oct-2017

266 267 GREASE MONKEY like their factory forebears,were oftentimes stained with the various greases and oils needed to keep the component parts of an automobile running smoothly. Today, the term“grease monkey” is more widely known as the corporate brand of Grease Monkey International, Inc. the nation’s largest, independent franchisor of automotive service centers, offering oil changes, preventative maintenance, and other car care services.The modern Grease Monkey, founded in 1978, serves millions of car owners worldwide, each year,with its “less hassle,more hustle!”brand of customer experience. Ralph Yarusso is Grease Monkey’s Chief Operating Officer for Franchising,with whom Business View Magazine has spoken several times over the last fewyears. During our most recent conversation, Yarusso updated us on some new developments, including the company’s recent acquisition of SpeeDee Oil Change and Auto Service fromTBC Corporation. The first SpeeDee Oil Change opened in Decem- ber 1980 in Metairie, Louisiana. SpeeDee swiftly grew into a quick lube and automotive tune-up service business and became SpeeDee Oil Change &Tune-Up to reflect these new service additions. Store numbers also multiplied as franchise opportu- nities opened. By the mid-90s, SpeeDee had added complete brake service and grown to a full-service auto maintenance and repair facility. In April 2008, the SpeeDee Oil Change &Tune-Up franchise became a subsidiary of Midas International Cor- poration. In 2008,Midas International Corporation and SpeeDee began a co-branding strategy that provided consumers with the three most frequent vehicle maintenance services -oil changes, brakes, and tires. In 2013, SpeeDee Oil Change &Tune-Up became SpeeDee Oil Change &Auto Service to better reflect the wide array of services available to customers. Yarusso says that with the addition of the SpeeD- ee franchise locations, Grease Monkey now has a total of 519 stores throughout the United States and Mexico, including 91 that are company-owned. “Our biggest plan with them is to grow the chain,” he reports.“It’s been somewhat dormant for the last several years, so we have reinvigorated franchise development and we will continue to go forward with restarting the growth of that brand.We have a much bigger footprint now in cities like NewOrle- ans, the Bay area, Boston,Dallas, and a larger pres- ence in the Virginia area.We’ve added those major metropolitan areas and the Speedy Brand helps augment our Grease Monkey brand in other cities like Seattle,Denver, Salt Lake City, Fort Myers, Flori- da, and so on.” Yarusso adds that Grease Monkey will also con- tinue to “repopulate the development pipeline with additional stores.We also are incredibly proud of the fact that we have not closed a center in nearly three years! Regarding recent developments,we recently opened up a center in Lubbock,Texas–our first store, there.We opened up three centers in Phoenix; we’ve opened two centers in California.These are all brand newGrease Monkey franchised stores.”The company also has its sights set on foreign lands.“We