The Shore Blog

Ahh – the sun, the sand and the sea. There is nothing like a day at the beach, spending time with family and making memories.

But first … you have to get there.

Let’s face it, getting to the beach with kids is by no means a small task. By the time you slather sunscreen on everyone, pack a cooler, gather beach toys, find wayward flip flops and strap your beach chairs, tents and other beach necessities to your wagon (or worse, your back), you’ve wasted precious beach time and are undoubtedly exhausted. You must then fight traffic crossing streets, dodging boardwalk bikers and keeping your children in tow, all while juggling your beach stuff to keep it from tumbling to the ground.

Then you trek across 200-degree sand to find the tide has come in and there’s not one inch of space for you and your family, much less a 10×10 plot of real estate for your beach tent and 150 sand toys. If you’re lucky and do find a space, you get to enjoy a few hours chasing your kids and the Fudgie Wudgie guy until it’s time to pack up and hike back. Only now, everyone is whining, nap-deprived and sand-covered with sticky ice cream hands and sunburns – and those are just the adults. This is the very reason why many families choose to stay at the hotel pool instead of going to the beach – or choose not to go to the shore at all.

If you’ve ever had this struggle and wished you had someone to do this all for you, we’ve got good news for you. NJ Beach Caddy is at your service.

One night over dinner, a group of friends discussed this very issue. While they loved the beach, they never enjoyed the journey. As parents of young children, they knew well the struggle it takes to get a family to the beach and back. As teachers, they knew of many families who faced more serious physical and other challenges that often kept them from going to the beach at all. Soon an idea began to take root: to create a service to help all families get themselves and their belongings to the beach, safely and without stress.

In the summer of 2015, after months of research, self-instruction and strategic planning, the friends launched NJ Beach Caddy in Ocean City New Jersey. They selected “America’s Greatest Family Resort”, as their launch site for obvious reasons: Ocean City has been repeatedly ranked as one of America’s top family resort beach towns by a variety of media outlets, and it draws families from near and far.

Their collective ingenuity and a strong network of friends, family and business associates helped them turn a dinner discussion into a lucrative business. After their first summer in operation, their business became the hottest and most quickly growing amenity of the Jersey shore.

In four years of operation, NJ Beach Caddy has helped enhance the vacations of thousands of customers, and has expanded to Sea Isle, Avalon and Stone Harbor with plans to keep growing. In 2017, Beach Caddy was selected for Best of the Shore by SJ Magazine and Best of Philly for their unique and impeccable service.

So just how does NJ Beach Caddy work? You simply download their app, summon a Caddy to your house or car, and they will not only pack everything up and take it to the beach, but will set it up for you. When you’re ready to leave, you simply use the app again and a Caddy will arrive to pack up your stuff. Back at the house, the Caddy will hose down your sandy beach items (children not included) and store them for the next day. The app is available on all Apple and Android devices.

In addition to providing beach services, the company also provides an invaluable service to families when they arrive and depart from their shore vacations. The Move-In/Move-Out service allows families to pull up to their rental home and have a Caddy unload their car and take items to where they belong at the family’s request.

This allows family members to sit on the deck and catch up, play games or start getting ready for the beach while the unloading and distribution of items is done by the Caddy. At the end of the vacation, a Caddy will arrive to take packed items and load them back into the car. Imagine being able to walk out of your shore house and get in the car without spending hours on the last night of your vacation playing Tetrus with your car? Priceless.

The Caddies hired by the company are well vetted for personality and professionalism. Most often, Caddies are high school and college students, but some are teachers and other adults as well. Being a Caddy is great for people who love the beach, enjoy working with people and are not afraid to break a sweat. NJ Beach Caddy is currently hiring for the summer of 2019 – if you’re interested in being a Caddy or know of someone who is, applications are available on their website, https://www.beachcaddy.app.

Over the years and throughout the southern Jersey coast, the company has created partnerships with realtors and vacation homeowners. Their services have become so popular that many now provide NJ Beach Caddy services as part of their rental agreements. If you’re planning to rent a home this summer, inquire with your realtor as to whether NJ Beach Caddy services is an amenity they offer. And if you’re a realtor interested in offering this service to customers, the company encourages you to contact them to discuss partnership possibilities.

At the heart of the NJ Beach Caddy company is the same group of friends who conceptualized their company over dinner, who are just as passionate now about enhancing their customers’ vacations as they were on that serendipitous night. As parents themselves, they still realize and appreciate how much goes into preparing for a family vacation, and how the typical vacation stresses can negatively impact what otherwise could be an awesome family bonding experience. It is their continued mission to alleviate those stresses and make vacations enjoyable for everyone. They strive to provide exceptional customer service with every trip and in every interaction with customers. Complete customer satisfaction is their goal, and they will do what it takes to earn it. The company provides mentorship to their Caddies in order to provide that same level of service and attention, as well as teaching them the tools of entrepreneurship.

The future of NJ Beach Caddy is ripe with many possibilities for growth. The app was developed to easily add other vacation destinations, and the owners are constantly working with developers and customers to improve the app and services provided. They’ve partnered with investors and are working on plans to franchise their business, potentially offering other families the opportunity to launch their own Beach Caddy business in other shore communities. And while the company was at first envisioned to primarily assist young families, demographics studies have shown that Baby Boomers represent a large portion of their customer base.

Additionally, they’ve worked with many vacationers who faced challenges to beach access, such as people with illnesses affecting mobility, those dependent on medical equipment such as oxygen tanks or wheelchairs, disabled veterans and other people for whom easy beach access may not be possible. To this end, NJ Beach Caddy is developing a Barriers to Beach non-profit service to assist families in removing these barriers.

The NJ Beach Caddy company has helped thousands of customers to relax and reconnect during their vacations by taking the stress and worry out of their move in, move out and beach experiences. And now, with their Barriers to the Beach program, these motivated entrepreneurs will be giving back to the community in ways even they couldn’t have envisioned that night over dinner – when they simply wanted to find a way to help people get to the beach.

Be sure to check out NJ Beach Caddy for your shore vacation this summer. The company is offering a discount to all readers of The Shore Blog, using the discount code, “Shoreblog5”.

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