Christian Garcia
Manager | Freedom Tire Distributing Inc. | Age: 29
What was your first job in the industry?
Unloading containers for my dad.
What attracted you to the industry?
The family business.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career?
Moving up the ranks, from the warehouse, to delivery driver, to sales, and management.
Who has had the biggest influence on your career?
My stepdad, Tom Hofmann.
What is your biggest accomplishment in the industry?
Signing up more Mastercraft Century Dealers than anyone else in Southern California last year.
What do you expect to be doing 20 years from now?
Twenty years from now hopefully I and my brother Tom Jr. will be overseeing multiple Freedom Tire Distributing warehouses in the U.S. I will work until my body can’t take it anymore. That’s the kind of guys our father, Tom Hofmann, made us.
What’s the biggest issue facing the industry today?
Fighting tariffs on truck tires and the dumping of Chinese tires in the U.S.
What’s the one thing you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
“It ain't like it used to be." Now you have to fight for that shelf space as a wholesaler. There are multiple up-and-comers that don't know much about the tire business, and they give product and service away and based on low pricing.
How do you encourage others to enter the industry?
We try to deliver better service and understand our customers’ needs.
Tell us about your family.
Freedom Tire Distributing is a family business. I have one brother and three sisters.
Tom Hofmann is the owner, Tom Jr. is the supervisor and I’m the operations manager that oversees our sales staff.
What’s your favorite weekend activity?
Making time to spend time with my wife, Amber, and two kids, Ayden and Ashlynn.
What keeps you up at night?
Making sure we get all those bills collected and we keep striving to grow.
Name a talent you wish you had.
To fly a plane.
What’s your favorite food?
Don’t really have a favorite. Everyone who know me knows I love to eat anything.
If we took your cell phone away and said it would cost you $1,000 to get it back, how long would you survive until you paid the ransom?
I would find a way to use a different type of communication.
