Jon Langerak, CEO and president of Byron Center, Mich.-based Wonderland Tire Co., is MTD's 2023 Tire Dealer of the Year Award recipient. Here's an exclusive look at Jon Langerak, the tire dealer, and Jon Langerak, the private person.
Name: Jonathan “Jon” Langerak
Age: 55 years old
Education: High school and one year of college
Family: Father (Harry) and Mother (Evelyn) and eight siblings, including six brothers and two sisters. My brother, David, is two years younger than me and we own Wonderland Tire together. I am married to Lisa and we have been married 34 years. We have five children, ranging in age from 21 to 32 years old. We have three grandchildren.
When you were in elementary school, what did you want to be when you grew up? That’s tough to say. I lived life in the moment and was not too concerned about the future. Every day was a great day, but at that age, I was not focusing on what my long-term vocation was going to be. I did want to own my own business. I do remember that.
Who had the most profound influence on you when you were young? My mother and father had a huge impact on my life at an early age. My father was a high school teacher and I remember the early mornings and late nights he worked to provide for the family. My mother was a stay-at-home mom and she was always busy providing for us. They taught me and the rest of the family about hard work, always providing for your family and the basics of life: be honest, always tell the truth, believe in God, trust Him with your life, work to the best of your ability, never say never, do not renege on what you owe, and family is very important.
The other person who influenced me as I came of age was my Uncle Henry. He was a previous owner of the company, along with his brother, Earl, and the president of Wonderland Tire. He taught me many things about business and entrepreneurship. I am indebted to him for many of the skills I learned and developed under his leadership. He was a true mentor who had patience, an eye for raw talent and always had our success in view.
What’s the best advice your parents ever gave you? Always tell the truth, even if it hurts.
What was it like growing up in the tire business? It was exciting. New things were happening. The tube- type tire was being replaced by the tubeless tire back in the early 1980s and I was part of that change, which presented many opportunities. Also, the bias-ply tire was on its way to being phased out as the dominant tire of choice and was being replaced with the radial tire. I was always looking for a new challenge, so I took up the opportunity to begin going out and soliciting new customers. We also had started a retread shop with Oliver retreading and I used that to solicit many fleets and local businesses as an opportunity to lower their cost and save money.
I worked my way up through the company, beginning as a tube repairer and cleaner, then doing tractor tire service, working at our retread plant to learn that process, then fleet maintenance and tire service to sales, and then was involved in our first acquisition in 2004, managing and transitioning the acquired company to our company philosophy and culture. In 1998, our company changed significantly when we installed a new retreading system into our company called AcuTread. It really gave us something new in the marketplace and we took advantage of that and saw significant growth and profitability. AcuTread was a true success story in our company history.
When did you first say, “I want to be a tire dealer?” In the early 1990s. I had learned many parts of the tire business, enjoyed them and decided that I should focus on the tire business as a long-term career.
When you and your brother took over majority share of Wonderland Tire in 2008, what was your biggest challenge and what was your biggest opportunity? Our biggest challenge at that time was that the United States — and really the world — was experiencing the collapse of many financial institutions. The housing market was collapsing and generally, the nation was experiencing a severe recession. This impacted our own business and we saw a rather severe decline in sales and ended up laying off several people, something we had never had to do. Managing the business through that recession was a challenge that required my and my brother David’s full attention each day.
The recession was also our biggest opportunity. It caused us to reevaluate who we were as a company, how we wanted and needed to go to market and what our customers needed and valued from Wonderland Tire. When we evaluated who we were in the market, we realized that two of our biggest assets as a company were our loyal and long-standing managers and team members and our exclusive AcuTread remanufactured products. We then made substantial investments in both of these areas and promoted a culture of providing excellent customer service and value-based AcuTread products.
What are your dealership’s biggest challenges and opportunities today? Our biggest challenge today is to continue to grow our management and team structure as the company grows. Growth is good, but it also needs to be managed. That requires us to focus on building structure into the company to manage that growth and to continue providing a ‘family, value, trust’ experience to both our customers and team members. I learned many things growing up in the business and one thing my former boss and (Wonderland Tire’s) previous owner, Henry Kamps, taught me is that an owner needs to always be working on the business to improve and develop it.
The biggest opportunity for us today is to continue to grow and mentor the next generation of family members to be better than David and myself as owners and managers. We currently have nine next generation family members who work full-time in the business. One of them is our vice president of inventory and asset purchasing. The others have meaningful jobs in the company where they can have an impact on the growth and profitability of the company. Most of them are either managing a store or are assistant managers at a store. They are learning all aspects of the business and what it takes to run a store or manufacturing facility. We want them to have a meaningful job where they can begin to take on an area of the business and have an impact and use their talents. This is also important for the other employees in the company to observe and see that the next generation is talented, hardworking and worthy of their trust and respect because of the work they do.
We see the next generation of owners as a great opportunity for the company to revitalize itself again and find new and better ways of doing business and going to market. They are smart and energetic and have a desire to find new areas of growth and to make changes and improvements in our current systems. With a new generation comes new ways of looking at things and this is a positive thing for the business.
How do you start your typical workday? With a cup of coffee. I go into the office and normally review emails and my calendar for the day and then get to work on the items that are most important and work down from there.
What is the secret to overseeing so many locations and employees? Hire people who are smarter and better than yourself, be humble enough to recognize that, empower them so they can do their job and provide them with what they need to do that work efficiently. Then trust them to do the work and do not micromanage them.
What are the best and worst parts of your job? I enjoy all aspects of my job. Probably one of the highlights is working on automation in our plants. We have begun that process and are working to find areas in the plants where we can eliminate wasted steps and make them as efficient as possible through the use of technology.
If you had zero financial constraints, what is one change to your business that you would make today and why? We would speed up our process of automating our plants. Automation is expensive, especially if you have to design and manufacture a particular piece of machinery or equipment that may not be available. We would speed up that process because we see that AcuTread products are in high demand and it’s one of our major competitive advantages in the marketplace and for our customers.
What is the best personal decision you’ve ever made? Marrying my wife, Lisa. We have been married for 34 years and it has been a wonderful life together. She is a true help in my life and a true confidant and friend.
What is the best business decision you’ve ever made? To be in business with my brother, David. We each have a different personality and skill set that over the years have complimented each other very well.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? To have more patience with others.
What is your favorite book? “Chesapeake” by James Michener. It is a historical novel that I read quite a few years ago and really enjoyed.
What is your favorite movie? I do not have one.
What is your favorite vacation spot? Any beach along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Our family grew up camping in many of the state parks and beaches in Michigan. My wife and I like to visit some of the cities and towns in northern Michigan, such as Traverse City and Petoskey. I also snowmobile in the upper peninsula of Michigan in the winter — great fun!
What is your ideal night out? Going to a nice steak or seafood restaurant with my wife, Lisa, and our friends or family.
What is your favorite stress-reliever? Going to the beach and relaxing while listening to the waves.
