In this MTD exclusive, Brian Maciak, CEO of Burt Brothers Tire & Service Inc., discusses why the North Salt Lake, Utah-dealership is primed for expansion.
MTD: Recently, you said Burt Brothers Tire wants to have 75 to 100 locations within the next five years and will be expanding outside of its traditional market of Utah and into the surrounding Mountain region. What specific markets do you see as being high-potential and why?
Maciak: If you follow Highway 15 all the way from Idaho to Arizona, you’re going to see more and more of our locations. I’m not sure (they) will be necessarily Burt Brothers locations. We’re not wed to that. We’re looking at being in Idaho. We’re looking at (fleshing) out our footprint in Salt Lake City. Southern Utah is attractive. We’re looking to grow there. In Nevada – in Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite – we're looking (to add) there. And there are some potential deals in Colorado.
MTD: Is Burt Brothers Tire planning to expand mostly through acquisitions, greenfield stores or a combination of both?
Maciak: Definitely a combination of both. Our goal of being (at) 75 to 100 (stores) is not just us throwing a dart at a board. These are realistic goals. But to hit those goals, we’ll need to use acquisitions, as well as greenfield. We'll likely use acquisitions to get into new markets and then greenfield to fill them out.
We’ve gotten very good over the last six months at knowing what makes a good store for us – looking at a variety of factors, like demographics, traffic patterns and the age of vehicles. We’re much more surgical at looking at what needs to be around a location to make it successful.
MTD: Could we see other brands within your portfolio?
Maciak: Burt Brothers is our core brand. We know the formula to make that successful, but we won’t let that be an obstacle to growth outside of Utah.
MTD: To date, most of the acquisitions made by Burt Brothers have been smaller tire dealerships. Will this continue to be the strategy? At some point, could you see Burt Brothers acquiring larger, multi-location and/or multi-geography tire dealerships?
Maciak: I think we’re at that point right now. So far, Burt Brothers has grown by picking up one or two stores at a time. We no longer have to do that. We no longer eschew larger deals. We know how to integrate bigger deals, so we’re welcoming those. And we know those larger deals will give us a foray into other markets. I think the time is now to do deals on a multi-location - as well as a multi-geography - basis.
MTD: In what ways will Bestige Holdings, Burt Brothers' majority owner, drive the dealership's growth?
Maciak: They really have been the driving force behind our growth. They came into the picture in late-2022, when Burt Brothers had 13 locations. We’re now at 26 and are about six weeks away from opening our 27th. A lot of that growth has come in 2024. So Bestige has been that driving force.
Bestige has allowed me to surround myself with an outstanding leadership team and they have been a great encourager, as well as a company that has the funds that allow us to grow. Now that we have a core team, plus financial strength, and have built out a strong plan, we're ready to execute. And when you talk about growth, to us, it’s more than just rooftops. We’ll have growth organically. Each location is becoming more profitable.
We’re looking at ways to use technology. We’re listening to our customers. They want to be mobile. They want to make appointments online. They want digital (vehicle) inspections. We want to deliver what our customers want.
The last two years have been monumental, but looking forward to the next four years ... the sky’s the limit.
