When Midas franchisee Alan Mahrt and his team recently opened a striking new, two-story Midas total car care facility in Ankeny, a fast-growing Des Moines, Iowa suburb, it was the latest move in a concerted drive to expand their Midas footprint in the Midwest and Plains states.
In addition to launching the eight-bay store with its next generation design, Mahrt’s six-state, Davenport, Iowa-headquartered organization added seven locations in 2016 and has embarked on an ambitious plan to repaint and renovate all of its stores as part of a $6 million investment in the business.
“The Ankeny store is my baby,” said Mahrt, who in 2016 earned Midas’ prestigious Franchisee of the Year award. “It’s a $1.6 million investment; it comes with LED lighting and all of the latest and greatest equipment; we are very confident about this location, our expansion plans and the Midas brand in general.”
Mahrt’s 42-store Midas franchise organization is building their business by being a part of the community where they do business. Case in point: his team is fully behind Midas Drive Out Hunger, a franchisee-driven effort to fight food insecurity across North America. In 2016, the group donated over $80,000 to local food banks, resulting in more than 400,000 meals for folks in need. In addition, their $300,000 annual local advertising spend puts the focus on Midas’ hunger-fighting activities. When Midas and its franchisees conducted a 25-stop, coast-to-coast food drive in 2015, their organization collected more than four tons of food — the most out of all 25 stops.
Drive Out Hunger is part of a multi-faceted renaissance at the 60-year Midas brand, which in 2012 joined the family of car care providers owned by Florida-based TBC Corporation, a tire industry giant.
“On the marketing side, we are seeing a lot of great things that are helping to position us as a total car care provider, including our TV advertising, our incredible website and our digital efforts in general,” commented Mahrt, a 28-year Midas veteran. “On the operations side, tires are a major opportunity. TBC is a tire expert, and with their direction and support, they’ve enabled us to offer our customers quality, brand-name tires at highly competitive prices. Going forward, this will result in more customers and new opportunities to work our magic on their cars and deliver the wow factor.”
