In 2022 when Pomp’s Tire Service acquired Tredroc Tire Services Inc., there was one piece of the business that didn’t move into the Pomp’s portfolio — an OTR tire dealership operating under another brand name: Steel City Tire.
Larry Jeffries served as CEO of Tredroc from October 2018 until its sale to Pomp’s in September 2022. He told MTD that Tredroc’s owners Don Barnes Jr. and Bob Barnes were looking for a small operator to purchase the OTR business. Ultimately, Jeffries and Chris DiGiorgio, the former chief financial officer at Tredroc, decided to make and offer and purchased Steel City Tire.
Jeffries said he and DiGiorgio “immediately saw the opportunity and started to expand” the business, which is based in Hammond, Indiana.
After acquiring some additional OTR tire businesses, Steel City Tire now has four “OTR specialty service centers.” Three centers operate under the Boom Country Tire (BC Tire) name in Osceola, Ark.; Alvarado, Texas; and Carrolton, Ky. (The Steel City Tire shop is operated by a union-member workforce, while the BC Tire locations are not.)
Each location operates near a mill it services. “It’s not like the TBR business where you can go set up shop in a major city and you’ve got trucks running around everywhere,” Jeffries said.
Steel City Tire and BC Tire’s specialty is OTR rail, construction and quarry business. Its work with Phoenix Global, a global mining company with a location in Arkansas fueled the growth of the BC Tire location there.
The combined OTR businesses service five states and work from what Jeffries said is “the largest boom truck fleet in the Midwest.” The company has 23 OTR Maxi-plus power units, plus nine medium OTR trucks and 10 super duty service trucks.
He said the company has more than $6 million in OTR tire and wheel inventory and 65 employees.
“We’ve doubled the size since we’ve taken it over,” Jeffries said.
So are there more opportunities to grow an OTR-focused tire dealership?
“There are definitely more opportunities to expand. Because this is one of those industries, once you get a good relationship with a customer like Phoenix and Harsco and so on, they’ll come to you (and say) ‘I have a mill that I’m working in (this location.) Would you be willing to go out there and take care of them?’ That’s how we ended up in Arkansas and Kentucky. Phoenix came to us.”
Jeffries said a dealer has to be cautious, “because you can’t make a living if you just go to one customer,” but so far those customer relationships have paved the way to additional growth.
“We’re still looking at some areas throughout the U.S.,” he said.
And he added that the OTR customers appreciate Steel City Tire’s OTR-only approach. “Customers love the fact that ‘I don’t have to compete with somebody putting on a TBR tire for Ryder.’”
The company has developed a mechanical service center, called BC Field Services, and recently become an authorized dealer for Sennebogen, a manufacturer of cranes and material handling equipment. Jeffries said that allows the company to service Sennebogen equipment on site for its customers. That part of the business started with a single truck and technician, and has grown into a search for a third technician to operate a third service truck.
Adding that kind of mechanical service is another way Steel City Tire likes to stand out from its competitors.
“We’ve been growing at a double-digit pace, and hopefully will continue to do so,” Jeffries said.
