Conversations with Sandra BK

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sandra BK. 

Sandra, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
BK Adventure started in a tiny office on Orange Avenue in Orlando. At that time, we had an international tour and trekking company that booked adventures through our offices in Nepal. My husband is from Nepal, and we were booking tourist from around the world out of our tiny Orlando office. We have lived in Nepal until 2012 when it was time for our two young children to be in elementary school. We decided it would be better for them to be educated here in the USA, so we moved to my hometown of Saint Cloud. 

My husband and I have always worked in tourism and entertainment. So, after being settled here in the Orlando area, we decided to channel our love for hosting adventures closer to home and we opened BK Adventure Eco-Tours in December 2015. When we started, we did eco-tours to Silver Springs, the Econlockhatchee River, and the Indian River Lagoon. We started with an old Chevy Astro Van, and a homemade trailer that held 6 kayaks or bicycles (depending on the tour). In late 2017, with a stroke of good luck and a viral post on Facebook, our business exploded. We realized that people were coming from all over Florida, the USA, and the world to go on our bioluminescence kayaking tours. We could not buy kayaks fast enough! 

As the demand for the bioluminescence tours continued to grow, I realized that there was an untapped opportunity. When the world thought of seeing amazing bright blue bioluminescence, the always thought of going to Puerto Rico. But Florida’s bioluminescence was equally good, if not better. So, my small marketing team and I got to work. Our mission was to put Florida on the map for amazing bioluminescence! With the help of Visit Florida and other great marketing partners, by 2019 we had certainly done just that. BK Adventure had long since taken the Chevy Astro van to the junkyard and replaced it with a fleet of 14 vans and trucks. The inventory went from 6 kayaks to over 100 kayaks, including the super popular see-through clear kayaks, rafts, and stand-up paddleboards. We wanted to give people every option to see the wonders of Florida bioluminescence! 

Today, BK Adventure is the largest bioluminescence tour company in the world. It employs around 50 tour guides and office staff in the high season. And we take about 25000 guests annually to see the bioluminescence in the Indian River Lagoon. 

Since our humble beginning in a tiny office suite on Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando, to a somewhat bigger office and parking lot in Saint Cloud, to a sprawling property on US 1 in Titusville that houses all of our equipment, staff, and operations, BK Adventure has grown up around Central Florida. We are happy to say that we have had wonderful support from all the communities in which we have operated, and we are super thankful to live and work in such a great place! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not always been easy. This business is owned by me (a woman) and my husband (an Asian immigrant), so when we first started operated in Brevard County, we would go to county meetings for vendor permits, and we were literally the odd couple. None of the other tour operators took us very seriously, and some were openly hostile. But the comment I remember is “we don’t need to really worry about little operators like BK Adventure.” Of course, the blessing there is, comments like that just make you work even harder! 

The other challenge was just finding enough space as our business grew. Because we own a property with 2 acres of land in Saint Cloud, we operated out of that for 1 and a half years because we needed space to park our trucks and kayak trailers. Then, our entire guiding team would depart around 6 pm every evening to drive over 60 miles to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge to launch bioluminescence tours. Eventually, we bought a large commercial property on US 1 in Titusville, which is much closer. 

Of course, there are daily challenges, like the weather! Once during hurricane Irma, a tornado hit our kayak barn located at Kelly Park in Merritt Island, and we found our kayaks all over Highway 528 – the Beachline Expressway. We didn’t find the kayak barn though; it was torn to shreds. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
First, I am an entrepreneur. Business is what I feel passionate about. I love talking about entrepreneurship as a creative pursuit. For me, it’s about creating experiences for people, creating fun, or creating an amazing memory. I have always worked in tourism and entertainment. As an undergrad living in Europe, my part-time job was giving tours of European cities or wine regions on the weekends. My first business here in the USA was in Cocoa Beach, it was an Irish Pub called Paddy Cassidy’s that specialized in live music and entertainment. But I sold it to go to graduate school at the University Florida, where I got a degree in Mass Communication with a specialization in documentary film. A film I co-directed and produced at UF called “Ocoee, Legacy of the Election Day Massacre,” won the 2002 HBO Award for best short documentary, and it won many other film festival awards. That filmed launched me into a career as a director for English language versions of Anime. I directed well-known Anime series like “Hello Kitty and Friends,” “Blue Seed” “Slayers” and “Kaleido Star,” just to name a few. 

At the same time, while working as an Anime director, I opened a production company and spa before eventually giving it all up to live with my husband in Nepal. In Nepal, we owned 2 tour companies – Hardcore Nepal, which specialized in extreme adventures like canyoneering, white-water rafting, and rock climbing; and Trekt Himalaya, a volunteer trekking outfitter. 

Today, we own BK Adventure Eco-tours, Tripkee tour booking software, and BK September real estate investments (which has Airbnbs). 

What sets me apart? 1 – I love entrepreneurship, 2 – I love entertaining people, 3- I have a first-class education in communications from the University of Florida which taught me everything I needed to know about marketing and media. Understanding how media works and how people receive and process information is paramount to being an expert marketer. 

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Yes. I learned that there is always a silver lining. Of course, we had to shut down for several weeks at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. It was super stressful. We had employees to pay, bills to pay, etc. Luckily, we had some business savings and not much debt. The closure in Florida was short, and when everything DID open back up, everyone wanted to travel to Florida (because we were open) and do things outside (because it was a safer environment). Luckily, I owned a company that was in Florida, and outside and kayaking is always at least 6 feet apart. So, no worries! We had a business boom when things opened up, and it really hasn’t stopped since. We have been very lucky business-wise, and also that no employee or guest ever reported having a serious case of Covid (there were minor cases, but everyone recovered quickly). 

Pricing:

• $60 Bioluminescent Kayaking
• $75 Bioluminescent Clear Kayaking
• $79 Sunset Bioluminescence Tours
• $60 Bioluminescence Family Rafting
• $65 Bioluminescent Paddleboarding

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bkadventure.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bkadventure
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BKadventure
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/BKadventure
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BKAdventure