2025 Operator of the Year Runner-Up: John Malek

Transparency is tantamount in the fast oil change industry. It’s what customers seek from their auto service providers as they rely on us to keep their vehicles safe for the road. While some shops take this for granted, with a focus solely on how much they can make off each customer, long-term success comes from nurturing a healthy relationship with each client.

This philosophy is what enabled John Malek to take a struggling quick lube in Sebastian, Florida, and convert it to Mr. Oil Xpress Lube. Having opened in 2015, its success has only grown with each year, and it’s become a household name in the area.

Because of his extensive experience as an entrepreneur, Malek knew that focus could not lie only with the customer, but with staff as well: encouraging them, taking care of them, and inspiring them. When Vernon Ohler first joined the team in 2015, this is exactly what he found. Having advanced from a technician to general manager, Ohler nominated his mentor for the NOLN Operator of the Year Award. 

As this year’s runner-up, Malek shares what a customer-centric shop means to him—along with Ohler’s experience of how he found a career in Malek’s shop.

A Man of Many Trades

Mr. Oil Xpress may be Malek’s first quick lube, but it’s far from his first business. His path as an entrepreneur began when he was young and started working at a gas station where he grew up. Eventually, due to health complications, the station’s owner would hand the business off to Malek, who received much encouragement from a mentor at school to pursue the opportunity.

Throughout the years, Malek would go on to own several different businesses—driving a tow truck, rolling pretzels, painting cars, and operating a mobile gas station—all while holding a passion for automotive he’s had since high school. These endeavors would take him all the way to Florida, where he moved in the 1990s.

In 2015, the tenant of a property Malek owned had been running a quick lube; but not very well. In addition to the shop having consistently poor numbers, Malek could see that the staff and customers at the shop were treated poorly. That was when he saw his next—and biggest—business idea yet.

After taking over the quick lube, Malek sold off his existing storage unit business and rebranded the shop as Mr. Oil Xpress Lube. The rebrand helped a great deal with convincing customers in the area to return to the shop, but there was much more work Malek would have to work on improving. 

Malek was met with inadequate equipment and cheap tools upon taking over the shop. He had those replaced with high quality, up-to-date products. In addition to the shop having slow service times before Malek came in, the previous owner had also pressured his staff into selling things to customers that they didn’t need. 

“We're not about that, we're about the customers,” says Ohler. “We will recommend it, if you need something, but we never try to push a sale down someone's throat. It's always up to the customer.”

The shop actively encourages transparency and communication with its clients. Ohler has driven nearly an hour away to address a concern with a customer, who mistook their A/C water for an oil leak.

A Staple of Sebastian

The emphasis on customer care has had a clear impact. After Malek took over the shop, its numbers only continued to climb with each year. Investing in advertising helped, as well as word of mouth from those who had come into the shop.

Now in the twilight of his career, Malek still comes into the shop every day out of a pure love for the business he’s created, and takes pride in the new customers they continue to gain. He still maintains a practice of collecting old oil change stickers from cars that come in to see all of the places they’re coming to Mr. Oil Xpress from.

It isn’t only the customers who benefited from the changes implement by Malek, but the staff as well. For Ohler, he was motivated to nominate Malek as Operator of the Year because of the role he’s played in Ohler’s own professional development. Having moved to Florida from Ohio, Ohler learned of Mr. Oil Xpress shortly after it opened in 2015. After leaving a job application with the front desk, he received a phone call just 10 minutes later from Malek, asking him to come and join the team.

Working his way up from a technician to the current general manager, Ohler has learned a lot just from working alongside Malek for the past decade. He set a standard that Ohler didn’t see from shops he worked for back in Ohio, which inspired him.

“The key thing that he drilled in my head is, ‘Customers. It's always about the customers.’ And I see that firsthand: Customers come in, they love us,” shares Ohler. “I worked at a shop before, up in Ohio, and we didn't have the best customer turnaround. We were an upsell shop—and I knew in my head, after I sold that customer something, they weren't coming back. 

“Coming here, John has always been like: ‘Listen, if the customer wants it, they want it; if they don't, it's up to them. Leave that option up to the customer. You don't make that option.’ And that's what I admire about it so much. It's such an honest shop. We do everything 100% here.”

Many shops say they’re like family, but at Mr. Oil Xpress, they mean it literally. Not only does Ohler work there, but his wife now handles the business’ social media, and his brother and cousin both work in the shop. The family-like bond extends beyond them to the whole team.

“We all treat each other like family. I know a lot of places say that, but we really are like family here,” says Ohler.

Ohler chose Mr. Oil Xpress as the place for his career for the same reason customers have made it a staple in the Sebastian region—because of its high-quality, trustworthy services. It’s the result of careful work from Malek, who decided to forego his other entrepreneurial pursuits once he found his calling in quick lube services. For others looking to follow the same path, it’s important to not only make the business your primary focus, but to gain firsthand experience as both a customer and a worker in the field as well.

“If you're going to do this—if you want to do this business—go in there and learn first, and see what you know,” says Malek.

“One hundred percent. Because a lot of people think, ‘It's an oil change business. Anybody can pull a filter,’ is what they think,” adds Ohler. “But there's a lot more to it than that,”