Year Founded: 2004
Founders: Jason Johnson, Clif Conrad, Tim Wright, Greg Drennan and Chris Vaterlaus
Current President/CEO: Jason Johnson
Number of Locations: 13
Carwashes Located in: Six in Sacramento, Calif.; three in Amarillo, Texas; three in Lubbock, Texas; and one in Colorado Springs, Colo. Coming soon to Houston; Austin, Texas; and Citrus Heights, Calif., near Sacramento.
Wash Process: Exterior-only, express conveyor wash with live cashier/attendant.
Carwash Equipment Used: Primarily comprised of Sonny’s Enterprises equipment
Add-on Profit Centers: Vending
MCC: To what do you attribute your company’s success?
Quick Quack: Success for us has come through:
- Hard work. Lots of hard work.
- Learning from industry leaders.
- Learning from past mistakes.
- Getting the right people on the team. We have assembled an amazing team of partners and employees.
Quick Quack: Focusing on company values:
- Fun – Customers love the duck and the “show.” Employees are happy and rewarded.
- Fast – Speed is a focus and customers expect it.
- Clean – The sites are clean and the employees look sharp. We also keep an eye on the planet.
- Honest – We offer guarantees and develop relationships of trust with customers and employees.
- Hardworking – We are efficient and focus on customer service.
MCC: What are the three most important factors to staying successful during the current recession?
Quick Quack: We have learned that you have to be able to scramble, be flexible and be creative. You can’t keep trying the same old things while expecting different results. If there is one thing our organization has become good at, it is rolling up our sleeves and scrambling when we have to. And we have often had to.
Quick Quack: We have tried just about everything, and we think we have found some things that work really well for us, including marketing to new move-ins, loyalty programs for existing customers, and not being afraid to offer free washes to attract new customers.
While some marketing efforts are easier to measure than others, we realize that some of our branding efforts are worthwhile long term, even if they can’t be measured in the short term.
We have also worked hard to be seen as partners with the communities in which we have locations by sponsoring local teams and events, donating gift bags to local groups, and hosting fundraisers.
MCC: How important has environmental stewardship become in your business practices and marketing messages?
Quick Quack: This has been one of the ideals upon which we founded the company, and we have always done much more to conserve water and use safe soaps than has been legally required. We have invested heavily in sustainable equipment and practices at every facility. Notably, one of our carwashes was the first carwash in Sacramento to meet the requirements to be “certified” as a sustainable business.
We like to say that we are “green” because we want to be, not because we have to be. We all need to be good stewards of the planet, and water is an incredibly precious resource. We have not specifically developed marketing campaigns around this topic, but we currently dedicate a portion of almost every marketing message to include the fact that we are environmentally friendly.
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