Veteran's Day

11/11/11, an auspicious number somehow.  And a date that happens to correlate with this year’s Veteran’s Day.  Whatever the reasons, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the freedoms we enjoy here in America and thought I might as well share them with you.

This contemplation actually started last Friday when I had the privilege of attending an employee’s Naturalization Ceremony here at the Federal Court House in Tucson.  Many of you know Juanita from our Speedway location.  She’s been the topic of a blog, an Employee of the Month, a featured story in our newsletter.  She came to the U.S. from Equatorial Guinea about six years ago, got a job (at Metro), learned English, learned to drive, earned her GED, and has now earned American Citizenship.  If you can’t tell, we’re super proud of her.

I’d never been to a Naturalization Ceremony before, didn’t know what to expect, thought I’d show Juanita some support.  That was really about it - wasn’t expecting much - and I’m going to be honest with you: before attending, I’d also been quite a bit down on the ol’ U S of A.  I won’t go into details; suffice to say, as a business owner, I’ve been frustrated with politics (both sides of the aisle), taxes, regulations, rising costs, a poor economy, the list goes on and and on.  It’s easy enough to let happen (I’m only human, after all), we let things get us down.  

And here’s something I’ve learned over the years: whenever you’re down, about the best cure you can hope for, is for something not too tragic to slap you in the face, just enough to give you a good dose of reality.  You need something to remind you that things aren’t as bad as they seem; something to remind you that others may not have it as good.  For me, the 50+ new American Citizens I got the chance to meet on Friday did just that.  It was an amazing thing to see.

After swearing in the new citizens, the Judge gave these same individuals the opportunity to stand up and speak, to tell their stories, to say why American citizenship was so important to them.  It was a humbling experience to say the least.  People who had come from all over the world stood up, they had tears in their eyes, and they would say how thankful they were to be in a “free” country.  It was the theme that was repeated over and over and over: Freedom.

The freedom of speech (to not worry that what you say will get you landed in a jail cell), the freedom of religion (or no religion at all), the freedom to start a business, to take a risk, to do whatever you feel you’re best at.  Freedom.  Freedom.  Freedom.  One young lady from Cuba looked out over the audience and said: “When you’re born in America, you just have no idea what you have.  You have no idea.”  And me, in the corner, feeling smaller and smaller.

Freedom.

And the truth is, unfortunate as it may seem, it is only available to us by defense.  That was the other thing that was brought to light in this ceremony: how much these same freedoms are a result of our military - the military guard we have right now, and the men and women who have served in our history before them.  One man in the Ceremony said (and I quote), “I will never mind paying taxes, because I know that I’m paying for the protection of my freedom.”  That’s an awesome statement, actually.  At least it was to me.

I wish you all could have been there.  It’s an experience I won’t soon forget.  And I can tell you this: I left that court house with a fresh perspective (and certainly in a better mood).  I have always tipped my hat to our men and women in the military, but to some extent, I think it has just been good manners.  Seeing what it is these individuals are actually protecting - the value that we should be placing on our freedom - makes my “thank you” to them a lot more sincere today.

And so here is what I want to say:  Thank you.  For those of you serving right now.  For those of you who served in the past.  Thank you.  My life isn’t so bad.  As a matter of fact, it’s pretty good.  And I take it for granted too often.  Especially the fact that it wouldn’t be this way if you didn’t/hadn’t sacrificed to serve this country.  With all my sincerity, thank you.

It’s 11/11/11 today, folks.  It’s Veteran’s Day.  Enjoy the blue sky.  Enjoy your freedom.  

-DJ DripDry

A 52 Week Plan

On September 1, we changed our Service Menu at Metro Car Wash.  

Don’t worry, that’s not what this blog is about; it’s not a promo.  I just want to begin by saying why we did it.  We did it because we realized the following: (1) our menu was based on the same “sales presentation” car washes have been using for thirty years and (2) that presentation is confusing for the customer and not user-friendly.

If you’re interested, you can see our new menu at the following link: Metro Car Wash Services.  

Our goal was to make things simple, simple, simple.  We listened to customer feedback, did a lot of research, and then made the change.  You might think that sounds easy (hey, you only changed a menu, man!), but like most things, it was harder than it looked.  We wanted to really streamline things, so in addition to the menu change, we also invested in a new, web-based Point of Sale system.  Like any software change, this came with it’s own set of headaches (and additional hours of work).  Not only this, but we also had to change all of our signage, update our website, modify our coupons and specials, and re-train an entire staff that was VERY used to doing things the OLD way.  

Suffice to say, what looks like a simple update to a service menu was in fact a very large project.  It took time, planning, burning the midnight oil, and more boring meetings than I care to recall.  Oh, and it was worth it.  After a few opening glitches, the employees and sales staff believe it’s helping them deliver better customer service.  Most importantly, our customers (you) seem to like it too.  I’d like to call this a success.  I’d like to say we improved ourselves considerably.  Which finally gets me to the point of this blog: self-improvement.  Ah-ha!  Bet you didn’t see that one coming, did you?

At some point during this project, my wife paid me a compliment.  Not a compliment on how buff I’m looking due to my recent efforts with P90x, nor how impressive my home maintenance skills have become of late (like you, that’s what I would have guessed too), but this was about the business.  

“You guys never stop trying to improve your car wash,” she said.  “Most businesses just sort of stay the same; you guys are always pushing to do something better.”

Nice to hear.  And it also got me thinking about some advice I took nine years ago when we got into this business.  I had a friend who had built a very successful car wash chain in California.  When he heard that I’d gotten into the business, he told me this:  

“Just make sure you improve one thing a week.  Just one.  It doesn’t have to be anything major – it can be as simple as re-organizing a filing cabinet – but improve something.  At the end of the year … at the end of five years … you’ll be amazed by what your business has become.”

It was probably some of the best advice I ever took (it ranks right up there with some of my favorites from Mom and Dad … don’t lick the monkey bars in winter, pee before the movie starts, never play pool with a guy whose first name is also the name of a city).  

And we did take this advice seriously.  For the first four years, I actually kept an “Improvement Journal” for the car wash.  There were 52 weeks, and we had to have something filled out for each of them.  Some of the projects were big (new equipment, new websites, a second car wash); others were small, but when taken as whole, just as effective.  Improvements don’t happen over night, they take time.  And I think maybe that’s what's best about this advice: rather than looking at an overwhelming project, simply start by eating the elephant one bite at a time.

Each week, we check something off.  It’s not overwhelming.  And there’s always something to improve.  Weeks turn into months, months into years, and then (just like my friend predicted): we’re amazed by what our business has become.

I’ll take one quick paragraph to hit some highlights:  We were the first in Tucson to add an express lane, the first (and only) full-service wash to offer free self-serve vacuums, the first to significantly use the internet for communication and marketing (email coupons, website, Facebook, Twitter, Secret Shopper), the only car wash to fund a local scholarship (the money for which was raised by turning our facility into a Zombie Car Wash), the first to drug test employees, the first to have a community Honor Roll, Annual Pass Sale, 2-for-Tuesday special, Community Partnership Program, this blog, and more.  And all of it was accomplished one week at a time.

In truth, if nine years ago I’d seen a snapshot of what we are today, I’d have had no idea how to get here.  I wouldn’t have believed it.  And I never would have guessed that 52 improvements a year could do so much.

For what it’s worth, I think this advice works in any business and in any home.  I’m passing it along in the hopes that it helps some of you too.  It’s pretty simple.  Keep a list.  Improve something every week.  

It could be reorganizing your garage, holding a weekly customer service meeting, creating a new (realistic) budget, cutting out dessert, taking a walk two nights a week, spending an hour playing video games with your kids … it doesn’t really matter what it is, there are just two rules: (1) you’ve got to make the improvement stick and (2) you’ve got to come up with a new one next week.

Don’t be overwhelmed by it; it’s easier than you think.  This is coming from experience.  

So long, folks.  I’m off to come up with this week’s improvement for Metro.  Keep your eyes open.  You might see it the next time you stop by.

Until then, stay clean my friends …

DJ DripDry

Reflections on our Birthday

It’s our birthday! Yes it is. Yes it is.

On August 1, 2002, yours truly and business partner Pee Wee (see earlier blog) purchased the first Metro Car Wash on Oracle Road. Hard to believe 9 years have already slipped by, but then, it’s odd to think of all that has happened as well. It’s times like these when we just can’t help taking a quick inventory of the past, reflecting on the stories that got us to where we are. And to quote the late, great Jerry Garcia (it’s his birthday too, btw): What a long strange trip it’s been.

While our hair was getting thinner and our waistlines thicker, we washed cars and watched the world turn. We saw our nation go to war with Iraq (… again); we witnessed a company called Google go public and change our lives forever; we scratched our heads when Martha Stewart went to jail (Martha Stewart?) and sat numb when another Space Shuttle exploded; we braced ourselves for a Swine Flu epidemic, saw the death of the King of Pop and the birth of something called Brangelina; we got sick to our stomachs watching on as oil spilled massively into the Gulf of Mexico and wanted to cry viewing the tragedies of two different tsunamis, an earthquake in Haiti, and the flooding in New Orleans; we had to watch too many teams from Boston win titles and still never saw the Cubs win a single World Series; we witnessed Sadam Hussein hanged for crimes against humanity and witnessed the death of Osama Bin Laden; we saw the election of America’s first black president, became addicted to texting on smart phones, and witnessed the fact that novels and movies about vampires and werewolves took over the globe (who could have seen that one coming?); we got baffled watching the news that our country’s financial system had failed … that Wall Street had crumbled … that the term “bailout” could be used in dinner conversations; we watched in horror at multiple shooting rampages – something you can never come to terms with, especially when one of these incidents is in your own city, injuring one of your favorite customers.

And all of this only scratches the surface of the stories that unfolded.

In our own Metro-world, of course, times were also a changin. During the time it took our nation to go from 6 trillion dollars in debt to $13 trillion (numbers we still can’t get our head around), Metro Car Wash was also growing (though not at the same pace). We added a second location on Speedway, lots of new customers, and began to make a name for ourselves in Tucson.

In the process, we discovered that owning your own business is a lot like starting a second family. As it grows, you both struggle and celebrate, you fight and you laugh, and you always hang on to each other, because in the end, it’s all you’ve got. And just like a family (especially the colorful ones), having a car wash leaves you with plenty of your own stories. These didn’t make the national news, but I thought it might be appropriate to share a few today. We’ve always said: Metro Car Wash is one entertaining place to be.
So in case you missed some of these …

In the past nine years, my partner Pee Wee has fallen off a 30 foot ladder, been hit by a car, and found himself stuck, upside down, in a waste water reclaim pit. We’ve lost count of how many lives the dude has, but he does have an amazing ability to keep bouncing back.

As for me, an ex-accountant, I learned that the ability to go to work in shorts and tennis shoes (instead of a suit and tie) is an immeasurable luxury. Such leisure attire keeps you cooler in the summer, sure, but it also does wonders for your speed – something I didn’t realize I needed until I found myself running down the center of Oracle Road, chasing a guy on a bicycle whom I had just witnessed shoplifting from our lobby. The thief got away, but not before I came very close to getting my hand on the seat of his pants. And I’ll tell you this much: seeing a grown man run down the center of Oracle, shouting obscenities that I can’t mention here (suffice to say they’d make a pirate blush), at least sent a message to the would-be criminals around Metro; it said: Hey, we’re all just little crazy here, you might not want to try that again.

Crazy, actually, is something that seems attracted to Metro Car Wash.

Our car wash was once shut down by a police sting operation – they were cracking down on prostitution. And so why was Metro involved? Well, because after picking up a date, one of our customers decided the first thing to do was get a car wash (I wish I was kidding here, I’m not). He pulled in, followed by half of the Tucson Police Force. And his “date” (a working lady who also happened to be wearing a cast on her broken arm … I told you, crazy loves us here) decided that she wasn’t going out without a fight. What ensued at the Metro Vacuums resembled something out of a Woody Allen movie or an old episode of Laugh-In, one of those moments where you can’t do anything by just sit and stare with your mouth open, a little voice somewhere in the back of your head saying: Really? Owning a car wash is really what you want to do with your life?

On the subject of “dates,” I might also mention that we’ve discovered an underground culture that views the car wash tunnel in the same light as the Mile High Club. Not joking here either. Over the last nine years, on several occasions, we’ve had the unfortunate experience of witnessing, first-hand, couples attempting to … well … you get the picture. And let me just say this: (a) while we use a lot of soap here, the foam isn’t that thick, (b) while you may think our wash is thorough, it doesn’t take that long before you get to the rinse cycle, and (3) even if you like what you see in the mirror after your morning shower, it doesn’t mean everyone does. Enough said.

But of course, it hasn’t all been crazy either. As a matter of fact, I still wake up every morning happy to own Metro Car Wash and happy to go to work. Someone once told me: variety is the spice of life, and I think that can’t be truer than at our car wash. We really are a spicy business.

Every day we see hundreds of customers, each one bringing a little of their story into our lives. Sure, some are negative (I’ve had my life threatened because we forgot to put tire shine on all four tires); and sure, some are strange (there was one incident where an individual came back to the wash looking white as a ghost, said: “I left a brown paper bag on the patio. Did anyone turn it in?” When I said no, the individual spent an hour roaming the lot, going through the trash. When pressed, the customer said: “There was $20,000 in the bag. I didn’t want to leave it in the car; then forgot it under the patio chair.” Sad … and strange.); but for the most part, our customers are a fantastic bunch. Many of our customers have become good friends. Some have even ended up working for us. We’ve made customers cry when we’ve found jewelry under their seats that they thought they had lost. We’ve washed the cars of celebrities: professional basketball players, politicians, softball pitchers, golfers and even a movie star.

And it’s not just the customers, of course. It’s our employees too, who have added to the variety and spice of Metro. We’ve had some interesting characters over the years, for sure: budding rap stars, aspiring writers, a bull rider. But we’ve also been a stop for individuals heading for different careers, employees who have gone on to the Navy, to become nurses, and in one case a model.

The truth is, it’s these people (both customers and employees) who have inspired us to be a better business. Nothing hurts like a valid complaint; nothing feels better than a heart-felt compliment.

Over the last nine years, we’ve worked hard to constantly improve ourselves, to be both a better employer and a better service business. And as I reflect on the friends we’ve made and the stories we’ve created, I can’t help but smile. When I look in the rearview mirror, I’m pretty proud of Metro Car Wash. I don’t think we’ve done too badly. More importantly, I think we’ve only just begun.

Thanks for being a part of our lives these last nine years, folks. We’re looking forward to many more to come.

Stay clean my friends,

-DJ DripDry

Why is Everyone So Angry?

Is it just me? Or do there seem to be a lot of shorter fuses these days?

You know, I’ve always said that being in the car wash business gives us a unique opportunity to keep a pulse on the general public. We see over 600 people a day at Metro Car Wash; and while this may not be an official Gallup Poll, it does give us a fairly good sample of Tucson’s population, a gauge on the collective attitudes in the Old Pueblo.

So I gotta tell ya, folks: holy bat guano, but have we become a testy bunch!

Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe it’s just all the bad news we have to read and hear everyday. But one thing’s for certain: at Metro, we’re just seeing a ton of grumpy people these days. And that stinks.

Far be it from me to judge. I’m sure there are a lot of people going through some very stressful times. And I’m also glad that, even though angry or depressed, these same individuals still want a car wash. But a recent incident just got me really thinking about these bad attitudes … enough so that my wife thought I should pass it on to you.

Let me start by saying the following: I understand completely that Metro Car Wash isn’t perfect. We make mistakes every day. We let customers down every day. I don’t like this, but it’s the truth about any business. You just have to hope that you catch your mistakes and make them right as quickly as possible. That being said, I also know we’re a good organization. We care about our customers, we work hard to deliver a quality product, and we do more than any of our competition to offer a value price and to help out in the Tucson community. Furthermore, when we do make mistakes, we’re the first to admit them and fix the problems.

So … last Saturday … we had a problem. More specifically, the Free Vacuums at our Speedway location blew up. There was a noise similar to car crash, then a mushroom cloud of dust and smoke. The reason? A bolt on the inner-motor housing came off and got sucked through the producer. Long story short, it destroyed our 20hp vacuum. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, just that dirty little bolt’s (and truthfully, it couldn’t have been very pleasant for the bolt either). The bad news: from Saturday afternoon through Monday (when we could get to a supplier), we couldn’t offer the free use of vacuums to our Express customers. That really sucked (I just couldn’t help myself there).

Now, there are a few things I’ve mentioned that I think are worth repeating. Let’s start with this: the vacuums are FREE. Several years ago, we thought it would be nice to offer the use of FREE vacuums to our customers who purchased our Exterior-only wash. We didn’t raise the price (we kept it at $3.99); we just thought it would be really cool (and something no one else was doing) to add this value option. We figured it would make people happy to be getting something for nothing. And we were right. We have an army of faithful customers who get their car washed and then prefer to vacuum their own vehicles.

So on Father’s Day weekend, I had a feeling we’d have a few complaints about not being able to use the self-serve vacuums. We did. And 90% of those same people understood. A few even said they were sorry for us – that they could imagine how costly it was going to be to fix. These same people said things like: Hey, it’s FREE. I’ll just come back on Monday. No problem. Not that big of a deal. To all of you in this group: a sincere thanks for understanding, it means the world to us.

Then there were the other 10%.

I won’t go into details. Suffice to say there was considerable shouting, there were accusations of fraud, there were threats of never returning to Metro Car Wash. In all honesty, it was brutal. The fact that it was something free (like our coffee or our wireless service or our travel trash bags), meant nothing. From their anger, you’d have thought we’d just mugged their grandmother. And if this wasn’t enough, on Tuesday we also received a letter. The complaining that one gentleman had done on Sunday wasn’t enough. He took the time to write down a full page of irate dissatisfaction. I should point out: there was never a complaint about bad wash quality, it was all about not getting the FREE vacuums.

I wish I were kidding. I’m not. In this letter, I was told that I was a terrible business, that I was misleading consumers, that I should have given everyone free car washes as compensation, or at least upgraded everyone to the Full Service. He ended the letter by reminding me that (1) it was Father’s Day, (2) he was a father, and (3) “it would have been nice to have received a little extra on my day.” That last part was a direct quote. His day. When I put the letter down, I was dumbfounded.

Why are people so angry? They purchased a car wash, they received a car wash (an amazing value for something less than $4). From the comfort of their car, their vehicle was cleaned and polished by intricately tuned equipment, rinsed with gallons of specially treated water, and finally hand-dried by employees working in the blazing sun. The staff was polite, waved, said Thank You. We apologized for the free vacuums being down, said we believed they’d be available for use in a few days (free of course) … and for this – for this lack of free suction – people completely lost their cool. My manager said it was one of the worst days he’d ever experienced, so many people yelling at him, so many furious individuals.

What’s happening with our country? As I read the gentlemen’s complaint letter I got to thinking. As he was taking the time to write a full-page attack on Metro for not having free vacuums, fires were burning down Sierra Vista, homes were being lost; at the same time he was spending his free moments telling us that we had wrecked his day, some young father had just lost his job, someone had just been informed they had cancer, parents were just told they’d lost a son in Afghanistan.

To be truthful, his letter disgusted me.

I’m no preacher folks, but here’s what I want to say: if Starbucks is out of cream for your coffee, if the yogurt shop has run out of your favorite flavor, if the restaurant is a little short-staffed, or if there’s an “out of order” sign on the gas pump … please, take a deep breath and think about how much worse things could be.

These aren’t issues; they’re minor inconveniences. That’s all. And losing your temper or raising your voice does nothing to fix things. Believe me, if it were so, we would have shouted our vacuum back into working order.

And look, I’m guilty of it too. But that customer’s letter got me thinking in a way he never intended. After reading it, I realized how much I didn’t want to be like him. Life’s too short to let the small things eat you up. There’s enough trouble in the world, with or without the vacuums humming at Metro.

Hope this gave you food for thought, Tucson. And please, stay clean and CHEER UP!

--DJ DripDry

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FIRST METRO/HARKIN SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

It was only a year ago that we dreamed up the idea of the Metro-Harkin Scholarship: a unique program that would pay for one complete year of schooling at Pima Community College for one deserving Tucson high school graduate. Twelve months later, the Scholarship has been established, funds have been raised, a crazy Zombie Wash was let loose in Tucson, and Terrence Peel-Charles has been awarded the first ever Metro-Harkin Scholarship for the 2011-2012 academic year.

For those of you who need a little reminding, the Metro-Harkin Scholarship is open to any graduating Tucson high school student. The aim of the Scholarship is to provide a higher education for hard-working and hard-studying individuals who might not otherwise have the means to attend college. The Scholarship was created by the owners of Metro Car Wash and Jeremy Harkin a high school English teacher.

So … for this blog, we thought we’d share a little from our upcoming press release with you. We’re proud to introduce you to Terrence, Metro’s first-ever Scholarship winner …

From the Press Release: Marana Student Wins Metro/Harkin Scholarship

Terrence Peel-Charles (18) is a recent graduate of Marana High School. He earned a 3.4 GPA, was active in Key Club, volunteered for various charity events including Aids Walk and the Special Olympics, and worked part time as an after-school Classified Enrichment Instructor. Perhaps most notably, Terrence received an opportunity his Junior Year to participate as a foreign exchange student in Germany. He didn’t know the language, had never taken a German class, and knew no one in the Country. Still, none of this stopped him from packing his bags, leaving the comforts of his family and friends, and heading to Europe for a year of his life – an intimidating scenario for anyone, but an experience that helped him grow significantly into adulthood.

“Living in Germany helped me learn things about myself I didn’t even know,” says Terrence. “The most difficult task in my life was to grasp the German language. I had to learn German at a very fast pace to survive at school. I got home from class, took out my homework and my German-to-English dictionary and translated the whole assignment for hours on end until I understood it.”

In addition to challenging him educationally, Terrence claims the experience has also made him “a more worldly person”, more aware of cultural differences (and how to navigate those barriers), and more understanding of what it means to be alone and have only yourself to depend on. These, in turn, have now shaped his goals for the future.

“I came back to America with something to prove to myself,” says Terrence. “I’ve learned there is really no challenge I can’t handle. I want to become a doctor, hopefully one that can travel abroad. And I’m not going to let any obstacles get in my way, financial or otherwise.”

Terrence is now planning to attend Pima Community College for two years before transferring to the University of Arizona. He is extremely grateful for the Metro-Harkin Scholarship, a program that will pay entirely for his first two semesters at Pima. In addition to his own education, Terrence also holds a part time job teaching children in an after-school program (holding a part time job during the academic year is a requirement of the Metro Scholarship).

“We had a lot of great applicants,” said one member of the committee that selected the recipient. “There were interesting stories, unique backgrounds – a bunch of deserving kids, really. The selection process was difficult, but in the end, Terrence was the clear winner.”

The Metro-Harkin Scholarship is funded by Metro Car Wash, as well as through donations they receive. Last year, the Company raised the lion’s share of the Fund by hosting Tucson’s first ever “Zombie Car Wash.” The charity event turned Metro’s Speedway location into a haunted theme-ride for one week in October and was met with rave reviews. The Company is planning on another Zombie Car Wash this fall; this time around Terrence will be helping.

Terrence’s selection as the Scholarship Winner was based on a committee’s cumulative score that was comprised of his grades, his scholastic attendance record, extracurricular participation, two essays, and a final interview. The Metro-Harkin Scholarship is open to all Tucson graduating high school students. Information and application instructions can be found at www.metrocarwash.com, www.metroscholarship.com, Pima Community College Foundation, or at either of the Metro Car Wash locations.

(Terrence Peel, 2011)

Meet a Metro Owner

The following is a brief story about one of the nicest cowboy-hippies, turned pro-golfer, turned pro car washer, you’ll ever meet. They call him Pee Wee. And yup, we can almost say that with a straight face.

We always said this blog was going to be different. We always said it was about our community, about people. And so for this issue, I figured: why not introduce you to one of us. Why not tell you a little about one of the owners, Craig Celentano, and about his strange journey that ultimately landed him here, wiping down your car at Metro Car Wash.

First off, let’s get this straight: Craig Celentano is Tucson, through and through. He was born in 1958, the youngest of four boys (saddled with the nickname Pee Wee) and raised here in the desert by parents who had fallen in love with Southern Arizona. They loved it so much, in fact, that while Craig was still a teen his father decided it was high-time he and his sons became real-deal, authentic cowboys (the only kind to be). And so with money the Old Man had saved up, they purchased a ranch near Dodge and River – yes it was a real ranch, even though it was in the middle of town – and got down to the business of doing what cowboys do: purchased some horses and a single cow.

The cow’s name was T-Bone. And, as it turns out, T-Bone had a significant impact on young Pee Wee’s life. Primarily, the cow taught him (and his family) that maybe Pee Wee wasn’t quite cut out to be a real-deal ranch hand. After a mishap we don’t need to discuss, T-Bone found himself wondering down River Road at rush hour. Craig is still not sure where the cow wanted to go, but back to the Ranch certainly wasn’t it. When our young cowboy finally did catch up with the beast (lassoed it and at least wrestled it to the side of the road), T-Bone made a stand. It was a stand strong enough that gallant Pee Wee and his horse couldn’t budge him. A truck had to be called in for reinforcements. And as Craig Celentano helped tow T-Bone home behind the bumber (through rush hour traffic, the desert sun beating on his shoulders, horns honking), it gave him the much-needed time to think that, possibly, there was more to his future than cattle ranching.

Lucky for Craig, opportunities presented themselves. Craig’s dad was a local entrepreneur. The family first got into the restaurant business, owning the Frost Tops and then Frontier Drive-ins (for those of you old enough to remember Tucson in the 70’s), then expanded into the self-serve car wash business. The Celentano family was an Italian family with an old-school work ethic. What that meant for the boys was the chance to learn every job (at the restaurant and the wash), to work night and day (when not in school), and to do both with a smile on your face and not much pay (in other words, life as it is today). Craig could have grumbled and whined, but the truth was, even back then, there was something he really began to love about the car wash business.

But car wash careers aren’t often on the minds of high school kids. Craig attended Amphi High, and initially saw himself as a professional baseball player. Who knows what would have transpired, too, if he hadn’t blown out his knee his Freshman Year – in his mind, the only thing stopping the world from seeing another A-Rod. Instead, Craig was forced to find a new sport, something less physical. He picked up a golf club. And surprisingly, he was really good. Craig qualified for State three years in a row, mulled over his future, and went to college at the U of A. He continued to play golf, but hadn’t begun to take it seriously yet. In truth, he wasn’t taking much seriously at the time. This included his education. After two blurry years of college, he was kindly asked to leave the U of A … but hey, it was the 70’s.

So what’s a guy to do? Craig thought it over some more. He decided he needed a change of scenery. He’d grown his hair out. He thought possibly he’d make it big in California, thought maybe he’d outgrown Arizona. Again, who knows what the world might have inherited (Action film star? Philandering governor?), if it weren’t for another unexpected turn of events. This time it was serious. For a young man in California, there was of course the draw of the ocean, the draw of the beach. But while body surfacing one afternoon, Craig took a header into shallow water. It was a fluke accident. And it left him with both a broken back and a broken neck.

Craig is lucky to be alive. At the very least, he should have been paralyzed. But another thing about Craig is his stubbornness. And for whatever reason, he was both lucky enough and stubborn enough to beat the odds. The doctors called his case a miracle (I, on the other hand, tend to think more about the obstinate part); he woke from a coma, worked himself through rehab at Hogue Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach, and after a long recovery was finally released. Not surprisingly, he headed straight back to Tucson. California, he decided, was not for him.

Back home, Craig began working in his family’s car wash business again. It was a job he liked, it fit him; fate was obviously calling. Only, he wasn’t quite ready to give in completely to the car wash gods. He had one more career he needed to try first.

Not long after he returned, Craig was introduced to Don Pooly (a PGA pro and former UA golfer). Craig had never stopped golfing, and Pooly was impressed enough with Craig’s game to help him into Peter Kostis’s Golf Digest School. Craig practiced, became a PGA professional out of Arthur Pack, and entertained aspirations of trying out for the PGA Tour. He spent four years working as a club pro and playing Mini-Tour Events before coming to the conclusion that, while good, he wasn’t good enough to go all the way. That being said, I still wouldn’t bet against him if you end up playing him. Someday, we may have to have a Metro Charity Golf Tournament just to prove my point.

Life’s a funny thing. Sometimes, the thing your best at is right in front of you. You just don’t see it. I sort of think that was the case with Craig. He returned once more to Tucson, to the car wash business. This time, the family’s car wash business was purchased by Blue Coral, a car wash chemical company. Craig was offered a job. It wasn’t a family business anymore, it was a big business. And over the next seventeen years, Craig rolled up his sleeves and dove into the industry with a passion. He lived and breathed car washing. He became Blue Coral’s Vice President of Sales/R&D/Tech Services – a long title, but a fitting one. He traveled all over the world as a car wash expert, selling soap, improving operations, innovating new equipment. In the car wash industry, there are very few people who don’t know the name Celentano. Lucky for Metro (and Tucson), Craig wasn’t quite finished.

Pee Wee, our cowboy with a broken back and killer golf swing, missed the intimacy and sincerity of a family business. His career was going great, but it wasn’t enough. He had a vision of what a car wash should be. He wanted his own business in Tucson. It was a dream that stuck in his head, rattled around but wouldn’t shake loose. He kept his eyes open, waited for an opportunity.

In 2002, Craig finally pulled the trigger. He’d met Sean Storer, an accountant, in the summer of 2000. He’d shared with Sean his idea for what Tucson needed in a car wash, and Sean had agreed. The two formed a partnership, drafted a business plan, and purchased their first Metro Car Wash on Oracle Rd. in August of 2002. The rest, as they say, is history.

And of course, you can still find Craig today, walking around Metro, fixing equipment, rubbing bumpers, talking with customers. He’s kept to his vision of what a quality, locally owned business should look like. The truth is: Craig loves what he does and we think it shows.

Thanks for sticking around to read this, folks. Granted, it may not be a best selling biography. But I do hope it gives you a little glimpse into who Metro is and what we’re about. The next time you’re by, look for Craig and introduce yourself. He’d love to meet you.

Until next time, stay clean my friends!

-DJ DripDry

Why You Really Should Buy Local

You here it all the time these days: Buy Local! Support your local businesses! Locally owned and operated! It’s become the mantra of small commerce. A battle cry.

But here’s the question: what does “buying local” really do for you? Does it honestly help your community? Is it better? Is it the right thing to do?

How does supporting your neighborhood business, as opposed to a large company out of Boston, really impact Tucson? Impact you?

Because when you think about it, job creation is job creation. Right? If you go to any restaurant, you’re helping to support local jobs. And that stands true whether it’s a local bistro or a large chain. Correct? It all puts money back into Tucson’s economy.

So what’s the big deal? Is buying local just a gimmick? A sneaky way to guilt you into supporting small shops? Is it like your mother asking you to please be nice, to invite the nerdy kid to your party?

I think this is a valid question. And (surprise, surprise), I think I have an answer.

In my opinion, there are three main reasons to buy local: better service, community involvement, and local profits. I’m sure there are more, but these were the ones I could easily come up with using Metro Car Wash as an example (again, surprise, surprise). I understand we are probably biased, but just the same, I hope the following helps to validate Tucson’s cry when we shout: “Locally owned and operated!” We just can’t help ourselves. We love the sound of it.

Better Service

OK, I’ll say it right away: not every local business offers better service than a large chain. That would be completely unfair to say and a gross generalization. You can get good service anywhere; you can get bad service anywhere. My point is, overall, I do believe there are a few factors that tend to tip the scales in favor of local businesses when it comes to quality of service.

First off, I think a local owner has a better understanding of the immediate market. Every city is different. Economies are dissimilar. Some places are hard on their luck, while a few are booming. Large corporations rely on feedback from outside firms or special divisions within their company to assess the temperature of these markets and to then “fit in” to what the community wants. The local business owner, on the other hand, lives it.

At our car wash, for example, we knew the right time to simplify our menus, to lower our prices, to improve our value – not because of research, but simply from dialogue with customers. Even our use of Facebook and Twitter is more conversational, a two-way street with local consumers. If we expanded beyond Tucson, this would become significantly more difficult to manage, we would lose the intimacy with our customers and as a result have less of an understanding of the market’s wants.

But being local can improve service in more subtle ways too. As an example, I think it can often mean more involved training and enhanced mentoring, each of which can lead to better customer experiences. At Metro, for instance, the owners have weekly meetings with the staff. This setting is more like a classroom; service concepts are taught, homework is given. But even more than this, the owners work with the managers and employees, expectations of how to handle customers are taught by example, by owners on site who know just how important each customer is. Employees pick up on this (they become our friends, in some cases, they feel like family). And the business as a whole improves.

Along these same lines, having an owner’s feet on the property also speeds up customer feedback when it comes to complaints, suggestions, or requests. At Metro, for example, if you want to talk to the owner … you can! You can usually find one of us walking the site. And if you email Metro from the website, it’s an owner that will get back to you, usually within 24 hours.

You just won’t get this from a larger company. Because the truth is, the local owner has more to lose. He or she is waking up every morning with their hard-earned, (personal) savings on the line. That’s real motivation. Pure and simple.

Community Involvement

A lot of large corporations donate big sums of money to good causes, which is certainly something to respect. But just as local ownership means a better understanding of the market, I believe it can also lead to a better understanding of a community’s needs.

Donations to large non-profit organizations are wonderful. But these are also the organizations that have access to large grants and other forms of assistance; these are avenues smaller, local organizations don’t have. The truth is, in economy like ours, it is the local charities and non-profits that are struggling as much as anybody. And local businesses have the best understanding of those needs.

At Metro, we have a great fundraising/community partnership program. I won’t go into details here (they’re available at our website), but suffice to say, we partner with almost twenty local charities, both financially and as volunteers. We award a significant number of Annual Passes every year to local heroes, teachers, and volunteers in Tucson. We’ve established our own scholarship with Pima Community College, sending one local student a year to one full year of schooling at Pima (and we raise money for it by turning our car wash into a haunted theme ride at Halloween). This isn’t to toot our own horn; there are lots of local businesses doing even more. The point is: local businesses feel the community; they understand the city; and they’re better able to serve and give back (to what is most needed). In our opinion, that’s one very strong reason to go local.

Profits Stay Local

I think this one is important. Jobs are jobs, but in a big corporation (not from Tucson), profits do NOT stay local.

When you shop at big box stores, when you eat at chain restaurants, you may be supporting local employment, but the profits are going somewhere else. And profits, dumped back into a local market, can do wonders for our little economy.

Not only this, but local businesses are also more apt to use community banks. And because community banks are also local, the interest they earn stays local too.

At Metro, we not only create jobs for Tucson, but any profits are also kept here. We believe strongly in keeping it local; we bank local, we buy supplies locally. Other car washes, like Simonize, are headquartered on the East Coast. The company Mister Car Wash isn’t even American (it’s Canadian, though their wash offices are in Tucson) and their sources of funding are foreign.

We’re not saying these companies are bad (they are not). But it is a good example of the contrast.

Conclusion

I guess here’s what we’re saying: When you buy local, there is more than meets eye. We’re not advising you to never shop at a big, monster store. The truth is, it’s getting harder not to (as the little guys disappear).

But beyond the character of the local bistro, the neighborhood flower shop, your friend’s car wash (me), there are a lot of other things going on too. Profits are circulated back into Tucson, local charities are identified and helped, employees are cared for on a one-on-one basis, and you, the consumer, begin to receive better personal service in an increasingly bland and generic world.

OK, I told you we were biased. But just so you know, we really do care about you (and your car). And when you think about it, that may be the best reason of all to keep it local.

Thanks for listening folks! Stay clean my friends.

-DJ Drip Dry