Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Tagget.
Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Raised on a Christmas tree farm, I followed in my dad’s footsteps bowhunting at a young age. Growing up, the ability to walk out the back door and climb up a tree shaped me into a bowhunting fanatic. As I grew older, and spending time watching countless VHS tapes, DVD’s and flipping through magazines compiled with info on hunting large white-tailed deer in other areas of the country I began traveling and becoming thoroughly obsessed. This led to creating a semi-live, web-based hunting production that specialized in bowhunting whitetails. As our platform grew it allowed me the opportunity to network with and work alongside major brands in the outdoor/hunting industry; learning the ins and outs of business and marketing while studying business management and marketing at my local community college. Meanwhile my dad was running a local manufacturing facility where he eventually accumulated over 40 years of machining, design, and engineering experience.
After several years traveling around and hunting whitetail deer anywhere and everywhere we could, we had used several of the “top broadheads”. I’ll admit we shot some broadheads that were quite impressive, yet also shot some well-hyped heads that did not live up to our expectations. We linked many of the design failures we saw to poor tolerances, weak materials, and sloppy machining. We knew that with my dad’s manufacturing experience we could build a higher quality broadhead right here in the USA, and better yet in our home state of Michigan. In 2018 we went to work on our first model, a mid-sized cut 100 grain expandable broadhead, and after two years of R&D we were confident enough in our design to bring it to market. By 2020 we launched our first product to the market, of course right at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and being unable to attend any industry events or even visit retailers for that matter it made the launch of our company quite difficult and reliant heavily on social media marketing. By 2022 we had gained enough steam locally and began making a name for ourselves – “REK Broadheads” and started growing substantially on the downward swing of the pandemic. Moving forward to today we have a solid, American made broadhead line-up that were extremely proud of along with multiple other prototype designs nearly ready for market. We’ve grown to having our product stocked in over 200 retailers nationwide while maintaining a strong online store presence. It’s not uncommon to see our products linked in national based media outlets, similar to a recent article in Bowhunting World Magazine where we rank as the editors pick of ” Best Broadheads”. We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Certainly nothing about this road has been smooth, its been bumpy and filled with potholes, much like Michigan’s roads after a hard winter. I do believe taking pride in keeping our manufacturing here in the USA has brought upon a lot of pricing struggles, as we are competing with a market that is primarily sourced across the pond. Our higher cost of manufacturing might cut into margins, and ability to market heavier than some of our competitors, but at the end of the day we know we have a product we can trust. I think broadheads might just be one of the most competitive product lines in the outdoor space, or any space for that matter – so to stay relevant you have to constantly be designing, improving, marketing and so much more.
Aside from that there are daily struggles and headaches that can be expected with running any business, but I think once you’re able to get over the initial stresses and realize that day to day tasks always tend to throw in a few curve balls and if you can block those out and work through the situation to find a quick and efficient resolution you can continue growing in a forward direction. It’s as simple as aiming to be 1% better each and every day.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We manufacture high quality, American made archery products here in the state of Michigan. Our company is called “REK Broadheads” -pronounced /wreck/. We take pride in being a family owned, American made company that is competing with the major national brands. Overall the quality of our broadheads is at or above the industry standard for broadheads in the fixed and expandable – replaceable blade category.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The best thing about our company is your able to directly speak with our owners, myself and my dad (steve). Many days of the week we can be found chatting with a customer on the phone who just got back from a successful bucket list hunt thanking us for making a great product. We love social media collaborations and seeing our products used in the field. We have a large presence on Facebook, instagram, Tiktok and Youtube – @ REK_Broadheads. Or as always you can contact us through www.rekbroadheads.com
Pricing:
- HXP-2 broadhead 3 pack $62.99
- XP-2 broadhead 3 pack $62.99
- FX4 broadhead 3 pack $54.99
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rekbroadheads.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rek_broadheads/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rekbroadheads/
