All in a Day’s Work

Working a day on the job in a leadership role at a quick lube shop can sometimes feel like a marathon.

It’s only appropriate, then, that Cody Perkins, service center manager at a Valvoline Instant Oil Change location in Lexington, Kentucky, begins each day by leading his team in a good stretch.

“There's a lot of reaching over your head (in our jobs), so before any shift, any employee—manager included—we stretch,” says Perkins. “You clock in, you get your uniform on, then we go up and have (a list of stretches) that we follow. … It's really important to make sure our team knows, like, hey, we want you to feel safe and feel comfortable here. … It’s the Valvoline thing. I've been here a decade, and they've been doing that since day 1.”

Perkins manages a staff of 12 employees, and his three-bay facility services about 50 vehicles per day. Much of his time is spent on the shop floor, serving customers directly and training team members.

The day-to-day grind for Ben Capelle, meanwhile, is far different as a Costa Oil 10-Minute Oil Change franchisee with locations in Mentor-on-the-Lake and Perry, Ohio, although his days are no less busy. In addition to overseeing his two Costa Oil locations, Capelle is the CEO of Laketran, Lake County, Ohio’s regional public transportation system that serves more than 680,000 riders per year with a team of 365 employees and 150 vehicles.

Capelle gets to each of his Costa Oil shops about once a week, but he keeps a finger on the pulse of each shop remotely to ensure business stays smooth. When on site, Capelle, whose previous work experience includes managing a fleet maintenance garage for Clermont County, Ohio, likes to work on vehicles alongside his team.

“I try to work (on the shop floor) with some frequency, so that I stay in touch with what's going on,” he says. “If something doesn't work, I want to know.”

In a quest to learn more about a day in the life of quick lube shop leaders, NOLN caught up with Perkins, a service center manager, and Capelle, a multi-store franchise operator, to see what it takes each to be successful each day.

Setting the Stage

The Lexington VIOC opens its doors to customers at 8 a.m. For Perkins, that means arriving at the shop around 7 a.m. to get situated.

“When we first get there, as a service manager, I’m obviously going to make sure my center is ready to go for the team members and the customers that come in,” Perkins says. “The first chunk of the day is getting the store ready and making sure our ducks are in a row.”

That includes checking for corporate communications from Valvoline, such as safety alerts. As team members clock in, they get physically warmed up to prepare for a day of working on vehicles and then huddle up to review roles for the day.

“This is for me to communicate with the team,” Perkins says of the early-morning check-ins. “Here’s what to watch out for. This is what Valvoline has reached out about. It really gets us prepped for the day to make sure we’re doing our job.”

Perkins’ approach to running the Lexington location comes in large part from having worked there for 10 years. He joined the company as a lube technician and worked his way up to his current managerial position that he has held for seven years. It’s a familiar path for VIOC service center managers, with 95% starting as lube technicians and starting their climb up the ranks with a promotion to assistant manager within 18 to 24 months.

Capelle purchased his Mentor-on-the-Lake Costa Oil franchise in October 2022 and then opened his shop in nearby Perry in April 2024. The Mentor-on-the-Lake location, which has a single bay, serves about 18 vehicles per day. In Perry, which has two bays, the daily car count is around 10 to 12 vehicles, with the busiest days seeing over 20. The two stores combined have five employees, some of whom work at both shops with others who are exclusive to a single location.

Much of Capelle’s table setting for the week at Costa Oil takes place from home before the work week officially begins. On Sunday nights, Capelle takes care of payroll and builds out weekly sales reports for his teams. He also takes to social media to schedule ads and respond to customer comments.

Getting Through the Day

Capelle’s Laketran responsibilities take up much of his time during normal business hours, but he is able to check in with his Costa Oil team through an app to ensure employees are clocked in to start the day. He also keeps tabs on his Costa Oil shops remotely throughout the week.

“Usually all day long, I check out my (point-of-sale) app for how many cars are coming through and what sales they've done,” Capelle says. “You always want to see how the day is going. If the team has any issues or problems, they usually tell me about them. So, if something doesn't go right, they'll text me.”

Capelle says his processes have evolved in some ways with the opening of a second location.

“Yeah, it's changed, but it's also like, you know if you have two locations, you need to get better at having systems and processes and schedules,” Capelle says. “I used to use a website for timekeeping. Now, we have an app which has been way more useful because you can put documents in it and all kinds of stuff. So, it's all about being able to communicate in different places, making sure my guys can see their schedules ahead of time.”

The platform Capelle relies on is one he discovered on his own. He credits Costa Oil’s executive team for giving franchise operators leeway to try such tools for the sake of improving efficiency.

Once customers start arriving at the VIOC in Lexington, Perkins says he spends the bulk of his day on the shop floor, either interacting with guests directly or training team members to become leaders themselves.

“Nine out of 10 of our company’s store managers started off as a technician, so everybody’s working their way through that,” he says. “We’re progressing everybody pretty quick. So, while we’re serving guests, we’re training our team members. That would be the majority of my day—ensuring that my trainees have their trainers with them and ensuring the guest is experience is really good.”

Much of Perkins’ daily routine follows a general layout set forth by Valvoline. He has also picked up certain habits from his time shadowing other managers as he rose up the company’s ranks. As one of the more seasoned service center managers in the region, Perkins does periodic check-ins with other nearby Valvoline stores, known within the company as their “Vamily.”

In much the same way that Capelle, as a remote leader, trusts his team to keep things moving along nicely, Perkins says one of the biggest ways his daily routine has changed has been through his willingness to start delegating more tasks to employees even when he’s working side-by-side with them.

“I'm an active manager, I am on the floor. But over the years, you know, I've learned to delegate to my team and let them take that responsibility,” Perkins says. “It’s really easy to want to take over and ensure that everything is being done 100%.

“But, you know, we really want to let our team grow in a safe manner, right? We want to push them to make sure they're comfortable. Obviously, we're really big on mental health and all that with our team members. But now as a manager … you understand that taking over everything's not great for your team. Being a safety net is great, but you’ve got to let them grow. So, that's probably my biggest thing that I've learned over the years. The hurdle is to allow my team to take over and just be there for them when they need me.”

Winning with People

For both Capelle and Perkins, successfully running a shop comes down to having great teams at the end of the day.

“Really, it’s all about having good people, right?” says Capelle. “We try to pay a little higher than our competitors so that we can get good people and try to get them to stay as long as we can because that’s what’s going to give a customer a better experience—having experienced (team members) that aren’t miserable.”

Adds Perkins: “When I started here, I thought it was just going to be a better job while I was in school. Cars are cool. I’ve always been interested in cars. A lot of people in this field are. But (my favorite part of the job), by far, is the diverse teams we have. I get to see people from all walks of life and see what they can bring to the table. You’d be really surprised over the years by people exceeding your expectations. Some come in and do a good job, no matter what. But they might show you, ‘hey, how about we do it this way?’ and you’re like, ‘I would have never thought of that.’

“And so, for sure, for me personally, it’s our people. If you invest in your people, your business will show it.”