The Woodlands community is welcoming a new start-up business — but it’s actually not a start-up at all since its roots run decades deep.
For more than 30 years, Arrowquip has been manufacturing cattle-handling equipment for the global market. The Firth family moved the business from Australia and has been operating in Woodlands since 2003.
Now the entrepreneurial family is taking that experience to the outdoor power equipment sector through Arrowquip’s new sister business called Yakta.
Andrew Firth, former Arrowquip CEO, moved over from his role to become Yakta’s founding CEO. Meanwhile, his brother Mark Firth stepped up to lead Arrowquip as its new CEO.
To start, Yakta will specialize in zero-turn mowers. The first mower will roll off the line in early February.
“We decided to venture into this sector by listening to our Arrowquip customers and dealers, who let us know that this sector is under-utilized and all about shareholder value over dealer and consumer growth,” said chief marketing officer Brodie Milne.
“Currently, we’re operating inside our Arrowquip international HQ building, which is right next door. Our manufacturing staff will be in the new building shortly and office staff in the coming months.”
Yakta’s first product off the line is its YXR 710 zero-turn mower, which operates up to 20 kilometres per hour. This powerful product features a 30.5-horsepower engine and 16-gallon fuel capacity. It’s geared for both homeowners and commercial operators alike. Coming soon will be the YXR 910, YXR 610 and YXR 410 models.
“We’ve been engineering our mower lineup since the winter of 2022 and launched our brand at Equip Expo this past October,” Milne said.
“We’ll also be releasing our Split Frame technology in the fall that transforms our mowers to anything you need — blower, snow blower, grader, thatcher.”
With Yakta, its products will stand out for their top-notch performance combined with dedicated customer service.
“Our point of difference starts with how over-engineered our products are, ensuring that they’re able to stand up to the toughest use cases, which is backed by our five-year or 2,000-hour warranty that covers everything except for batteries, blades and tires,” Milne said.
“This means that we cover Kawasaki, Briggs & Stratton, and Hydro-Gear longer than they cover themselves. Industry standard is about three years or 1,500 hours on average.”
Current Canadian prices range from $9,450 for lighter units up to $32,256 for top-of-the-line heavy-duty units.
“We have a mower for every need — be it a homeowner with an acreage they need to manage to commercial cutters who are using the units for eight hours a day, five or more days a week,” Milne said.
Yakta’s main business comes from the United States, which is where they see the vast majority of their sales. All sales of Yakta products will be done through dealers.
“Our methodology is all around the dealer. They are the ones who are the backbone of our economy and who need support in a space where OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are taking away from their bottom line and either going to big box stores or directly to consumer,” Milne said.
“Consumers need dealers who are dedicated to their success and dealers need OEMs who are dedicated to theirs. As such, you’ll never see a Yakta product in a big box store or sold direct. All product sales will go through our committed, hard-working, family-owned dealerships.”
Currently, there are already 51 dealers across 16 states and three provinces that are ready and waiting to take their first order of Yakta units as soon as they’re available, as well as many others waiting to finalize dealer agreements.
“The response from dealers looking for better has truly been humbling. Along with our international HQ facility currently being built in Woodlands, we intended to expand to an additional plant in the U.S. to keep up with demand as well. Those talks are already in place and plans in development,” Milne said.
“We already have plans in place to begin sales in Australia, either this year or very early the following year, as well as other international markets like the U.K. where we’re currently very successful with Arrowquip.”
Yakta is located off Highway 6 in Woodlands right next to Arrowquip. Currently, it employs 50 workers — and further recruitment efforts are underway as the company is ramping up for production in its 72,000-square-foot facility.
“We are always looking for new employees who are looking to make a real impact on a global scale. Anyone who might be interested in joining our team, at any level, should reach out and apply,” he said.
“Currently, we’re looking for more engineers, factory support (assembly), operation staff and sales support. With the exception of engineering, no past experience is needed — just drive and motivation to succeed and thrive.”
Milne estimates they’ll likely need between 100 and 150 employees by the end of the year.
“However, this is a moving number and is based on demand,” he noted. “If more shifts are needed, like they were for Arrowquip, we’ll add shifts and staff.”
Looking ahead, the future looks bright for the bustling new business.
“We’re the only zero-turn mower manufacturer in Canada,” Milne said. “We’re competing against giant names like Toro and John Deere, and we have no doubt that we’re going to be able to show those brands how things are done.”
Even in these early days, Yakta seems poised on a path for success.
“Overall, there’s no holding us back. The industry is being bought and sold from major holding companies and OEMs all the time. Each time, consumers are being left with fewer and fewer choice since products are often made identical as another mower brand the company owns, just painted differently,” Milne said.
“We will wake up a market that has put consumers behind shareholder value for far too long and who have not taken care of the hard-working, family-owned dealers. We’ve proven this on an international scale with Arrowquip, making ranching families safe once again and dealers successful all round the world. Yakta will do the same for the outdoor power equipment market.”
Visit www.yakta.com to learn more about Yakta, including career opportunities.
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