For Leftons, business is fun and games
St. Louis Business Journal - by Ron Janecke
Business activity: If you ask Jeff Lefton when he started in business, he would tell you it was in 1969 -- when he started performing his magic acts at age 12. That really was the genesis for his business, Lefton Promotions.
Incorporated in 1989, Lefton Promotions provides games, shows, music, food and entertainment -- including Jeff Lefton's magic act -- for corporate parties, team morale-building events, college or high school functions or even a child's birthday party.
About 35 percent of the firm's business comes from performance-based functions, while the rest comes from activities involving inflatable equipment, such as slides. The company does about 1,400 shows a year in 40 states with Lefton performing magic acts once or twice a week.
Lefton is a full-service event planner, taking care of such things as arranging for a caterer or providing magicians, actors or Christmas carolers.
Because of the scope of the activities, Lefton does not provide a price list but has charged $200 to $200,000 for an event. The higher prices include events for as many as 20,000 people at the Trans World Dome and Kiel Center.
His busiest time is from early April through June when companies, high schools and colleges hold picnics and parties. As many as 75 employees will be involved in events on any given weekend during the busy season.
Executives: Jeff Lefton, 41, a St. Louis native, is president and founder of Lefton Promotions. When he was 8 years old, Lefton received a magic kit from his father; by age 12, he was known as "Presto the Magician" and was giving shows at children's birthday parties. After graduating from Tufts University in Boston, Lefton worked as a full-time magician for a year and a half. He hooked up with Chevrolet at an auto show and started going city to city giving 12-minute acts, 15 times a day.
But after awhile, Lefton found the routine a little tedious. "I wasn't using my brain," he said. So he enrolled in Washington University's business school and received an MBA. He worked four years processing small-business loans for the St. Louis County Economic Council.
"After seeing so many entrepreneurs, I decided I wanted to get into business," he said.
Bry Lefton, 44, helps her husband primarily with the accounting and administrative functions of the business. Also a St. Louis native, she graduated from Clayton High School and the University of Colorado and has a master's degree from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Hunt Niedringhaus, 31, is vice president of marketing and sales. He is a Country Day High School graduate with a degree in European history from Washington & Lee University. After working as a management consultant in Boston, Niedringhaus returned to St. Louis and has been with Lefton for three years.
Mike Davis is the operations manager.
Company history: Lefton ran the company out the couple's basement, garage and attic before moving it to an office in the Breckenridge Industrial Court in 1993.
In October, Lefton moved the company to its current location, which has 6,500 square feet of warehouse space and houses an estimated 100 pieces of equipment, about 75 inflatable.
The company established a Web site last year, which has been particularly popular with colleges and universities.
Revenue: Lefton Promotions made the St. Louis Business Journal's 1996 and 1997 lists of fastest-growing private companies. Revenue for the last five years is:
• 1994 -- $698,639.
• 1995 -- $797,192.
• 1996 -- $1.04 million.
• 1997-- $1.32 million.
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