APE APE August 2019 | Page 29

CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT Going All in on ALL OUT Kevin McGarvey & Marco Menna, owners of All Out Parking Lots Childhood friends become major players in Philly’s sealcoating scene By Aaron Garcia K evin McGarvey can’t help but recall the first time he and his business partner, Marco Menna, tried to do business at Philadelphia’s famed Wells Fargo Center, home to the city’s professional basketball and hockey teams, the 76ers and Flyers. With huge sports venues come huge con- certs, and McGarvey and Menna saw a visit from Kenny Chesney as a chance to pick up some cash. So, the pair printed up $400 worth of shirts that read “Ken- ny’s Girl” in the hopes of appealing to the female concertgoers tailgating in the city’s largest parking lot. This was back in 2007, when the two were seniors at Cardinal O’Hara High School in nearby Spring- field, Pa. Unfortunately, they learned they should have appealed to whomever was in charge of issuing permits for such things; the two were interrupted within seconds by the venue’s security, and their inventory was confiscated before they could make a dime. Now, a dozen years later, the pair own 1.800.210.5923 ALL OUT Parking Lots, an asphalt main- tenance and repair company with an ev- er-expanding book of clients that includes – you guessed it – the Wells Fargo Center. “It’s nice to have a good business venture at the stadiums, as opposed to the one we had as seniors in high school,” he said with a laugh. More Than a Name Menna and McGarvey first teamed up in elementary school and stayed friends throughout high school and college. Along the way, they always seemed to have “side hustles,” said Menna. They landscaped when the weather was nice, shoveled snow when it wasn’t and tried to sell some t-shirts. “We just always had that entrepreneur- ial spirit in us,” explained McGarvey. During the summer before their senior years in college (Menna was at Temple University, McGarvey at West Chester University of Pennsylvania), they decided to start sealcoating residential driveways. They’d gotten the idea from a friend who [29] was doing the same in another town close by, and they made good money. “From there we realized we should do this once we graduated,” said Menna. Added McGarvey: “We thought we could compete and win (against the other seal- coating companies). We decided to say, ‘Hey, let’s go into this all-out,’ and that’s where we got the name.” Putting Themselves ALL OUT There In the eight years since the summer of 2011, McGarvey and Menna have steadi- ly grown the company. Four years ago, they began to expand into commercial lots, which has brought new opportuni- ties and bigger clients. The two now have 25 employees and eight trucks, headlined by a pair of NEALCO Equipment, LLC customized, hydraulic, piston-pumped machines: a 1,000-gallon, flatbed-mount- ed unit; and a 760-gal. trailer with a spray bar. A big part of their success can be at- tributed to their marketing efforts, the Continued on page 32 August 2019