For a team of 35 workers and two owners who are all hustling to get a crazy number of packages out the door, the mood at Tidalwave is nothing short of festive.
The rhythmic poetry of rapper Eminem (“Yes, he’s the real Slim Shady”) fills the air as workers package products for shipping. A live Christmas tree dressed in sparkling white lights adds to the cheer, as does Adrift Coffee, a mobile coffee bar brought in to help keep employees revved. Every other day, workers are treated to a free lunch.
These are exciting times for the crew at Tidalwave, an e-commerce fulfillment center that could be described as Chattanooga’s version of Amazon. Employees are in the thick of their busiest season, processing over 110,000 orders from the Black Friday rush – a surge that, tracing back to first days in 2021, has led them to a company milestone of more than 1 million packages shipped.
But Tidalwave is more than just a busy warehouse. It’s a Chattanooga entrepreneurial success story.