BizINVESTING

Clockwise from top – Mister Car Wash team in New York City; Mister Car Wash team at the New York Stock Exchange; John Lai, Mister Car Wash CEO

Mister Car Wash Goes to Wall Street

Tucson Company Now on the NYSE

By June Hussey

When Mister Car Wash CEO John Lai rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on June 25, it validated the hard work the company put in to be worthy of being publicly traded on the Exchange, he said.

“It’s been a little over six weeks since we rang the bell, and we’re still feeling the glow and positive emotions over the significance of going public,” said Lai during the company’s first earnings call in August. “Morale within our organization and the industry from coast to coast has never been stronger.”

Lai is a 1987 graduate of the University of Arizona and has served as CEO of Mister Car Wash since 2013, taking the company through the initial public offering process that culminated in being publicly traded beginning June 25. On that day, trading on the NYSE opened under the ticker symbol MCW for the first time at $18.90 per share, hitting a high of $22 and closing at $20.30 per share with a trading volume of 17.71 million shares.

“It was an extremely validating feeling and a testament to our amazing team and all the hard work that led up to this historic event,” Lai said during that initial call. “We came into the IPO as a passionate and mission-driven bunch, but coming out of it, there’s a new sense of purpose.”

The IPO also validated the company to its employees, Lai said. When Mister Car Wash launched an employee stock purchase plan during the IPO to give team members an opportunity to buy stock, to Lai’s delight, more than 30% of employees participated.

“That’s almost 2,000 people who voluntarily invested back into the company they work for. Given the size of our organization, when you have that many people that deeply believe in the company, it becomes as powerful for us to get stronger and stronger,” Lai said during the call.

Naturally at Home in Tucson

With headquarters in two separate buildings downtown, Lai considers Tucson a great home for Mister Car Wash.

“The grit and tenacity of Tucson is a nice parallel to our company and approach. We’ve also been a company that has acquired over 100 businesses, which brings a lot of transplants and new ideas into the business,” Lai said.

Building a Brand

Car Wash Partners first set out to grow Mister Car Wash into a national brand in 1996. The partnership wanted to not only seize the opportunity to roll up a fragmented industry through acquisition and rebranding, but also to grow market share by consistently and continually redefining the car wash experience.

Growing market share began with the basic building blocks of consistently delivering great service with a friendly smile, speed and convenience. Mister Car Wash next pioneered the concept of subscription memberships within the car wash industry, launching its Unlimited Wash Club in 2003.

By 2012, Mister Car Wash had taken the lead as America’s largest car wash chain and Mister Car Wash now has more than 1.5 million Unlimited Wash Club members. Mister Car Wash recently made car washing more accessible to consumers by strategically committing to Express Exterior store formats. The more recent addition of contactless service also bolstered consumer confidence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are fortunate to have benefitted from some macro tailwinds, but what has set us apart is our relentless focus on operational excellence, building a culture of caring for our people that translates to the hospitality they deliver to our members and customers, and never settling, constantly pushing the envelope to get a cleaner, drier, shinier car,” Lai said.

The Road to Wall Street

The journey to Wall Street has not been without its challenges. “In an industry that is so highly fragmented, we’ve had to be disciplined on acquisitions and also strategic in adding the new build development arm,” Lai said. “We could easily be distracted to just buy or build stores to grow a store count number, but that comes at the expense of your customer experience and maintaining culture.”

Like its proprietary formulas at work in the wash tunnel, Mister Car Wash’s formula for business growth has been an obvious success. Today, Mister Car Wash operates more than 350 locations in 21 states. And with so many of its 6,000-plus team members investing financially as well as physically in the company’s continued growth and profitability, Lai expects the next 25 years to be just as exciting.