Business View - August 2015 105
tage of the company’s purchasing program. Because
Grease Monkey is not owned by an oil company, it is
not tied to any particular product line. Schneider ex-
plains: “Grease Monkey has national accounts and its
purchasing department can negotiate with many dif-
ferent vendors to get the best possible pricing. And
then the franchisees work directly with those vendors
to purchase their products.”
Yarusso confirms that assessment by pointing to a re-
cent company acquisition of a company called Lube
Pros: “Many of those Lube Pro franchisees couldn’t
wait to transfer over to Grease Monkey because we
have a better purchasing program than what they were
used to.”
Not content to rest on its past successes, Grease Mon-
key has recently gone through a corporate makeover:
“Over the last three years, Grease Monkey has evolved
its corporate staff. The expertise in the automotive
sector is very, very strong. The management team not
only has vast experience with other brands in the au-
tomotive industry, but all of them have actually been
franchise operators and have an intimate understand-
ing of what it is like to own a center and provide a high
level of customer service. This provides a great deal of
understanding of our existing franchisee base,” says
Yarusso, who would also like to see the company own
500 stores by 2020, be in all 50 states instead of the
present 32, and penetrate into the Canadian market.
But what matters most to Grease Monkey’s Senior V.P.
for Operations and Business Development is its cus-
tomers: “The customer experience is far and away the
most important part of being in business, and we aim
to satisfy that or actually over-achieve in that area.”
And so, Yarusso is bullish on Grease Monkey’s future:
“Collectively, as a management team, we’ve got great
vision, we’ve got a strategy map in place, we’ve got
great communication, we’ve got great core values in
our company – it’s a fun place to be.”
And probably a whole lot better than climbing around
the ceiling with a bucket of heavy grease.
PREFERRED VENDORS
Chevron
- Chevron is pleased to present a complete
line of quality brands, products, programs and local
services in a National Account Program created ex-
pressly for Grease Monkey franchisees. Call Larry
Russell at 206.890.1438 to inquire about all the ben-
efits including nationally negotiated pricing across our
PCMO, HDMO, and fuel additive brand line. - www.
Chevron.com
S&E Quick Lube Distributors
- Based in Draper Utah,
S&E Quick Lube is a full-line distributor and one- stop-
shop of products for the fast lube industry, including
all product categories of oil, air, fuel and cabin air fil-
ters; transmission filters; windshield wiper blades; a
full line of chemicals and OEfluids; service, janitorial
and shop supplies; and tools and equipment. – www.
selubeproducts.com
TruBrand
- True Brand offers over 200 years of com-
bined experience manufacturing a full line of preventa-
tive maintenance products for the automotive service
industry. With more than 20 percent of new engines
using GDI (Gasoline Direct Injection) today and pro-
jections that GDI is becoming the technology of the
future, it’s important to address GDI engine deposit
problems with GDI Fuel System and Induction Cleaner.
-
QMI
-
SAGE Microsystems
-
Service Champ
-
FRANCHISE
