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E.S.S., Inc. began in 1969 under the name Sound Engineering. Sound Engineering was founded by Alex Taylor as a division of EBM Inc. (Electric Business Machines). Sound Engineering was founded to sell the newly released 3M Sound Products line. This consisted of special tape players that were used to provide background music services to area businesses. Alex Taylor appointed his son-in-law, Lutz Braun, to run the new division. Sound Engineering also provided the sound systems to broadcast the music within the businesses. Soon, the 3M product line was expanded to include intercom systems for use in the very first drive thru restaurants and convenience stores. These industries depended on quick repair service whenever it was needed, so Sound Engineering met that need. Throughout the 1970s, Sound Engineering persevered in spite of aggressive competition and earned a reputation for quality installations and repair services. They received considerable professional acclaim from 3M as year after year, Sound Engineering met or exceeded sales expectations.
In 1983, EBM was sold, and so Sound Engineering needed to become independent. On January 13th, 1984, Sound Engineering became Engineered Sound Systems (since Sound Engineering was already taken). This moniker was later shortened to E.S.S., Inc. As the years went by and technology evolved, E.S.S. moved from the old tape machines to music services delivered via satellite. They continued to be quite successful, especially when Pam Braun joined the company as a salesperson. Pam remained with the company into the early 90s.
In March of 1995, Ann Braun (daughter of Lutz & Pam) joined the company. This was originally intended to be a temporary arrangement, but it didn’t turn out that way. Ann began by helping in the office answering the phone and processing invoices. Her responsibilities grew to include payroll, accounts payable and accounts receivable. At the same time, she began to work in sales for the company. She brought in new product lines to diversify the business and add to the customer base. Sales grew dramatically. As the business grew, more employees came in and assumed some of Ann’s responsibilities so that she could focus more on sales and administration. By the end of 2002, the succession plan was clearly in place. Lutz Braun retired and Ann took over as of January 1st, 2003. In early 2004, ESS established a second office in Memphis Tennessee.
In more recent years, ESS has grown into a company with customers from coast to coast and many large chain accounts. The company is considered to a leader in the drive thru communications and background music industry. In the field of drive thru communications, ESS is particularly respected and has built a large ship-in repair business that continues to expand as new customers discover and enjoy the benefits of the high levels of customer service the company provides. 3M awarded ESS multiple “Circle of Excellence” plaques and recognized ESS as one of the top 5 dealers in the nation for the sound products line. Phase Research, manufacturer of the Fast Track drive thru timing system, has recognized ESS as a top ten dealer every year since 2002 and as Dealer of the Year in both 2004 and 2005. ESS became Phase Research’s first million dollar dealer in 2007. DMX Music lists ESS as one of their top six affiliates. In early 2004, Motorola approached ESS and asked us to become a Two-Way radio dealer. This relatively new business is also growing rapidly. ESS sells and rents the radios to businesses of all kinds, and the same high level of customer service is provided to those customers as well.
In 2006, ESS received the Future 50 award from the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. This award is normally given to much younger companies, but ESS earned the honor due to extraordinary sales growth in the previous three years.
In 2007 & 2008, ESS has so far managed to resist the turmoil of the national economy. The company continues to grow with the addition of new customers and extraordinary retention rates of their existing happy customers. We are working hard to ensure this trend continues in the future.
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