A Journey of Expansion and Success ROLLING WITH PASSION
Rolling Mix Concrete Edmonton was founded by Rod and Patty Taverner and their partners in 1994. In the span of 30 years, the company has grown from humble beginnings into one of Canada’s largest concrete providers. This is the story of a business that started with an idea, a modest fleet of five trucks and an ambitious family that transformed an idea into a powerhouse in the ready-mix concrete industry. Rolling Mix is building the province’s fabric today.
“The story,” says Rod, “starts with Guido and Hector di Stefano’s immigration from Italy. They came to Canada, started work finishing concrete and eventually bought their own truck picking up concrete from their soon-to-be competitors. Then they bought another one… and another one, eventually building their own concrete plant.”
This was in 1955. By the early 1960s the di Stefanos had decided to expand to Prince George British Columbia to take advantage of an emerging pulp and paper boom. As Calgary was still growing, another partner was brought in. This new partner was brother-in-law Joe Paolucci. He had the same work ethic and determination and soon turned the business into the larger of both operations.
Joe and his wife Paolina, immigrants from Italy, had four children in the 1960s. Their third daughter was Patty. Patty and Rod would later meet, marry and have three of their own children. Prince George was now home.
Some years later in Calgary, tragedy struck; Hector passed away in a plane crash. The family came together, however, and Guido took over Rolling Mix Calgary as Hector’s boys, Tony and Rick, were only 14 and 10. Those boys would eventually come into the business and assume Hector’s role. Several years later Tony and Guido would approach Joe to discuss the idea of opening another Rolling Mix Concrete in Edmonton. Joe suggested that his sonin-law, Rod Taverner, who worked for an accounting firm, be the new guy.
“It was my business partner, Hector’s son Tony di Stefano, who approached me and my father-in-law about this. This formation of me and Tony would be the beginning of a lifelong partnership and friendship. With the family’s financial help and five trucks, Rolling Mix Concrete Edmonton was born.”
While Rod’s experience in concrete was lacking at that time in 1994, his wife Patty had already spent several years in the business in Prince George. This would prove to be extremely
valuable in the couple’s pursuit of the new business. They moved to Edmonton where Rod immersed himself in sales and operations while Patty took the administration.
“I had spent five years in university and Patty had spent three in college. All that we really knew was how to learn, so we did. Patty took care of the payroll, payables, invoicing, receivables and month end and I immersed myself in every course on concrete. Patty would make sure we got paid and I sold, batched and drove concrete trucks with our small group of employees.”
“Soon after we moved, Patty became pregnant with our first child,” Rod smiles. “Things got interesting because we would work all day, come home and bill until the wee hours. Then it was back in the office early to keep right on going. Our first son was born in 1995 and he grew up in the business; we set up a little nursery in one of the side offices. We still did the same thing when our second son was born in 1997 and another in 1998. The boys came to the office and slept in our makeshift nursery every day.”
The family was not the only thing growing. In 1999 Rolling Mix moved to a larger facility.
“We gave Patty and the boys a bigger office,” Rod laughs.
Then he turns serious again.
“Look, I tell you the history to understand how important and instrumental the partners were in building the business. They had a lot of blind faith in us. I had been in university for a long time and knew how to learn but I did not know much about concrete when I started. I spent a lot of time learning from Tony. He was a mentor, not just what he said but that I trusted him to share everything, particularly what I didn’t know.
“We worked hard and had a lot of energy. That is what I tell people today. You need energy. You wake up tomorrow and the next day and you do it all over again and again. To succeed, you need to wear down those around you by outworking them. That is what we did. We worked harder than our competitors. That relentless drive inspired everyone to look at industries that complemented our concrete operations.
“We recognized the value of having our own supply, so we expanded into the aggregate business. We then opened a company to haul our own cement and cementitious materials. This company then expanded the hauling service
Rod & Patty, it is amazing to think back to where you started and what you have built in Edmonton.
On behalf of Ash Grove Cement, congratulations to you both and the Team at RMC Group on this significant 30 year milestone. www.ashgrove.com
States. In 2018, we started a mobile division to supply ready-mix concrete in rural and underserved areas.”
This mobile division was a pop-up model in which Rolling Mix would erect temporary facilities, do a project, then tear the facility down and move on to the next job. This mobile model resulted in numerous infrastructure projects in rural BC and Alberta.
He continues, “Growth continued along with our reputation and this led to being awarded one of the largest construction jobs in North America –the Site C Dam in BC.”
Site C called for 700,000 metres of concrete, but as the project went on – and continues to go on today – Rolling Mix would supply nearly 1 million metres of concrete.
“That was a defining moment in how the construction world viewed and trusted Rolling Mix,” Rod proudly says. “Now, people were starting to call us and inviting us to supply concrete across a wider geographical region with increasingly more technical and large concrete jobs. One of the most interesting was consulting for the Tappen Z bridge in New York. Rolling Mix
Dale
