Haji Tehrani, owner of Drive & Shine Inc., based in Indiana, recently took the time to answer a few questions for our ongoing segment of Meet the Board. The incoming ICA board president, Tehrani has spent more than 20 years in the car-wash industry and currently operates six locations, with plans for a seventh in 2018 and land purchased for future locations in 2019 and beyond.
Q: What’s the most important thing a car wash operator has to get right?
You have to enjoy what you do and have passion about it, not focus on making money. Money is the byproduct of all the risks you take and what turns out right.
Q: You left a traditional corporate job to get into the industry. What have you learned since then?
It’s an amazing group of people that put their soul into their businesses and are willing to share their learnings. We never did that in my corporate world.
Q: How do you keep your business fresh?
I am generally of the mindset that it’s not good enough. It does not mean that I am unappreciative of what we have accomplished or unhappy about where we are. We are just always trying to think at least five years out. We have reinvented ourselves at least four times since we started 20 years ago, and we are doing it again now.
Q: Your son is in the industry as well. What does that mean to you?
It’s very rewarding to have a business you founded be looked after by your family when you are gone. The best part of it is that I get to see him every day two offices down from me. He has such passion for our industry and his job. He will serve our company and industry well.
Q: What do you do when you’re not working at the car wash?
Think about car wash. It’s really true. My passion is this business, but I do enjoy a glass of red wine on the beach with my family and friends as often as I can.
Q: What are you passionate about?
I love our people more than anything. Our customers love our people more than anything we offer. It’s nice being able to be a part of a team that drives itself to excellence while creating and providing opportunities for its teammates. But I am pretty technical, so I also love the fact that we can send a super-dirty car from one end – with no human intervention – and get an amazingly clean and dry car at the other end.
