On the Wash Front

            I watched “Groundhog Day” again the other night. Bill Murray keeps waking up to the same morning, the same song, until he finally learns what the day was trying…

            My wife asked the other night if I wanted to go to dinner. We have a favorite place where we like to sit at the bar, and before I…

            I have always admired the discipline behind the best fast-food chains and auto dealer groups. They don’t wait for a building to look tired before they refresh it. They…

            When someone asks why I've stayed in the car wash business this long, I usually give them the answer that sounds professional. I will talk about the operational discipline,…

            There was a time when exterior cleaning perks at every vacuum island were a com-petitive advantage. Buckets with soap, bug brushes, long-handled scrubbers, all the tools a customer could…

           I used to be proud of my retract binders. Laminated sheets, organized by make and model, updated every time a new vehicle gave us trouble.             Every new hire got…

            A colleague was telling me about his menu the other day, excited about how well it was working. Base wash: $14. Top package: $32. Membership options front and center.…

            A friend of mine lives in Florida. He recently came to me with questions about winterization best practices. He has owned washes in Florida, but he just joined a…

            A recent conversation reminded me just how much the role of a car wash manager has evolved.             I was catching up with a longtime industry colleague who had…

            Try to tune out speculation and zero in on what I know for sure. And one thing I’ve learned with absolute certainty is that there’s typically a lot going…