✕
☰

Chamber celebrates small businesses at May luncheon

by

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

Erica Techo

Small businesses were the center of the show at the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce’s May 24 luncheon. The chamber received 50 nominations for potential Small Business of the Year winners, which was the highest number of nominees in the history of the award, said Chamber President and CEO Kirk Mancer.

“Small businesses play a vital role in building our Shelby County communities and overall economy,” Mancer said. “We want to celebrate their successes and support them in their endeavors.”

The companies were evaluated based on staying power, growth in number of employees, increase in sales and/or unit volume, response to adversity and evidence of contributions to aid community-oriented projects. The businesses were also compared within one of five categories, based on company size.

One winner was selected from four of the categories, which were based on the following criteria. There was a tie in Category 2, and both winners were announced.

The 50 nominees are listed below, with the winners and their corresponding category noted in bold:

During the luncheon, attendees also heard from Ricky Brooks, CEO of Express Oil Change and Tire Engineers, who shared his journey to success. Brooks first became involved in the company in 1987, when he was approached by someone looking to build three Express Oil Change franchises. While that developer ended up not pursuing the project, Brooks decided to move forward working with the company.

Jim Lunceford, the founder of Express Oil Change, first heard about an express oil change business in the 1970s. He decided to bring the concept back to Birmingham.

“Jim had the foresight to do two things — one is he built a concept different from anybody else in the industry, of dedicated oil change bays, like we have today, and dedicated service bays,” Brooks said.

Lunceford also created a system of having full-time, career employees. Both of these are what helped make the company successful, Brooks said.

In 1996, Lunceford sold the company to Brooks Joe Watson, who bought the company on 100 percent leverage bond, Brooks said. With a laugh, he added that he did not recommend taking out 100 percent leverage bonds.

“Joe and I were on millions of dollars of debt and personally guaranteeing it,” he said. “I promised my wife, ‘I’ll never ask you to sign, and I’ll never put the house up.’ So I put the house in her name, and everything else was wide open.”

From 1996, they continued to franchise locations and build more corporate stores, and the company saw dramatic growth, Brooks said. In 2012, they looked to transform in order to maintain success in a market that was becoming saturated with quick oil change businesses.

“The fast oil change business is incredibly saturated. It was wide open when I got in in 1988 … but by 2008, it was very saturated,” Brooks said.

They chose to build on the mechanics side of the business, without sacrificing from the oil change side. With that decision, they saw success and have since grown to a few hundred locations across the southeast.

Part of the success is implementing a “win-win-win” strategy, Brooks said, which is what they implement. This strategy aligns the interests of employees, customers and ownership, he said, by providing a good customer experience, increasing the number of customers and providing a profitable business that leads to franchise or corporate store success.

Brooks encouraged any entrepreneurs in the audience to know what they want to accomplish, be thoughtful about what is in customers’ best interests and serving customers first.

Back to topbutton