking to their bank — also an ESOP and huge partner in their success — about the ESOP experience.

At Patio Pleasures, culture has been at the forefront of everything we do.” Rene Huston, Patio Pleasures

“It was a way to continue to incentivize and give back to our employees,” Huston says. “At Patio Pleasures, culture has been at the forefront of everything we do.”

On May 1, the company officially became employee-owned. At a special ESOP announcement dinner, Huston says they presented employees of six-plus years with nice watches as a reminder that “longevity and time has its rewards.” Those employees’ vesting schedules were also fast-tracked.

Continuing to invest in their employees and company is what keeps Morgan and Huston going.

“I absolutely love working with our team,” Morgan says. “They’re the heart of what we do, and it’s the main reason we decided to transition to an ESOP. Most of our team members came to us with no experience in the pool and spa industry, and it’s been incredibly rewarding to watch them grow and master their roles.”