Tyler Paparello is the Chief Operating Officer at AMG, overseeing 28 Midas locations across New England. With a background rooted in sales, Tyler learned early on that while selling can solve short-term problems, it takes leadership, people, and process to scale a business sustainably. Today, he focuses on building systems that empower employees, earn customer trust, and create long-term growth opportunities across the organization.

In this episode…

What happens when a company grows faster than one person can manage? For Tyler Paparello, it meant learning a lesson every leader eventually faces: you can’t sell your way out of every challenge. Leadership in business growth requires more than talent for closing deals; it’s about building teams, developing people, and creating processes that work at scale.

On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge welcomes Tyler for a candid conversation about transitioning from sales-driven success to people-first leadership. Tyler shares how his early sales experience shaped the way he runs operations at 28 Midas shops, and why he believes employees are the foundation of long-term success. He also explains how customer trust, retention, and perception directly impact growth and why focusing on people, not profit, is the true path to sustainable business leadership.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

[01:27] Tyler’s career background and how he got started at Midas

[02:47] The mantra that guides his leadership philosophy

[04:04] How digital vehicle inspections (DVIs) influence customer trust and sales

[05:21] Why storytelling makes DVIs more effective in customer communication

[08:03] Why the auto repair industry struggles with customer trust

[09:48] Using Net Promoter Score (NPS) to capture authentic customer feedback

[13:09] Tyler’s transition from sales to leadership as AMG scaled

[15:08] The impact of tariffs on pricing and operations

[18:35] A sales story that shows the power of honesty in business

[21:36] Tyler’s love for New Haven pizza — and why he calls it the best in the country

[25:33] Future growth plans for AMG and the career opportunities they create

[27:47] Why promoting from within drives retention and strengthens leadership culture

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Tyler Paparello on LinkedIn
• Midas’ Website
• Tread Partners
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn
• Gain Traction Podcast on YouTube
• Gain Traction Podcast

Quotable Moments:

• “You can’t sell your way out of 20 stores’ problems, you have to lead.”
• “It always comes back to people. Employees and customers are the foundation of success.”
• “Perception is reality: How you present pricing matters as much as the price itself.”
• “Processes and systems create consistency, and consistency builds trust.”
• “Leadership in business growth starts with investing in your team, not chasing profit.”

Action Steps:

1. Invest in people, not just sales results: Focus on developing employees and promoting from within to build loyalty and leadership.
2. Leverage digital tools like DVIs and NPS: Use technology to strengthen trust, gather feedback, and improve customer experience.
3. Rethink how you handle pricing: Present costs with confidence to reinforce value rather than apologizing for them.
4. Build systems that scale: Processes, not one-off fixes, drive sustainable growth.
5. Keep people at the center: Customers and employees must remain the priority, profit follows when people are cared for.

• AMG
• Gain Traction Podcast
• Mike Edge
• Tread Partners
• Tyler Paparello

Transcript

00:00
The first year I got in with this company, we only had a couple locations. And I love sales. It’s all I’ve ever done and it’s all I ever will do. And I flew around there with my head cut off, selling everything I could and taking care of our customers. And as we grew, I realized that I wasn’t good enough to sell my way out of 10 or 15 or 20 stores problems. And so I had to start to learn how to be a leader and how to get folks to buy into the message that we’re trying to deliver. And you know, that was a difficult transition. 

00:26
Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business. I am Mike Edge, your host and I have the privile of interviewing the tire dealers, shop owners, counter sales reps, technicians, industry executives and other thought leaders of our industry. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners. Tread Partners is the leading digital marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. Tread Partners works with clients that have hundreds of locations, down to five locations. Get a professional unbiased opinion and let Tread Partners review what you’re doing. It starts with a simple conversation. To contact tread partners, visit treadpartners.com so let’s get started. Hey folks, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast, the official podcast for tire business. We have Tyler Paparello, chief operating officer for AMG, which owns 28 Midas stores in the New England area. 

01:20
Tyler, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast. 

01:24
Thanks for having me, Mike, Excited to be on. 

01:26
Yeah, glad to have you here. Glad you originally reached out. I think I’ve talked to you a couple times now and you got a really cool story, but in the 10,000 foot view, just to give the audience a little bit about who you are and how you got over to Midas and you know, and then the operations of running 28 stores. What’d you do before this? 

01:49
Yeah, yeah, so my first job as a kid was, you know, Jiffy Lube changing oil. And you know, I kind of worked my way upstairs and I think it was the service writer called out sick or something. And so I went up there and the manager’s like, hey, could you sell? And I’m like, sure, why not? And we actually did really well that day. And you know, at the time, I mean this was way back when I was making, you know, $7.40 an hour or something and killing me. 

02:15
Yeah, killing it. Right. 

02:16
They gave me a couple dollar an hour raise and I said okay, so the money. This is where the money is. 

02:21
Right. 

02:21
So from there, I just, you know, I sold just about anything you could sell sunglasses, office equipment, went into telecom, and kind of found my way back into this industry. And I’ve tried to take just about everything I’ve learned from working for some really great companies, kind of amalgamate that all together into what we’re doing now. And, you know, it’s. It’s. It’s worked out really well. We got a great team, and we’re doing a lot of good things, I believe so. 

02:48
That’s awesome. What would you say is the most important thing that you learned along the way? If you could say, you know, one thing that stood out to you or like a quote or a mantra that you kind of live by, what. What would it be? 

02:59
Yeah. So, I mean, you know, my mantra is, it was kind of my senior quote in high school. If winning doesn’t matter, why does it? Why do they keep score? Which is Vince Lombardi. Right. And, yeah, you know, I think you really gotta. They call it inspect what you expect, and you’ve gotta measure what success looks like. You have to know what it looks like. And as far as. One of the things I’ve learned along the way, you know, process, I’ve always kind of been. A lot of times in the industry, you find, like, the best salespeople, they’re usually hurricanes and, you know, the gunslingers, if you will. And I think that process is really what I learned. Process is so important in how you do things, because this business truly is just law of averages and a good attitude, you know? 

03:44
Yeah. 

03:45
So in my opinion, it’s no different than fixing a car. Some of the best diagnostic technicians we work with, they. They have the same exact approach and how they fix a car. And, yeah, the information is going to be different, but ultimately, you know, your process in the diagnostic procedure is going to be the same. 

04:04
Yeah. And I think it’s part of that process of. In sales, I think, you know, unfortunately, salespeople could get a bad rep because of the bad apples that represent us in the industry in some ways. But the reality is the best sales reps are the most honest. I mean, almost brutally honest, you know, and it’s almost like, man, it could come off like a jerk because it looks like he didn’t care what he says, but he did tell me the truth. Right. And. And I think that’s contagious for. For, like, especially in this industry, if people know. First of all, you and I have talked about this before. No one Wakes up and goes, man, I get to go buy some tires today. Cannot wait. 

04:44
Or they say, you know, man, I can’t wait to go get my engine fixed or my brakes repaired, whatever. You know, it just doesn’t happen, you know, And I think our job, when you’re in the shop, it’s to build goodwill with a little bit of joy, because they don’t have joy right now, right? So you’re trying to, hey, I’m gonna make this as easy as possible, right? And I’m gonna tell you all the, all I have. I’m gonna tell you the truth. That’s all I can do. You know, And I was gonna ask you this. Do you guys do dvi? 

05:15
We do. Yeah, we do. 

05:16
That’s awesome. That’s awesome. I would say that’s helped you a lot. 

05:20
Hasn’t really has. You know, and I think the folks that do the best with it and we do a really great job. We have a director service that did a phenomenal job rolling this thing out. And, you know, we have between 80 and 90% adoption on it at this point. And. But man, the guys that really understand, they get that you’re telling a story, right? So it’s not just about, hey, I got to take a picture of this air filter. Because that’s what the system’s asking me for. You know, it’s. It’s the, the real dvi. It almost sells itself. And, And I’m just like, I can’t wait to show them. I’m like, here, look at this tablet for me. You know, if it’s done properly. So, so yeah, it’s great. It’s a great product. 

06:01
Man, you made me think of a funny story. I’ve got to tell you this story. This guy’s passed on now, but he used to work in a express lube that when express lubes just really kind of came out in the late 80s, early 90s or whatever. And I, and I knew the owner and I would go, and me and this guy that he had technician that worked in the, you know, in one of the bays. He was just a, he’s just a fun loving guy. I mean, you know, just. We had a good time. We tell jokes and stuff. So the owner knew me well enough that he let me out in the bay and I’d hang out with this guy while he was doing my car or whatever. One time I wasn’t in the. 

06:32
I Didn’t go out to the bay, but I was sitting in the little waiting area, and they were packed. They had a line of cars, and they were just popping them out, you know. Well, the. Everybody. Every seat’s taken, I think. Yeah, every seat’s taken. And there’s probably about 12 seats in there, and. And there’s this lady right beside me, and. And he comes through, and he’s holding an air filter, you know, and it’s her air filter. And he goes, Mrs. Parker, or something like that. He goes, Mrs. Parker? And she goes, that’s me. And he goes. He goes, this is your air filter. He said, would you like us to change it out for you? It’s dirty, and this woman’s on her own, right? So she doesn’t know what to do. 

07:09
And she just kind of looks around, like, for help, and she goes, I’m not sure. What should I do? You know? And I’m right beside her, and I go, oh. I said, that’s the one. He pulls off the shelf. He shows everybody that one. And. Oh, dude, you should have seen his face. 

07:23
Oh, man. 

07:24
Dude, I thought he wanted to kill me, right? And he’s sitting there, and he was just like. His eyes. He’s just like. Like, are you. 

07:31
You know what? 

07:32
And I’m like, I’m just kidding. I said, he’s. He’s. He’s trying to help you out. I said, go get. Get your air filter changed. And she goes, okay, I’ll get it changed, or whatever. He looks at me. He looks at me and shakes his head. But then it was one of the best. I don’t know. I love. If you knew this guy. His name was. This is perfect, too. His name was Jimbo, and he love that. Yeah, and he was very. He’s just a character, but I got him, and getting him was a big deal, and I had a lot of fun doing that one. 

08:03
Oh, you know what, though? If you think about it, Mike, the fact that this customer, you know, this person is coming out there. I trust you to do my oil change on my car. But when you bring out an air filter to me, you know, I’m looking around for someone, and she trusted your advice. She doesn’t know you from a hole in the wall. 

08:24
I know. 

08:24
That’s how easy. That’s how bad of a reputation our industry has. 

08:29
That’s a great. I never looked at it that way, but you’re right. She trusted me because I’m sitting next to her, like, what should I do? As if. As if I would know Right. I mean, I do, I did know, but I’m at the same time, it’s like you don’t know me. Sure. 

08:43
Yep. 

08:44
And, and, but she did. It’s not him, but she looked at one of her fellow, you know, customers, I guess. 

08:50
Right? Not the guy with a uniform on that says automotive service professional, but the guy sitting next to you that’s there because they want somebody else to do the service too. And like you said, she doesn’t know that you know your stuff. Right. But yeah, that’s crazy. Blows my mind. 

09:03
That’s interesting, you know. Well, it’s the same way with the reviews online, right? I mean, I said I laugh about that sometime ago. Well, I don’t know you guys, but you’ve sold me. I’m going to go do what you said that you enjoyed or whatever. You know, if you said this restaurant’s good. Now obviously it does make a difference if someone, you know, if a shop or particularly a restaurant has over a thousand views or mean reviews, then you’re like, okay, I’m going to give a little more credence to that one. But you know, when it’s only like 10 or 20 reviews and you know you got a couple negatives in there, or I’ll tell you the one. If you got too few, let’s say you only have 20 reviews, but you have all 5 stars. 

09:44
Makes me a little nervous there too because it looks like it’s a setup. You know what I mean? 

09:47
That’s true. That is true. Yeah. Google’s become, you know, almost like this is probably a bad example, but almost like the stock market, it’s not the actual result of the Google review. It’s your customer’s perception of it. And so, you know, that’s so well said. Yeah, yeah. So we track Net Promoter score and what I love about Net Promoter scores, you can’t fake it, man. You know, you can’t with a Google review. It’s a great product, it really is. But you’re like, hey, you know, if you had a good experience, can you leave me a, a five star with Net Promoter Score? It’s based on your experience today. How likely are you to recommend, you know, Midas of Blank. Right. 

10:25
And yeah, and you’re getting real feedback from these folks and some of it’s ugly, you know, and then you have an idea of what you got to work on and how you want to get better, you know? 

10:33
Yeah, well, listen, I, I, I believe in the review process, but I think we, I, I think I, I think we all know that you start to reply to the negative ones. I mean, you always do. And, and it’s good to say thank you to the positive ones. But the reality is there are people that are just have ill will and they’re always going to find something wrong and they’re always going to be negative. And I always appreciate you can tell when someone’s not sincere. Like if you know, someone in your position were to come online and say, hey, I respect your opinion on what happened, I want to know more about it. Can we take the conversation offline? I always have a great respect for companies that do that. 

11:14
But then when that person keeps going online like that, like they’re going to try to stick it to you, it’s just like, yeah, I don’t think you’re sincere about, you know, solving your problem. 

11:24
You’re 100% right. And the last thing, I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole, but I love this topic, Mike. You know, when I teach about mps, I tell our folks, you know, the net promoter score, the way it works is if you get a 10 or a 9, they’re a promoter. These are folks that’ll say, go see Mike. He’s the man. Right? 

11:39
Yeah. 

11:40
If you get an eight or a seven, these are folks that’ll say, I think of like a gas station. If you go to a gas station and as long as they have gas and you got gas, then you’re going to give them an eight or seven. You know, anything lower than that, these are detractors. These are people that’ll say, do not go see Tyler. You know, that guy’s a. You know what? Right? 

11:58
Yeah. 

11:59
If you think about it, people only leave reviews for one or two reasons. See that they’re really happy or they’re really bad. And I think we’re all ticking off the same amount of customers because we have a margin of error. Nobody’s perfect. But I think what a lot of shops miss on is they’re given kind of eight level service like a gas station. They’re given what the customer expects. And so they believe that only the ticked off people are leaving reviews. But if you actually, if you wowed your folks, if you really blew their expectations away, you’d have more good surveys, you’d have a real handle, you know, so I know I went on a random. 

12:32
No, no. But I think that’s important. I mean, and for audience, look, we’ve got a lot of operators like yourself that listen and Watch this podcast. So, you know, they pick up on nuggets and they tell me this and so I, I think it’s important for some of these shop owners. And listen, I know I have a great respect for the ones that are running, you know, the shop themselves and their one man operations. And they got one, two stores and they’re like, man, I wear all the hats and you know, I love that. This is the last thing I want to do is getting involved with, you know, getting my review system up. But it’s important and you got to do it. Man. 

13:09
That, that was such a transition for me. You know, I, the first year I got in with this company, we only had a couple locations and you know, I love sales. It’s all I’ve ever done and it’s all I ever will do. And I flew around there with my head cut off, selling everything I could and take care of our customers. And you know, as we grew, I realized that I wasn’t good enough to sell my way out of 10 or 15 or 20 stores problems. And so I had to start to learn, you know, how to be a leader and how to get folks to buy into the message that we’re trying to deliver. And you know, that was a difficult transition, you know, but a very valuable one. 

13:45
So I, I give those folks that are in the trenches every day all the credit in the world. It’s my favorite thing to do. But that doesn’t make it easy. 

13:51
No. And, and I think it’s important to have that self awareness to know, you know, hey, what am I good at, what I’m not? And you know that the reality is for some of these guys listening out there, you, there’s a lot of, you can have a small university around you, a community college or whatever, and there’s a lot of kids and working on marketing that’ll come work for, not free, but very inexpensively and get you up and going. You know, I know a lot of people that have, you know, called a college and said, hey, you got any marketing kids that are interested in doing some local this or that or whatever that just get some things set up for you. I think that’s a, a healthy strategy versus doing nothing. 

14:31
Oh, it is. Yeah. Like you, I mean, you just basically said something’s better than nothing. And you know, at this day and age, very rarely are you going to create something that’s groundbreaking in an industry. You know, when you make something like AI, you know, you’re probably going to be a billionaire, you know, but you could be a millionaire by copycat for sure. 

14:50
Oh, Abs. Absolutely. Well, you know, it’s interesting, but AI, there goes a happy customer, right? 

14:59
Yeah. Amen. Amen. If you’re happy right now, you know, I see. I, I do spend time in the trenches, as they say. 

15:07
Right. So I like it. But I don’t know where I was going with that. But I did want to ask you one of. This is obviously an important topic, but how is tariffs affecting you in your operations? 

15:23
That’s a great question. You know, I think we did a really good job kind of anticipating, you know, some of these things. And I think we’re feeling it on the tire side little bit. And as far as parts, I don’t think our shops have felt it too much on the tire side. You know, if I’m being frank with you, it’s the same system. Right. And so what we do is, you know, we have our margins that we need to attain so that we can take, you know, good care of our employees, which in turn will take care of our customers and then they’ll bring the business back. Right. So, you know, we’re kind of plugging these things into systems. And I think perception is reality. 

16:04
And, you know, if you’re quoting that set of tires at 800 and it was 600 six months ago, if you believe that it’s more expensive now, then you’re going to say, you know, you’re going to come in there kind of halfway and you’re going to say, and I know these things are expensive, and you’re going to get your customer to believe you that it’s expensive. But if you come in there and you say, you know, this is the best deal, this is a great set of tires, your customer is going to buy into that too. It’s, it’s just like I said, perception’s reality. So. 

16:31
No, but that’s a great way of presenting it. I mean, and it’s not bs it’s just because it’s the reality. It’s not. No, I’m sorry, you’re not selling six months ago’s tires, you’re selling today’s tires. Yeah. So the reality is, today this is the best price out available. Man, this is a good set of tires. 

16:51
Yep, it’s very true. It’s very true. And know, we even had, I was in the shop a couple days ago, we had a customer and, you know, I wrote him up for an estimate. And, you know, he was somewhat reluctant. And I said, hey, you know, this is. You know, this is what’s going to fix the vehicle. I understand the frustration here. And he said, yes, go ahead, do it. And then, you know, afterwards, I’m in the office, and I can hear him. He was like, you know, this. This is ridiculous. This price is really high. And I’m a pretty transparent guy. So I walk out to him and I say, you know, what do you feel like you want to pay for this thing? You know? And I said, ultimately, I’m going to make sure that when you leave here, you’re happy. 

17:25
And we’re having a conversation. He’s like, well, I get the part, you know, here, for this price, and it only would take me a half an hour to do it. And I said, here’s the deal. Like I said, when you leave, I’m going to make sure that you’re happy. All I’m hoping for is that you understand if you buy a steak at the grocery store, you know that you’re going to pay a lot more at Ruth’s, Chris, than you would at the grocery store. And I said, but again, I want to make sure that you’re happy. And I think we gave that guy maybe half off. We saved him 250 bucks. But that $250, it doesn’t even matter. 

17:57
What matters is, does that guy leave here saying that he had a really good experience at Midas, or does he leave here saying, don’t go there. They’re going to rake you over the Colts? 

18:05
Yeah. 

18:05
You know. 

18:06
Yeah. 

18:07
So I don’t think tariffs affect customer service, I guess, is what I’m getting at now. 

18:12
And look, sometimes making a deal like that is just, like, the best marketing dollar you can spend. Right? 

18:18
Right. 

18:19
Yeah. 

18:19
Yep. We say, hey, we’re. I’m buying your business today. You know, just do me a favor. Don’t go sharing this with everybody. You’re going to put me under here and we joke around with them a little bit. But. But they, you know, they know they got the deal today, and they’re appreciative of it. 

18:32
Hey, you told me a story about a guy that sold for you guys. I think this is classic. Would you share that again? 

18:41
Yeah, I’d love to. Yeah. So had a kid, hired him out of an Audi dealership, and arguably one of the best sales guys I’ve ever worked with. 

18:50
You guys hired him from the dealership? 

18:54
Yeah, he was getting tired of the longer hours, and as soon as I met him, you can Just. You just know, you know, when someone has that. The gift, if you will. Right? 

19:03
Yeah. 

19:03
And super charismatic, you know, great presence. But he’s a younger kid, you know, so we hire him, I’m training him up, and he takes it and runs with it. He starts doing really well right away. And that’s usually one of the indicators that you got yourself a good person. Right. Immediate impact in sales. So he gets an elderly gentleman comes in and shopping for a set of tires. I think he had a Buick. And, you know, I wrote up the ro for. For this younger hire here. I think we did a. Priced out like the Mack Daddy tires, you know, some good year weather. Ready. It’s really good. Good tires, alignment, you know, road hazard, all this stuff, right? And he quotes him out and he was like, you know, Mr. Customer, it’s going to be probably. It’s going to be 1100. 

19:47
I think it was 1100. And this poor German almost fell over. He’s like, 1100 for tires? Now, that’s ridiculous. Last time I bought tires, they were 600. And without missing a beat, man, this kid goes, you know, Mr. Customer, this very well may be the last set of tires that you ever buy. Don’t you want to make sure that the vehicle rides the way it’s supposed to? And, you know, I’m listening to him and I almost fell over, right? My eyes are wide and. And this guy steps back for a second and I, I come swinging around the counter because I’m gonna go, you know, I’m like, I’m ready to save this customer. And this guy goes, you know what? You’re probably right. He goes, go ahead and get it done. And I was just like, what? Just blown away. 

20:29
But here’s the thing, as crazy as that sounds, and it’s the. It is one of the best sell stories I’ve ever heard. Because. But you’re. Hey, but your. Your guy, he. He was really telling the truth. And that’s what I mean about being brutally honest. Like, he knows he’s dealing with an elderly man, but he throws that in the equation and it actually worked. 

20:55
You’re. I can’t. I’m wrapping my head around it to this day, right? But. But where’s he gonna. Where’s that money gonna go if you got it in your bank account and you want a good riding vehicle, who cares? Who cares? 

21:07
You know, but the fact that young man picked up on that and then had the guts, I’m not. Because I, I don’t know if you can get me there. The guts. 

21:14
I know. 

21:15
Say that because, like, your same response is, you think you got to come back and you’re gonna have to save this situation. Like, you could. You could probably picture the guy going, what the hell are you talking about, boy? You know, right? 

21:25
I was ready. I was ready. This guy, I was like, this guy’s gonna take out his boxing gloves. This is gonna be it. You know, and he’s like, go ahead and get it done. 

21:33
Unbelievable. That’s a great story. I got another question for you. This one has. It’s more personal, but what’s. What’s your favorite food? Because we talked about this a little bit, but I think I knew the answer. But I want to hear it again and go, I love going down certain, like, personal rabbit holes. This is one of my favorite topics. 

21:53
So, you know, being from New England and I actually live in Connecticut, I’m about 25 minutes from New Haven, which is the self proclaimed, you know, pizza capital of the United States. Right. And, you know, I’m here to confirm that for you, Mike. You know, we. We make the best pizza in the country. And as we’ve grown to 28 locations, I’ve been up and down New England, and I can definitively say that there is no pizza better than the ones that you’ll find in New Haven. And if anybody wants to challenge me, then, you know, please, I’ll. I’ll take you. I’ll take you to a great spot in New Haven, and then we’ll go out to your neck of the woods and we’ll try some pizza. But I’m pretty confident, so I love pizza is the short answer here. 

22:33
That’s also an added, too. And. And I like those unique places that have their own little recipe or whatever, you know, that. That made them unique. I’m curious, because I think he’s been there a bunch. Dave Portnoy, for your pizza. When he does his pizza reviews. 

22:51
Yep. 

22:52
Yeah. Is. Is that. Is that. Are you guys one of the ones that. The very few that have a 9? You know, he never gives me my a 10, but yeah. 

23:01
So if I’m not mistaken, one of the places in New Haven called Sally’s. Yeah, Got it. Got one of the nines that he gave out. Yeah. Yeah. 

23:09
That’s. That’s huge because he is. He is a stickler. Now, granted, okay, it’s Dave Portnoy’s taste buds versus mine, and everybody’s got. It’s a subjective opinion. I get it. But it is kind of fun that he created this thing because, you know, he’s got people that are interested. My son follows it. I mean, just for fun, you know, just because it’s interesting, because, first of all, I mean, we all love pizza, right? 

23:35
Right. Right. 

23:36
I got a good friend of mine that this is probably 10 years ago, but he’s in his mid to late 60s now, and he’s older than me, but quite a bit. But I remember him saying to me. 

23:49
Wanted to make sure you include. 

23:50
Yeah, let me. Let me clarify that for the audience here. But anyway, I thought it was interesting because he’s an older guy, the way he admitted, you know, you hear kids and younger people say, love pizza and all this stuff. And he was an older guy even at the time. He goes, I’m tell you something, I freaking love pizza. And he said, I. He goes, now, I might want to. I might want to change up the flavor. But he said, I think I could eat pizza every day. And I just thought it was funny hearing it from an older guy that kind of was around when, you know, he was probably. I’m gonna say he was in high school when the first pizza places were kind of showing up in small towns, you know. Right, right. 

24:29
You know, you know, ABC City’s first pizza place or whatever, you know, in the 1960s, most of them got. It, got their start in the 60s, you know, and anyway, he. He. That would have been his. His time frame or whatever. And I just think it’s funny that he. He admitted it, and he goes, I could eat pizza every day. 

24:47
Well, similar to probably every other American family, you know, on a Friday night when my wife and I don’t want to cook anymore for that day, we’re, you know, what do you want to. What do you want to eat? And I swear, we’ll go, you know, around the world, right? We’re like, do you want. You want to get some Chinese food? You want to get some. Some Mexican food? We. And we just end up landing on people just buy pizza because it’s a. It’s a safe bet and you can never go wrong. 

25:09
It’s safe for everybody in the house. That’s the thing. Because. Because if you. If you. In order to even make it safer, you go, you can do. You can divvy up your toppings, right? Half and half, all that stuff. So you get everybody. Is everybody happy around here? Right? 

25:22
You know, that’s right. 

25:24
That’s right. That’s funny. Although. 

25:26
Although today, you know, you got the dairy allergies and the gluten allergies. And you know, you got to be a little more careful these days. 

25:32
I will say, but I don’t know, it’s weird. Hey, one more question on business. Where do you guys go from here? Because I failed to mention this, but you guys have grown from five stores in 2020 to 28 stores now. 

25:46
Yeah, 28 stores. And you know, there’s more on the way already. Brother, that’s awesome. So, you know, where we go from here is people ask, you know, myself all the time and the owner, you know, what’s your long term plan, how many stores? And, and the answer is always the same. As many as we can, as long as it makes sense. You know, we’re going to continue to buy stores that fit within our footprint. And you know, we haven’t talked about airplanes yet, meaning, you know, far enough where you got to fly there. So yeah, I think if it’s in New England and it’s got six bays, you know, we’re going to look at it. That’s awesome. 

26:20
Yeah, I would say the benefit in that too though. It’s also lets your employees know that hey, you got a career here. This isn’t just a, this isn’t just a position. We don’t want you to think of it as just, hey, a trans, you know, a portal job or you know, a temporary opportunity. This is a career. And, and you have advancement opportunities because you’re going to need managers, etc, you’re 100% right. 

26:44
And the last time I pulled the numbers and this was a couple months ago, but over 70% of our store managers were internally promoted. They started off as service advisors or assistants. Beautiful. 

26:56
Six. 

26:56
We have six district managers now. Five of them have been. Or four. I’m sorry, four of them have been internally promoted and the other two came on board as part of an acquisition and they had worked for the previous ownership for many years. And you know, those two are great as well. But you know, like I said, all of them have all been long term Midas guys that are, when you promote somebody, I can’t remember what the statistic is, but the chances of them leaving is like almost shrunk down to a third. Now I’m not saying you go handing out promotions like they’re candy, but when you promote good people, you know, you’re going to keep them. 

27:31
And, and I’ve been in situations where I thought I was, you know, ready for more opportunity and I had a company that didn’t, you know, provide that. And, and I, I had to go find a different opportunity. Right. And I think about that all the time. I never want to hold any of my folks back. 

27:47
That’s, that’s a good note to end on, but that’s powerful. I don’t want to hold anybody back. And, and if I can, I want to promote you. I mean, and you’re proving it when you’re, hey, we grow if it makes sense and making sense is the key. It’s not like, hey, we’re going to grow just because we want to get bigger. We’re going to grow because it makes sense. 

28:05
Absolutely. 

28:06
I like that. Yeah. Tyler, I tell you what, thank you for being part of the podcast. This has been awesome. 

28:11
Yeah, my pleasure, man. Thank you so much for having me on. And anything you need, you let me know, Mike. 

28:16
Absolutely. And I want you to stay in touch. So to all our listeners out there, you know, we love you. Come back, see us. And oh, I do want to encourage you guys if you have a guest and you think, man, I know this guy in the industry and he would be awesome. On the Gain Traction podcast, shoot me an email [email protected] that’s our parent company, Tread Partners mikedpartners.com But this is for the audience too, you know, just for everybody. Just let me know. We take all inquiries serious or recommendations, so we appreciate you. To all our listeners, thank you for being part of the Gain Traction podcast. We are grateful for you. 

28:53
If you’d like to find more podcast like this, please visit gaintraction podcast.com if you’d like to make a guest recommendation, please email me@mike treadpartners.com this episode has been powered by Tread partners, the leader in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops. To learn more about tread partners, visit treadpartners.com.