Olhausen Billiard Manufacturing began in 1972 when two brothers who grew up working for their dad re-covering pool tables began charging a small manufacturing company in San Diego, Calif., $12 for each unit they delivered using their 1959 El Camino.

Butch and Don Olhausen would eventually buy that plant for $1,000 (and other considerations). Within two years, the company that had been making and selling 35 tables annually was selling over 300 instead.

Today Olhausen sells over 30,000 tables annually (competitor Brunswick sells closer to 20,000), making it America’s largest pool table brand based on units shipped. Prices range from $1,000 to $50,000, with higher-end product boasting amenities like gem-laden sites, stone frames and gold leaf-embossed legs.

The approximately $45 million (revenue) company recently relocated from San Diego to a new $18 million, 250,000-square-foot facility on the Sumner/Robertson County line north of Nashville. About 65 employees transferred with the company, which employs around 200 in all. So why the upheaval?

Beyond Tennessee’s markedly better business climate compared to California’s, location also played a key role. Over 60% of Olhausen’s business is located east of the Mississippi and leasing a truck in Tennessee can cost as much as 60 cents per mile less than in the Golden State.

Company president and CEO Gregg Hovey says the company considered sites in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Virginia, Georgia and Nevada before settling on Tennessee. “Around 70% of our customers are within 700 miles of Nashville,” Hovey says. “Go 700 miles out of San Diego County, and you’re still in the desert.” Will other California companies follow? Until recently, San Diego County boasted three brand name manufacturers—Olhausen, Buck Knives and Taylor Guitars. Buck Knives recently moved to Idaho. Hovey describes Taylor’s corporate brass as being “intrigued” by the pool table maker’s move to the Music City area.

Another California-based company, Samick Music Corp., North America’s largest producer of pianos, also recently relocated north of Nashville. Denise Geminden, economic development director for the city of Portland (Olhausen’s physical address), agrees that the corporate headquarters component in both relocations is diversifying the area’s economic mix.

“It’s more than just the new jobs they’re creating,” she says. “They’re buying homes, relocating families and becoming involved in the community.”

Not unlike Nissan’s recent North American headquarters relocation from California to another Middle Tennessee county, Olhausen’s move—and others like it—offer solid proof that the Nashville area, in billiards parlance, has ball in hand when it comes to economic development. All that remains is an aggressive running of the table.