A booming business with bite

A booming business with bite

Cass County Electric Cooperative member PRx Performance builds new headquarters with growth in mind

The new PRx Performance facility in Fargo, N.D., isn’t the drab, characterless warehouse one expects in an industrial park. The parking lot features several electric vehicle chargers, employee pooches play in building’s front showroom, and a large stuffed shark hangs from the balcony of the entry stairwell – an homage to the founders’ 2016 breakthrough appearance on ABC’s reality show, “Shark Tank.”

As PRx project manager Mike Harlan explains it, the employee environment is all part of the home-gym manufacturer’s “keep it weird” workplace mentality.

“We just had a basketball court installed here in the warehouse, and that has kind of been a centerpiece for people to go out and bond. Not everyone is good,” Harlan said with a joking grin, “but it’s all just for fun.”

The PRx Performance team of more than 65 people finished moving into the new $23 million, 194,000-square-foot north Fargo headquarters in January 2022. After
occupying seven different buildings in almost as many years, the founders – CEO Brian Brasch and president Erik Hopperstad – had an opportunity to finally construct
a facility that fit their unique employee culture and allowed them to manufacture their wall mounted squat racks and weight accessories in-house.

The company was already growing fast after becoming nationally known for its “Shark Tank” appearance. But just as Harlan joined the team 2 ½ years ago, a global pandemic shut down gyms. Home fitness equipment was suddenly as sought after as hand sanitizer and toilet paper.

“The world of COVID is really what accelerated the building project. We became so busy – we just exploded overnight,” Harlan said. “It really necessitated getting into a facility that could support that growth. We accelerated the planning, we put a lot into action, and here we are today.”

A built-in spotter

As a project manager new to managing construction-based ventures, the hastened pace of the project was quite a lift for Harlan. Luckily, he had a power partner in the form of Cass County Electric Cooperative’s (CCEC) Chad Brousseau, business account manager and energy expert.

“My prior familiarity with electricity was turning my lights on,” Harlan joked. “So Chad provided a lot of good information and guidance about things to ask and things to
look into. Even today, he provided information on some of the UPS (uninterruptible power supply) details we’re looking into to help prevent equipment damage in the
event of a power surge. He’s been a great resource overall.”

“Being a cooperative, we’re member owned. PRx is a partowner of Cass County Electric, so we want to be there to provide those resources,” Brousseau replied. “I think that’s what sets the cooperative model apart from other utilities, is that service aspect. We want all of our business members to be successful.”