Tommy’s comes to Canada
Tommy’s Express Car Wash hopes to open its first Canadian location this year in Brampton, Ontario. It will be the first car wash outside of the U.S for the franchise brand from Holland, Michigan. Hundreds more are in the pipeline.
Tommy’s will also be present at The Convenience U CARWACS Show this year, which is Canada’s largest convenience, gas and car wash industry event. The show is held on March 7 and 8.
Tommy’s Express Car Wash is a sister company to Tommy Car Wash Systems, an organization with roots dating back to 1969. That year, Jun and Sonny Essenburg launched the first Quality Car Wash, which featured a dual rollover system. Canadian website Convenience Central has an in-depth article about it.
Over the years, Tommy’s introduced many innovations to the car wash business, including the first-ever wet tunnel belt conveyor (introduced in 2002), modular building designs, stainless steel car wash equipment and an advanced Wash Club license plate reader system, which debuted in 2017.
Franchise abroad
While operators in Canada have utilized the Tommy Car Wash Systems equipment line for some time, up till now they never had a franchise abroad.
According to Ryan Essenburg of Tommy’s, now is the time to jump over the border. “A technology leap has taken place in recent years making many old car washes and old processes [seem obsolete]. This has created a blue ocean for modern technology using belt conveyors, app-based club memberships, and high processing tunnel systems. This new upscale car wash sector is nearly entirely unserved in Canada.”
The city of Brampton in Ontario will have the first Tommy’s hExpress Car Wash later this year. After that, the sky’s the limit, according to Essenburg. They plan to build 500 Tommy’s Express Car Wash locations in Canada over the next 20 years.
Read the full interview here
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