Dover : Dino Stop and PDQ Manufacturing

Courtesy of WashTrends Magazine

By: Lucia Regan, Contributor at WashTrends Magazine

A universal truth in the carwashing business is that customers want a clean car. But the fact is, they really want more than that-they want their expectations to be met. Tony Wied, Dino Stop's owner and president, knows.

'Customers expect quality when getting their car washed, and I am happy that we can provide that,' he says. 'But additionally, creating a memorable experience with features such as lights help drive sales and attract customers because they look forward to washing their car. And that's what really separates us from our competitors.'

Wied and his father bought Dino Stop in 1992. They have since opened six locations in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area. They have done well with gas stations and convenience stores, but they wanted to enhance their customers' experience with the addition of Dino Wash as well as Dino Bakery and gourmet coffee to their store locations.

The Dino Stop team selected PDQ Manufacturing, Inc. and its distributor to develop Dino Wash branding for each of their newly installed LaserWash 360 (touch-free) and Tandem Surfline (friction) carwash technologies, complete with the new OverGlow Hi-Gloss application system, appropriately dubbed 'Dino Glow.'

Dino Stop is a family-owned and operated business with deep ties to northeast Wisconsin. By adding Dino Washes to their gas stations-convenience store properties, they are better positioned to increase customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is very important in Green Bay because of the Green Bay Packers, the only publicly-owned franchise in the National Football League. There are 361,169 'owners,' many of whom have been owners over multiple generations. Packer.com says, 'the Green Bay Packers organization has been kept viable by its shareholders-its unselfish fans.' (See: www.packers.com/community/ shareholders)

While these shareholders do not receive any dividends, they do receive a commemorative paper stock share and they can attend the annual meeting, which is held during training. They also can shop for merchandise that is for shareholders only. What could inspire loyalty more than ownership? Dino Stop's motto reinforces loyalty: 'Family Owned. Fast Service. Friendly Staff. The best convenience store experience is right around the corner.'

Tony Wied explains, 'People want a premium experience when getting their car washed, and our current systems guarantee that. Our customers trust that their car will be thoroughly cleaned when they purchase a wash at our locations, and the ability to custom brand our wash to include Dino Stop branding gives us a competitive advantage and brand recognition that bigger corporations cannot capitalize on.'

The relationship between Dino Stop and PDQ works. After one winter of working with the upgraded wash systems, Dino Stop saw a 40% increase in sales in its carwash offerings. Wied attributes this not only to the advanced features of PDQ wash systems, such as OverGlow but also to factors such as higher throughput per hour, increased uptime and an attentive distributor.

The Dino Stop team is impressed with the results. Wied says, 'The technology in the PDQ wash systems has significantly increased our uptime because it can detect issues on its own. For example, if a vehicle inadvertently hits a carwash component, the system will finish cleaning that car and then stop to reset itself. It runs a diagnostic report and lets us know if further repairs are needed, but in many cases, it is able to fix minor issues on its own through the reboot. This saves us a ton of time in repairs, which means lower downtime costs and more cars that are washed. When we do need additional repairs or maintenance, our PDQ distributor has been a great asset and is quick to act when called.'

This article originally appeared in WashTrends Magazine.