Shiju Thomas isn’t your typical new shop owner. After growing tired of wearing a suit every day in the private equity world, he set off to become an independent repairer.
Denver—Shiju Thomas isn’t your typical new shop owner. With a background in private equity and investment banking in the oil and gas fields, Thomas says he came to the service and repair industry in a “happenstance” way.
“The short answer is that I got tired of wearing a suit every day for my entire career. I grew up ‘blue collar’ and always appreciated the trades world — I wanted to do something greater with my time and energy. And I determined that making money for other people wasn’t the best purpose for my life, so I looked into buying a small business.”
After Thomas left his last job at an investment firm, he spent a year evaluating small businesses to acquire. Over the year, he analyzed more than 800 businesses across the country. “Auto repair wasn’t ever in the top 20, but it kept calling back to me. There’s a longer story, but next thing you know, I bought my first two shops and I’ve enjoyed it ever since, though I have a few more white hairs than I did a few years ago,” he chuckled.
Thomas took the dive four years ago when he purchased two Advanced Transmission Centers in the Denver-metro region, and more recently bought 22-year-old Hotchkiss Auto Repair, a general repair shop in Denver.
He also joined the NAPA AutoCare Elite Business Development Group (BDG) Colorado, for which he hosted its latest Elite Owner Support (EOS) meeting where members gather to support, educate and grow each member’s shop through constructive criticism and honest evaluations.
“Not being from the automotive industry, I can learn a lot from the decades of collective experience in this group,” said Thomas. “I have a long way to go to learn about process and flow. The other shops I own are specialty shops, so coming into general auto repair is a very different ball game, though there are similarities. But still, it’s a different business model altogether, whether we’re talking about how parts are handled to how customer signage is set up.”
After sharing a dinner and introductions at tables set up within Hotchkiss’ bays last week, NAPA BDG shop members spent half an hour touring the facility with clipboards in hand, evaluating everything from tools and equipment to customer waiting rooms, management systems, exterior appearance, customer parking and more, sharing thoughts and ideas on what they liked and areas of potential improvement.
Hotchkiss Auto Repair — At a glance
• Bays: 12; Lifts: 11
• Service advisors: 3; Technicians: 5
• Days open: 5
• Management software: Mitchell 1, Bolt-On, Kukui
Afterward, the AutoCare Elite owners collected together with Thomas to offer their perspectives in a fluid conversation to highlight their findings. Other topics of discussion included hiring techs and technician pay structures (Hotchkiss techs aren’t paid a flat rate, but a weekly salary with monthly bonuses), to name a few.
“Every month is a profitable month, and we conduct performance reviews,” Thomas said. “Depending on how much shop success there is, individual productivity and meeting individual goals, then those lead to certain bonuses. For a master tech who is flagging top-shop hours, for example, their bonus might be up in the thousands in any given month where there is strong shop and individual performance. I try to create a number of team-orientated goals in addition to individual ones so that every one has an opportunity to learn and grow.”
All feedback is welcomed feedback, he told the group, and Thomas intends to sit down with his entire team and brief them on the group’s findings and suggestions. “I want people to hear it and get a sense of what we want to do and how to get better. One of the challenges of new ownership is that it doesn’t happen overnight — it can take years to put your own fingerprints on a shop. While we have tremendous room for improvement, we’re still profitable, the community loves us and we have a great reputation.”
To learn more about Colorado NAPA BDG EOS meetings, click here. BDG is also seeking more industry trainers for its training events, interested parties can contact training coordinators Brian Bates at brian.bates7921@gmail.com or Jeff Sieh at jeff@davesautospecialist.com.
Shops interested in becoming a member can contact member coordinators Pat Schnaidt at pat@performancetune.com or Laura Lewark at laural@skicountryauto.com
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