Phil Thompson – Lindstrand Balloons USA

Riding in hot air balloons was Phil Thompson’s passion long before it was his profession.

“This was my hobby,” he says.

Thompson now parlays that passion into his business, Lindstrand Balloons USA.

For nearly two decades, Lindstrand Balloons USA has made hot air balloons in northwest Illinois.

The company first settled in Hanover in 1995. After outgrowing that facility roughly five years later, the company moved to Galena’s industrial park on the northwest edge of town.

Lindstrand USA is one of three companies in the country that manufactures hot air balloons, Thompson said.

“We’re unique if nothing else,” he said. “There’s not one of these on every corner.”

The nine employees at Lindstrand manufacture balloons in the 9,000-square-foot facility, from the balloon to the basket.

Workers sew together huge pieces of the balloons on what looks like ordinary sewing machines, while others construct the baskets.

Lindstrand expects to sell roughly 35 balloons this year. Thompson said the company can churn out a balloon in one week if necessary.

An average sporting balloon costs approximately $35,000, said Lisa Kempner, Lindstrand’s national sales director. She said other balloons, like ones built to give rides, can cost up to $100,000.

Thompson said Lindstrand’s biggest market is commercial: businesses looking for a fun and impossible-to-miss way to advertise. The company has made balloons for Pepsi and Coke, for example.

Thompson got carried away by hot air balloons at a young age. He had worked as a funeral director and coroner when he asked himself if that was what he wanted to be doing 30 years later.

“What am I doing in this business? I want to be out there having fun,” Thompson realized, he said.

Not long after, Thompson started working at Cameron Balloons in Ann Arbor, Mich. Shortly after that, he and Kempner broke off to start their company.

They chose the Lindstrand name because it is well known in European ballooning. Per Lindstrand, who started the company, is a Swedish pilot who made trans-ocean hot air balloon flights.

Lindstrand Balloons USA is an official licensee of the parent company, Lindstrand Balloons UK.

They chose northwest Illinois because they wanted to stay in the Midwest near family and their professional contacts.

Like so many businesses, Lindstrand USA was healthier before the economic downturn, with almost twice as many employees selling at least a third more balloons per year.

“The fact we’re even still here is one of those miracles,” Kempner said. “It’s such a small industry. It’s a cottage industry.”

And the business is held to strict federal regulations, the same that apply to other aircraft businesses, like Boeing, Thompson said.

All that said, the job is fun, Thompson said. He enjoys tinkering with balloon designs on the computer. He talks about a new craze in people ordering baskets with a clear plastic base so ballooners can look at the ground from high above.

Said Thompson, “There’s nothing cooler than floating along in a hot air balloon basket.”

via –  THonline.com.