James Baum is the manager of Magic Wash, a two-location wash in northern Utah. While he’s been in the car-wash business only since late 2014, he believes the Magic Wash way is the right direction to take, even when it faces skepticism from others in the industry.
“My father-in-law, Magic Wash’s owner, had been watching the car-wash industry for 15 years and had watched the transition from in-bay to tunnel,” Baum said. “That’s when he decided it was time to join the industry. I brainstormed over the concept with him, and by the time I could step back from my current job, I was already all in.”
Baum had been a manager in the transportation industry, so coming to the car-wash industry was new territory. Through extensive research and trial and error, Baum and his father-in-law figured things out together. “All of our combined experiences were helpful, whether it was maintenance and business understanding and some management experience from running a limousine company,” Baum said.
Another big help was the guidance they received from others in the industry. “Being new to the industry, there was a lot of communication and help from car-wash legends who have been in the business for years,” he said. But Baum and his father-in-law didn’t take all the advice they were given.
On top of learning the industry, Baum said the hardest part was developing the company’s style. “Trying to find the ‘Magic Wash way’ to wash a car was one of the hardest,” he said. “Managing the employees and achieving a desired result was challenging as well. The best thing that has come out of that, though, is learning to build a functioning team.”
And a successful one at that.
In the few years they’ve been in operation, Magic Wash has built up 5,000 unlimited monthly club members. “This had been our first time attempting it, but we put in a lot of research and brainstorming,” Baum said. “We got it to work, and it was a success. We were able to build memberships by thinking outside of the box and going against the grain of the regular car-wash-industry process.”
While Baum won’t share all the secrets to their program’s success, he did say it was important for Magic Wash to do things its own way. “When we first opened the car wash, we had 1,500 members in three months, then we went away from the program,” he said. “When we came back to it and did it the way we were told, we were only getting
25 to 50 members a month, so we went back and did it our way again, and it went up to 2,000 within a month.”
Baum said other operators told him their method wouldn’t work. “They said ‘No way’,” Baum said. “I bet two steak dinners that this would work.” And Baum said he greatly enjoyed being on the winning end of those steak dinners.
Baum and the team at Magic Wash also have developed their own chemical blend.
“We originally came up with our own chemical blend to save costs,” Baum said. “But we figured this would be the best opportunity to learn to wash the Magic Wash way. We learned about how to apply chemicals to the car from a great chemical representative, Bart Bohman, and we didn’t hesitate to experiment with chemical applications throughout the wash.”
Through a lot of trial and error, Baum thinks they have it right. For now.
“We’ve explored every option of chemical out there, and we feel that ours is the best that we’ve seen,” he said. “We never try to be satisfied because we have found there is always room for improvement. If we settle, we are not being the best we can be for our customers.”
Baum and Magic Wash strive to go above and beyond to provide the best experience to the customer.
“We are always trying to ensure the best, cleanest, brightest car for our customers comes out of our tunnel,” Baum said.
“The greatest feeling about this accomplishment is when the customers say they love our car wash and they love the care we give them.”
Baum’s desire to always improve for the customer is what drives him, and what he suggests others consider as well. “The best advice I could give to others new to the industry is to never think you know it all, and to keep an open mind,” he said.
When he’s not preoccupied with the wash, Baum enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, although his wife sees it a little differently. “My wife says I’m always thinking car wash,” he said. He also enjoys watching football and flying drones.