Fueled by private equity group and majority owner Bestige Holdings, Burt Brothers Tire & Service Inc. has aggressive growth plans.
The 26-store, North Salt Lake, Utah-based dealership wants to add 40 locations within the next three years and is targeting a total footprint of 75 to 100 outlets within the next half-decade, Brian Maciak, the CEO of Burt Brothers Tire & Service, recently told MTD.
Bestige Holdings, which is based in Park City, Utah, gained majority ownership in Burt Brothers Tire & Service in early-2023, after acquiring a stake in the dealership in September 2022.
New leadership
Maciak, former president and CEO of TBC Corp.’s Big O Tires program, became chief executive of Burt Brothers Tire & Service in March 2024.
The second generation of Burt Brothers Tire & Service ownership – Brandon, Cory, Jason, Jeremy and Jake Burt – are no longer employed by the dealership, having left the company last month via “a transition of several leadership roles,” Maciak told MTD.
However, they retain minority ownership in their namesake firm, added Maciak, who did not discuss specifics. (Burt Brothers Tire & Service was founded by brothers Ron and Wendel Burt in 1991. Wendel Burt died in April 2023.)
‘Monumental scale’
Burt Brothers Tire & Service added five locations to its footprint during the first half of 2024.
“We have a brand new store in Tooele, Utah,” Maciak told MTD. “We acquired JP Midland Tire Pros in Roy, Utah,” which added another location to Burt Brothers Tire & Service’s network.
On June 1, Burt Brothers Tire & Service picked up three more locations via the acquisition of The Tire Company, an independent tire dealership in Cedar City, Utah.
“Our pipeline is pretty full,” said Maciak. “We’re definitely going to continue to grow and grow on a monumental scale.”
The dealership’s growth “won’t be limited to Utah,” which is Burt Brothers Tire & Service’s traditional market. “We’ll be growing in the Mountain region, so in a short time, you’ll see us in other states. It will be aggressive growth, but we have the funding, the timeline and the team to carry it out. Bestige wants us to grow.
“We’re going to grow in terms of rooftops and that will be fueled by greenfield (stores), as well as acquisitions. We’re also going to grow the profitability of each location. And we can’t hit our goals without having a best-in-class team, so we’re investing in their training and career paths.
“As a corollary to that, we’re (also) planning to invest in the customer experience,” said Maciak.
“We believe the customer experience will look different in five to seven years than it does today. And we’re also taking a look at community involvement,” which he noted has always been a top Burt Brothers Tire & Service priority.
“Burt Brothers has always given back to the community. We have various community sponsorships and partnerships. We’re going to continue to give back.
“We have a wonderful (business) that so far has been contained to the state of Utah and we’re going to take it to other states and make this more of a regional player.”
Bestige’s background
Burt Brothers Tire & Service is the only retail tire operation within Bestige Holdings’ portfolio, which encompasses 29 “platform investments” across 17 industries, according to the firm’s website.
Bestige Holdings’ other automotive industry properties include Johnny’s Auto Parts, an auto parts distribution company based in Miami, Fla.; National Auto Parts Warehouse, another auto parts distributor that’s headquartered in Miami; AutoPlus Auto Parts, a parts distributor with several locations throughout the Pacific Northwest; and Engine & Performance Warehouse, a specialized engine parts distributor that’s based in Denver, Colo.
As it pertains to Burt Brothers Tire & Service, “the plan all along was that Bestige would be injecting equity to fuel (the dealership’s) growth plans” after buying into the business “and then take on more stock until they became majority owner,” Maciak told MTD.
