Luis Martinez, Founder
I knew that I was going to start a company that helped with strikes for weddings. I knew that this was one of the biggest gaps in the industry that needed to be filled, no one has a company that does it and it’s a job that not a lot of people want to do, especially florists that have been working all day on an event do not want to come back and “Strike” the wedding at night. So, this was something that was very needed in the industry, very!! I also wanted to hire and employ people looking for a second chance and I knew this would be the vehicle!
Now, I had to come up with a name, and it was instant what I wanted to call my new business, The Strike Crew was born. It was simple and everyone in the wedding industry would know what it stood for. I also knew that when I designed my logo that it had to be recognizable on site because of the job that we are doing, so my wife and I created a logo the had Strike very small and CREW very large because in the event industry CREW is very significant to the work being done! I will say we hit the nail on the head because everyone loves the logo, loves that it speaks very loud and everyone wants a shirt!!!
Now, this is in March of 2018 when the idea started to come to life. In May of 2018, I made a decision to start the Strike Crew. July 14th of 2018 was my first event with Coleen @ Plank and Pearl. We set up a couple of vintage furniture settings and some glass wear. We later that night went back to Strike it!! It was the start of something great! Now, with having a wife in the industry and being a veteran at doing strikes already gave me an advantage with another florist so I resigned from my government job at the U.S. Mint of ten years in August because I believed in this so much, so I took the plunge at running my own business. By the end of 2018, I had completed over 48 jobs, built a name for my self in the industry and what was just an idea of doing late night strikes blew up into a full event set up, hanging greenery, smilax, simple design work, hanging installations, security work and then we do the strikes at the end of the night.
What we pride ourselves on is that we do business through principles, of integrity, honesty, commitment, pride, and service. We are an extension of the florist, event planner, or whoever we are hired by. We want to make sure that we are early, that we are professional, that we are courteous, and that we do the best job every time. My staff is very knowledgeable, professional and always has a smile and makes sure we take care of our customer.
One thing that I pride myself on and that few know is that I am 15 years clean and sober, a majority of my staff is in recovery. So, I take pride in my staff, a majority of my staff is given and a second chance at life and they are extremely grateful for the opportunities that they get to work for The Strike Crew. So, I feel that’s another reason why this is such a great story is because a of my staff is rewriting their story and I get a chance to help them do that. No one would know any different because all we get is compliments on how amazing my staff is, how friendly and how willing they are to help out! Always smiling and always so grateful to do a great job!
Moving into 2023, we will have completed almost 1500 events. Back in March of 2019, we were approached by the staff of the Seawell Ballroom at the Bonfils Theater Complex at the Denver Center of the Performing Arts Complex to do their set up and tear down of that ballroom. We started negotiations and a month later I was awarded the contract to help them with their event setup and tear downs for the Seawell Ballroom. What a huge accomplishment for the Strike Crew!! I am now able to give my staff some regular hours and then do events on weekends!! We spend a lot of time in Aspen, Vail, Beaver Creek all mountain towns and all over the Denver metro area, we are working for over 20 florists, and over 20 other vendors in the event industry. What started out as a simple strike company turned into a do it all event company. We have moved pool tables, vintage furniture, we do full setups with some design work, we hang all installations, we have been used a security, we have helped out doing warehouse work, and we even help with sponsorship at a few events by hanging artwork and moving furniture in and out to help with the event. We now do it all, our favorite hashtags are #wegotyou, #welovelatenights, #weworkwhileyourelax, #weworkforcake, #nojobistobigforus things like that.
To sum it up, this all started because I loved getting cake when I helped my wife, to seeing a need in the industry and going after it. I know have 17 people that work for me, a major contract at The Denver Center of the Performing Arts, over 80 events that are all over this state and working with close to 40 different florist vendors and companies. I am now in the process of picking up a couple more large venues.
My next goals are to branch out to California, Texas, look into starting a non profit company called Second Chance Flowers and taking the flowers that we pick up (with the florist’s permission) and taking them to senior citizen homes, hospitals and any other place that we can find that would love to have them! We have done several events across the country including events in Florida, California, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexica, Utah and Mexico.
Hopefully soon we will be at your event! The next goal is to establish markets across the country with a Strike Crew homebase in each of the above states.