Better, Not Bigger in Texas
El Paso carwash famous for food and clean cars

By Tracy Charuhas

The Governor of Texas and his entourage of more than 30 people dropped into H & H Car Wash in El Paso, Texas in mid-August. But instead of having their state vehicles washed, they stopped in for hamburgers, sandwiches and some of the best Mexican food west of the Rio Grande.

H & H isn't just a carwash. It's also a restaurant that's been frequented by locals and El Paso visitors since it opened in 1958. The governor and his group caused quite a stir that day, but owners Ken and Maynard Haddad are used to people making a fuss over their food.

H & H has been written up in several magazines and was recently named one of the top Mexican food restaurants in Texas. In May, The James Beard Foundation of New York City, presented H & H with one of four regional awards for being a restaurant that "is a timeless reflection of their community's color, flavor and flair."

But despite this notoriety, Ken says the main focus of the business is and always will be carwashing. Ken and Maynard's father, Najib, started the business to live out the American dream he was chasing.

"We're of Middle Eastern descent, and the ultimate dream of any immigrant who came to this country at the time was to take advantage of what it had to offer," Haddad says. "Their dream was to be in business with their kids."

Kenneth, the youngest, was only 12 at the time, but he was always considered an equal partner in the business. His brothers, Maynard and Johnny, did the actual day-to-day running of the business with their father. In 1960, the Haddads opened a second location in El Paso.

In 1984, the family sold the second location, preferring to focus solely on the original location. Johnny left the business in 1985 to pursue other interests and Najib died in 1986. Today, Maynard and Ken run the business together. On any given day, Maynard can be found over at the carwash while Ken is usually inside at the cash register ringing up food orders and carwash bills.

The right mix

The restaurant started as a soda counter where customers could order malts and banana splits.

Washing cars and running a restaurant are two entirely different tasks. But Ken says he and Maynard have no problem balancing the two sides of the business.

The restaurant, which consists of 11 stools and three tables, originally started as a soda counter where customers could order malts, banana splits and cheeseburgers. But a few years after opening H & H, Najib became disenchanted with the restaurant business and decided to lease it out. It wasn't until 1984, after seven tenants had come and gone, that Ken decided to take over the restaurant and try to make it a success. He knew nothing about the restaurant business, but he knew that he could make it work. With the help of his cook, Maria Antonia, he developed the renowned H & H menu.

"I'd been to every restaurant in town, and I knew what I liked and what I didn't like," Ken says. "The program is keep it simple. If there's ever a question about how much pepper or salt to add to a dish, I tell the cooks to back off. Use less because you can always add more."

While dishes include traditional breakfast foods, sandwiches and hamburgers, it's H & H's Mexican food that has people talking. H & H's signature dish, Carne Picada, is stir-fried sirloin with peppers, tomatoes and onions. It can be stuffed in a burrito, served with scrambled eggs or eaten by itself with rice, beans and a tortilla.

Carwashing fifties-style

Customers who came to H & H in 1958 paid $1.50 for a carwash. Today, that same wash costs $10. But despite the passage of time and a hike in price, things haven't changed that much.

"We operate the same way we did in 1958," Ken says. "Most of it is done by hand."

Employees, armed with a mitt in one hand and a brush in the other, clean the cars as they roll along the conveyor. Impossible as it is to believe, the carwash still has some of the same equipment that was installed in 1958. The original equipment consisted of the 70-foot conveyor, side brush, wheel washer, final-rinse unit and a blower all manufactured by Chem Search, a company that is no longer in business. With a little help from Home Depot, Ken says he has kept the original conveyor, blower and final-rinse in working order. Some of the equipment has had to be rebuilt six or seven times, Ken says, but it's still in fine working order.

"There's nothing you can't do with willpower and bailing wire," he says.

Towels are washed with regular Maytag washers and workers use heavy-duty shop vacuums for cleaning interiors. H & H has no carwash tunnel, only waist-high walls on either side of the conveyor. Customers often stand near the walls to watch their cars go through. The site is covered by a 12,000-square-foot canopy. While the location is small by today's standards, that hasn't stopped customers from coming in for a wash and a meal.

Some customers come in just to eat while others are only there for a carwash. Then there are those who drop their cars off and head inside for a meal. H & H employees will gladly park customers' cars on the street while they're eating. Restaurant hours are 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the carwash is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Since H & H is located on a busy downtown corner, lunch is the busiest time of day.

The restaurant has large picture windows so customers can watch their cars get washed while they fill their stomachs. When they're done eating, customers walk up to Ken at the cash register and tell him what they had for lunch and if they had their car washed. H & H operates on the honor system, but Ken says he can keep track of everything that's going on from his perch at the cash register.

The simpler, the better

While some operators have car counting down to a science, Ken prefers a simpler method of making sure his carwash is running in the black. Ken isn't exactly sure how many cars they wash per day, but he says he knows that if he's not taking in $1,000 in cash each day from the carwash, he's not breaking even. This system ties in with Ken's business philosophy which is KISS--Keep It Simple, Stupid.

"We do keep it simple," Ken says. "You come in, you get a vacuum. We wash the car. We dry it off, get inside and clean the windows and wipe the dash and door panels down. We don't get involved with hot wax or scents or anything like that. We're not going to fluff your bill. You know what you're going to pay when you drive in."

While the basic wash is $10, H & H will charge anywhere from $12 to $15 a wash for larger vehicles.

Ken says 90 percent of their business is from regular customers, although word of mouth has gotten many highway travelers to stop in for a bite.

Even though Ken and Maynard love it when people stop and eat while their car is cleaned, their goal is to get every carwash customer in and out in less than 15 minutes.

"The longer you're here, the crankier you're going to get," Ken says. "I'm going to get you in and out of here fast and do a good job. If you want to eat, that's great."

Ken and Maynard have no plans to open another H & H location and are just content with what they have. Ken says he encourages anyone with a good idea and a dream to put 100 percent effort into it. That's what his family did, and it's still paying off.

"Almost every good idea will work if you follow the dream up with the effort it takes to make it work," Ken says. "Most ventures fail because in the midst of it, people quit because they say they never knew it would be so tough."

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