While she was working for a material supply company in the 1980s, clients asked Beth Jarvis about purchasing safety items; the company, however, didn’t want to add other line items to its inventory. Seeing an opportunity in the marketplace to fill their needs, Beth, Founder, President, and CEO, launched Jendco Safety Supply in 1989. Starting off in the family garage next to a minivan and a flatbed, the business grew quickly, moving into a building two years later, followed by a major distribution center in 1994.
Wanting to name the company after her three children, Jenny, Emily and David, Beth found out the name ‘Jedco’ was taken, so she used Jendco instead. “So now we name all our mannequins with the letter ‘n,’ and they are part of the acronym now,” laughs Jenny Jarvis.
Celebrating 35 successful years, family-owned Jendco Safety Supply is run by Vice President Jenny and her brother David, who serves as Chief Operations Officer. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio and with a location in New Albany, Jendco keeps over 3,000 products in stock, from air duct cleaning equipment and personal protective equipment like eyewear, face protection, helmets, gloves, and footwear, to spill control and safety containers, tools, and much more.
“We have a team of individuals in our warehouse who control our inventory, track it, and keep counting it,” says Jenny, who is quick to credit her team, including the Warehouse/Shipping Department which includes Adrian Miller, Inventory Controller, and Travis Corsi, Operations Manager.
Jendco prides itself on its relationships with manufacturing partners, including 3M, MSA, FallTech, MCR Safety, PIP (Protective Industrial Products), and KASK America, to name a few. Realizing that the nature of business has transformed over the past three decades, Jendco has built a strong brick-and-mortar and online presence, selling to a broad customer base.
When the business started, it was a face-to-face operation. Soon after, Jenny’s brother David joined the company and created the jendcosafety.com website in August 2011, and e-commerce sales took off. “It has been extremely beneficial for our business,” says Jenny. “Our website has allowed us to carry more products—which supports our local customers—but what it’s done is really grow us to be more of a nationwide name, in addition to having a heavy footprint in Ohio. The second largest state we sell into is California. So our e-commerce presence has really diversified our business a lot, and it’s quite special.” Along with customers across America, Jendco also does business with international clients.
More than a list of products, the intuitive, information-packed Jendco website allows customers to search by category and by brand. Along with sections on sales, the site features catalogues, blog posts on topics like How to Read a Hard Hat Expiration Date and Heat Stress, information on the Jendco Rewards Club, and other valuable features. “David is very proud of it, and as his sister, I’m very proud,” says Jenny. “As a business, our website is a wonderful thing to have.”
A long-time advocate of women in business, Beth filed for Jendco to be a certified Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) many years ago. Certification from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) validates a business “is at least 51 percent owned, controlled, operated, and managed by a woman or women,” according to the Council.
“We’ve always held that WEB certification,” says Jenny. “It’s something that is really important to us for our customers, and even when we do our hiring. We like to hire women, help them find their voices, and get them acclimated into the construction industry.” Proud of women being prominently represented across all departments, Jendco is working with a young woman who came in at an entry-level position and who is about to be moved to an outside sales position. “It’s exciting, and she’s done that through her involvement with different local networking groups such as the Builders Exchange and women in construction groups.”
An industry leader in the safety supply sector, Jendco works with customers across a diverse range of companies. Categorically, the company sells into almost every industry. This includes not only construction but also aerospace, government, manufacturing, and more. Some clients are just starting out, while others have been in business for decades, and customers range from individuals wanting to do a small side project on their house all the way to the U.S. Government and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which designs, manufactures, and launches spacecraft and provides satellite communication.
During the pandemic, Jendco was deemed essential. Selling COVID test kits and hand sanitizer, the company also worked closely with non-profit independent scientific and technology organization Battelle on its decontamination process, which saw tens of thousands of respirator masks decontaminated every day. “We are very lucky with the client base we have,” says Jenny. As challenging as the pandemic was for the company, it compelled Jendco to further diversify its products for the benefit of all customers.
From its unrivalled product selection to partnering with many of the world’s premier manufacturers to strong female leadership, outstanding client support, and value-added services, Jendco continues to stand out from others in the safety supply arena. One of the company’s biggest differentiators is that Jendco is a stocking distributor; by keeping a lot of inventory on hand, the company supports its customers quickly and efficiently. And with years of industry know-how, Jendco is a leader in consultative selling.
“Our team will talk you through it if you are calling in and needing help,” says Jenny. “We really work to get customers educated and feeling more comfortable and confident in the product lines we carry, because we want to be an extension of our customers’ companies. We want their team to feel empowered, whether it’s through the information we provide on our website, or the information they get when they give us a call. So we really work to empower our customers to make the right decisions for their teams.”
Proud of its many accomplishments—including being ranked one of Columbus Business First’s Fast 50 in both 2015 and 2021—Jendco is about much more than business. Celebrating 30 years of service in late 2020, the company launched a new initiative: Jendco Gives Back. Described as “a program celebrating the rich heritage of non-profit service in the Columbus, Ohio area and beyond,” Jendco Gives Back shows the passion staff have about being involved in the community through volunteering or financial support. Jendco realized its customers also had different groups and passions that they were involved in, “and we thought that would be a wonderful way to give back to the community that we work in,” says Jenny.
Now, on the threshold of 35 successful years in business, the Jendco team plans to host a customer appreciation party and run a special in November to celebrate the milestone. Much has changed since the company was formed in 1989, yet Jendco’s family values and ongoing commitment to its staff, clients, and manufacturing partners remain as strong as ever.
“It is more than product for us,” explains Jenny, “it is about people wearing the products. It’s more than just dollars and cents, it’s about getting people home safe. We all have to work—that’s the necessary evil—and we might as well be comfortable and safe when we do it, because at the end of the day it’s our job to make sure everybody gets home safe to their family.”
