BY LINDSEY QUICK
In the face of a crisis, communities look for opportunities to help one another. That same courage and selflessness exists in the car wash industry. In the last issue of CAR WASH Magazine, we shared stories of owners and operators stepping up to support their local communities in this time of need. But they’re not alone. Stories about the work of our industry’s vendors and suppliers have also been coming in.
While many of these organizations experienced their own negative impacts to business as a result of the pandemic, they never doubted that the industry would come out stronger than before. And their own challenges didn’t stop them from supporting others.
“We feel extremely lucky to be in an industry that was able to bounce back quickly,” said Taryn Chmielowicz, Vice President of Marketing at DRB. “We are in the business of clean, and that’s a great business to be in right now.”
Kati Pierce, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Sonny’s, echoed that sentiment. “It’s always nice to be reminded how unique and special this industry is. COVID-19 has reinforced this once again.”
Here are five organizations that went above and beyond to support local first responders, employees and the industry through the sharing of supplies, resources and information.
First responders have been practicing a new skill this year, juggling, but not by choice. They are juggling trying to keep themselves healthy during this pandemic, while also trying to protect entire communities. Stinger Chemical, an innovator in the automotive detailing chemical industry, recognized this and jumped in to offer its support.
“Our owners have generous hearts,” said Kate Almanza, Sales Optimization Manager for Stinger Chemical. The company stayed up-to-date with what was happening locally during the pandemic and saw that many of their Houston-area firefighters were testing positive for COVID.
“We knew we needed to help,” Almanza said. “We switched gears to produce sanitizing products, resulting in a donation of 1,000 four-ounce bottles and 104 gallons of hand sanitizer to the Houston Fire Department to help protect our first responders on the front lines.”
Their support didn’t stop there. The company recognized there were multiple food distribution drives happening around the city of Houston and near the company’s headquarters. The team wanted to support those events as well. “We partnered with our local state representative, Christina Morales, to donate more four-ounce hand sanitizers to the Second Ward neighborhood,” Almanza said.
This donation was especially impactful for CEO and company founder Warren Davis. “During a community giveaway event, you see the people you are assisting and realize that the impact is real and widespread,” he said. “Hopefully, it helps those who received items as much as it helps us knowing we are doing something to make things better and supporting those in need during these unprecedented times.”
The reaction from the community to these donations has been overwhelmingly positive. “After the Houston Fire Department donation, we received a huge response on our Facebook page, with nearly 3,000 likes and more than 60 shares,” Almanza said. “This is the most engagement our Facebook page has ever had, with incredible comments from our followers, customers and employees. We were recognized by our industry counterparts in their newsletters and the story was picked up by the Houston Chronicle and Univision. The media response was fantastic.”
Stinger Chemical also heard from the Houston fire chief. “We were very grateful and thankful to Stinger for the donation,” said Chief Sam Pena. “It’s heartwarming to know that we have businesses in our community that care so much for their first responders and demonstrate it through these generous gestures. The hand sanitizer will go a long way in keeping our firefighters safe.”
For Stinger Chemical, making the decision to help the community was never a question. “Our team has always supported community events, and when we saw the need from our community, we knew it was the right thing to do,” Davis said. “This virus has impacted so many families and businesses. We felt that anything we could do to help, even a little, we needed to do.”
When the pandemic hit, organizations had to shift how they did business, including how they shared information with others — information that previously had been shared at live, in-person events in the past. DRB sprang into action to ensure this flow of information still happened.
“It was pretty clear to us early on that the industry was hungry for thought leadership and data that would help guide them through this situation,” Chmielowicz said.
One video series they created, called Data Bytes, attracted more than 60,000 views. “In the Data Bytes series, we examined weekly wash volumes, credit card trends, weather patterns and other key metrics to explore how the virus was impacting the industry,” said Chmielowicz. “More than that, we discussed how they could take advantage of changing consumer behaviors to lessen the impact of the pandemic on their business.”
The DRB Here to Help initiative proved to be a success. The team received positive feedback from operators on social media. “We have had the sense for a while now that the car wash industry is particularly interested in industry insights and data-backed thought leadership. The success of our initiative proved that,” Chmielowicz said. “We are excited to provide the tools operators need to grow their businesses in good times and uncertain times.”
After receiving such positive feedback on their videos and webinars, the team has decided to add more of those to the mix and plan to launch a new podcast as a result of the success of the Data Bytes series.
As legislation to support business owners through the pandemic began to pass, many were unsure of how to proceed. This was all new territory without a best practices guide. One organization, Apple Growth Partners, a consulting firm whose services encompass the functional needs of a business while planning for and managing growth, saw the need to provide business owners with resources specific to running and operating a business during this uncertain time.
“Our firm mobilized quickly and formed our COVID-19 Response Team,” said Jeff Brooks, Car Wash Lead at Apple Growth Partners. The team consists of a cross-functional collection of tax, audit and business valuation experts, tasked with digging into new legislation and translating that information into action steps for business owners, including car wash owners and operators. The company created a page on its website to house the resources developed by the team, which included a Paycheck Protection Program loan calculator and loan forgiveness calculator, webinars covering details about various aspects of operating a business during this time, and updates as new legislation was announced or updated.
Apple Growth Partners has been continually updating the page and breaking down the news in a way that explains how it impacts business owners. The response has been incredible. “We’ve had hundreds of business owners register for our webinars, and had record-breaking website visits to our COVID-19 page,” Brooks said. “We’ve had some of our car wash owner clients express their appreciation of our help and expertise throughout this crisis.”
One client was in the middle of selling his business prior to the pandemic and wasn’t sure if he’d be able to successfully complete the sale. “Together we navigated the unknown period and have secured an interested buyer,” Brooks said. The team has noticed an increased interest in both business sales and acquisitions, and Brooks feels that their COVID Response Team has helped guide some car wash owners through this process.
While some stores and businesses have the option of adjusting hours or operations to meet demand, there is (at least) one type of business where the show must go on no matter what: animal shelters. “Stores and restaurants may be closed down but cats and dogs keep doing their ‘business’!” said Mark Duane, VP Sales at West Coast Car Wash Solutions, which was founded in May 2019.
The other reason they decided to donate was to inspire others to do the same. “I wasn’t looking for recognition for our donation, but I know that sometimes it helps to give other people giving ideas,” Duane said.
So far, they have donated 15 five-gallon containers and had another 15 planned for donation in August.
In order to continue providing products and services during the COVID-19 crisis, Sonny’s had to look at their internal processes and make some rapid adjustments to ensure their employees could do their jobs, and do them safely.
“We quickly implemented workplace measures to help prevent the spread,” said Kati Pierce, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Safety measures included temperature scanners at entrances, hand sanitizer for every employee, masks in the office and factory, and frequent communication to employees so they knew what to expect each day.
As the situation with the virus was rapidly evolving, so was Sonny’s response. “One lesson of the crisis is the need for speed. We had to adapt through quick fixes and workarounds,” Pierce said.
Pierce said the response from their employees and clients has been positive. “This has been a delicate balancing act for all of us,” she said. “No matter the size of our business, we all know our customers need to receive the necessary support while our employees need to remain healthy and safe. Everyone has responded to our efforts with gratitude and understanding.”