We need family! I am not talking about “blood” relatives, but rather other carwash operators. After ending a difficult year in 2009 and starting 2010 with 10 days of freezing temperatures here in Louisiana, I needed a pep talk or at least someone to cry with.
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| (From left) Benny Alford, Justin Alford, Jason Alford and Lloyd Alford pose in front of Benny's Car Wash during the late 1970s. |
At Benny’s Car Wash, we are family owned and operated. My grandfather started our carwash business with a full-service tunnel in 1951, and now my father, brother and I own and operate five tunnels in the Baton Rouge area that feature gasoline, convenience stores, oil changes and detail centers. In addition, we have one new location under construction.
My dad, Benny, has always said that the carwash business can be lonely. For whatever reason — fear of competition or large egos — carwash operators do not share ideas or work with each other in the same competing area. Two lawyers in the same building will often go to lunch and share ideas. Two competing bankers will go to a ballgame and give each other encouragement. Carwash operators are different. We have to rely on non-competing operators for advice, support and especially morale.
As a third-generation carwasher, growing up and going on vacation meant either attending a carwash convention or visiting other carwashes. Each town or city we passed through always took us in front of a carwash. My dad would stop and have our car washed, or he would just walk around and see what he could learn. He would give the owner his card, a conversation would start, and a new relationship would begin.
If it was an operator he already knew, they were usually excited to see each other and immediately would start talking business. My brother, Jason, and I would get tired of waiting in the car, so we would look around the facility and listen in on the conversation.
I can still recall many of the locations we visited during the summer. Like associating “Disney” with Orlando, Fla., I remember many of the cities we traveled to because of the carwashes and operators we visited. After a trip to Indiana in the mid-1990s to visit the Mike’s Express Carwash chain, I met my wife on an airplane during the return trip. Obviously that trip changed my life in many ways, but I will always remember my visit at Mike’s Carwash.
The relationships that my dad and grandfather built over the years have been invaluable to our business, as well as our family. At least once a week my dad talks to his friends, all of whom are carwash operators or in the business. They talk to each other about how bad the weather is because carwashers never say that the weather is perfect; or they talk about family issues or which new promotion is working the best. I think my brother and I were raised from the advice of carwashers all over the country.
Are these types of relationships unique to our industry? As a member of the National As-sociation of Convenience Stores and having sold gasoline for many years, we have not developed the same type of relationships from the c-store business as we have in the carwash industry.
If you stop at a convenience store while traveling, the chances of meeting the owner are a lot less than with a tunnel carwash. Sure, there are still small convenience stores in the United States, but the landscape is dominated by large corporate companies like Exxon, Shell, RaceTrac and QuikTrip. The suppliers and manufacturers of gasoline and retail equipment also are large companies like Coke, Pepsi, McLane and Gilbarco.
The friends we have made from the convenience store industry have been valuable, but most of them are with salespeople or representatives of these large companies, and they are often promoted or switched around, causing the relationships to change or disappear.
I think the carwash industry is unique to have suppliers and manufacturers still family owned and operated. To be able to sit with the owners of the major carwash equipment manufacturers and discuss business is a big advantage for us.
Companies like Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron are very big players and still wash the majority of cars in the United States, but for conveyor carwashing in America, it is important to be able to pull up to another tunnel carwash, go to a convention or call a manufacturer and be able to talk to the owner about the state of the industry or just complain about the weather.
I have continued many of the relationships that have been a part of our business and family for many years, as well as developed some of my own. If the weather is bad or if a friend is moving to another city and needs some help, I know there is usually someone in the carwash business that I can call.
This industry has been very special to my family, and I hope that the friendships we’ve developed can continue for many years. With the changes that we have seen from consolidators, Fortune 500 companies and the approach of third and fourth generations, I hope the carwash industry will continue to remember how it was founded and maintain the family relationships between old and new generations in the future.
Justin Alford is a third-generation carwash operator and co-owner of Benny’s Car Wash in Baton Rouge, La. Benny’s has offered full-service since 1951. Justin can be reached at justina@bennyscarwash.com.
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