There's money to be made in snow: Brainerd lakes area businesses profit from wild winter

There's no business like snow business.

Record or near-record snowfalls in parts of the state and in the Brainerd lakes area might have winter-weary residents seeing red, but for some snow-related businesses, they see dollar signs.

"We've been running 24 hours around the clock," said James Trantina, president and CEO of Collins Brothers Towing of St. Cloud and Brainerd.

There are 95 tow trucks in his fleet, seven of which are in Brainerd. The company got its start in Elk River in 1996 by founder Phil Collins.

"Lately, it's been a lot of winch-outs, rollovers, semis in the ditch, stuck in their driveway, stuck in parking lots," Trantina said of the weather. "Our expense goes up, our overtime goes up, our fuel bill goes up, but it's definitely work, and we try to make money with it, for sure."

Snow removal is also big business, especially when large amounts of snow falls and throwing one's back out or straining one's shoulders is a real risk, according to Joseph Gulso, co-owner of Tree-Mendous Tree Service of Brainerd.

"A lot of people are getting sick of shoveling. They are the ones calling me up," Gulso said.

Rob Biley, owner of AirTech Heating and Cooling in Brainerd, said residents have been calling him about their furnaces shutting down due to snow blocking vents or frozen gas regulators.

"The phone tends to ring a lot more when we have this cold weather and snow buildup ... as well as the guys have to work a little extra harder and longer," he said. "But we just put our heads down and pull through it ... until we can make sure everybody's taken care of."

Tony Smude is the owner of Tony's Septic Pumping of Brainerd. He said a frozen septic line can lead to waste backups, broken pipes and other expensive problems.

"There hasn't been a whole lot of people freezing up yet, but it's just been kind of an expensive year for a lot of people with snow removal and propane usage," Smude said. "You get that snowfall, and it kind of protects the lines and insulates them. If you don't have any snow, sewer lines are going to freeze ... for people who are here on the weekends that have cabins."

But not all local businesses deal with snow-related problems. Outdoor recreation opportunities like skiing and snowmobiling are tourist attractions, according to Nancy Krasean, Cragun's on Gull Lake marketing spokesperson. The resort offers snowmobiles for rent.

"It's extremely popular. We tend to get the people that are more novice snowmobile people because they haven't committed to the equipment and all of that stuff, so they want to come up and give it a try," Krasean said.

On its website, Cragun's notes the Gull Lake lighted trail runs past the resort and is connected to 1,000 miles of groomed trails in the Brainerd lakes area.

"During the week, we tend to get more experienced people, and they come in groups of five to 10. ... We haven't been able to rent snowmobiles for the last three years because we haven't had snow, so this winter has been huge. We just lucked out," Krasean said. "There has not been conditions in the last three years where we could even rent them. You have to have enough snow on the lake to even let them out on the lake, and there hasn't been those kind of conditions."

Krasean said Cragun's recently hosted the Minnesota United Snowmobile Association, which has a membership of almost 40,000 members and 250 snowmobile clubs promoting safe and responsible recreational snowmobiling.

"They had like a hundred snowmobiles and went up to Nisswa, Pequot Lakes and so they were all over the place," Krasean said.

There are some residents in the Brainerd lakes area that prefer to stay home and cuddle up when it's cold and snowing, however, so Rafferty's Pizza on Washington Street, which specializes in take-and-bake, delivery and carry-out, is on the roads making deliveries.

"Pretty much any hot food is the hot ticket," store manager Curtis Ross said.

Temperatures may reach a potential high for Monday of 8 degrees, and residents can expect colder than normal temperatures into early next week, according to weather forecasts.

"We always have a meeting a couple of times throughout the winter just to go over safety and driving things like that. Also, we make sure they have their winter attire in the vehicle ... so they are at least dressed warmly and that they have to have their cellphones on them," Ross said.

"But snow is good for business-absolutely."