The Royal Connections Business Spotlight focuses on businesses owned by EMU alumni that are featured in the university’s interactive business directory.
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Renback Barn is an event facility on 28 acres in Madison County, Virginia, situated 30 miles north of Charlottesville and 85 miles south of Washington D.C. The venue offers table seating for 200, bride and bachelor suites, and outdoor options with a 180-degree view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and “stunning year-round sunsets.”
Cofounders and owners David ’15 and Katelynn Falk, a 2016 graduate of Virginia Tech, were married in 2018 and used their own wedding planning experiences as inspiration for Renback, which is adjacent to the Falk Farm.
How did you become a business owner?
We came up with the idea for Renback Barn after shopping around for places to get married ourselves. In central Virginia, most venues average in cost between $10,000-$30,000 per day, and we saw an opportunity to create an event barn of comparable quality but that costs a lot less. We also wanted to create an opportunity for Katelynn to work on the farm full time.
What is the history of your business?
We got married in October 2018 and founded the barn in 2019. It provides a beautiful view, heat and air conditioning, and space for 200 guests with tables and chairs, all at a price affordable for most anyone! Since opening in June 2019, we have been hosting a church service every Sunday and have booked nearly 30 events.
How did your EMU education impact your choice of career and business?
EMU helped prepare me by teaching me how to write a business plan to submit to a bank for a loan, plus how to manage money, time and resources to come up with a product or service that was desirable and sellable to other folks. Marketing classes helped me learn where and how to target our clientele, and how to budget for advertising.
How do your values impact your business operations?
Our values impact our business in so many ways. We are followers of Christ, and so when the opportunity came to have our own church use our barn as a place of worship each Sunday, we loved the idea. Having our own church family here was a huge blessing not only for us but for our whole church family, as well.
What are your top business-related “best practices”?
Our best practices start with hard work. In addition to operating Renback, we both work full-time jobs (David continues to farm approximately 2,000 acres with his father and Katelynn works in health sciences). Doing this will enable us to achieve our dream of working together.
In addition, going through the process of booking our own wedding venue allowed us to see what works and what doesn’t work, so together we came up with a beautiful place, dream, and opportunity that we can share with all who use our barn.
