Bennett Cloud tells Michelle Rivera this company’s formula for success to grow from 24 to 142 stores in a little more than a decade.

When the Cloud family bought the assets to Just Brakes in 1994, their knowledge of the brake business was limited, explained Bennett Cloud, president and CEO. The company was able to grow from 12 stores in 1994 to 142 in 2007 because of its formula for success in operations.

When Cloud took the role of CEO in December 2005 after his father stepped down, he developed a strategy to have a total of 250 stores within the next five years. After experiencing double exponential growth from 1995 to 2001, the company had been fairly stagnant, sitting around 130 to 140 stores for about six years.

“After that growth period, it was like pushing away from the Thanksgiving dinner table to let things digest. And we’ve been digesting for the last six years,” Cloud said. “Now that we’re to the point of a breakout mode, we have to either move forward or move back.”

Bennett Cloud

Moving forward
Cloud’s business philosophy is, “If you don’t grow, you die.” Choosing to move forward, Cloud expects to open an additional 20 stores by the end of the calendar year. Just Brakes will expand in all 11 of its existing markets, particularly in the West, with four planned stores in Las Vegas and three in the Phoenix region. Cloud plans to open four more stores in Dallas Ft. Worth as well as open up a new market in San Antonio, Texas.

“Most would consider our growth plans aggressive, but we don’t think they are because of the way we quickly opened our 140 stores in seven states,” Cloud said. “We feel the next 100 stores aren’t going to be as challenging, especially with our latest technology investment.”

Just Brakes is finishing up a transition from a manual-based system to a fully automated, electronic-based system, a POS. Rolling out POS in all its stores has been a major initiative for the company. Servicing close to 300,000 cars per year, Just Brakes needed a program that would data mine its entire current customer base so management could make more efficient decisions in the future. “We’re about 40% complete with our rollout. Since the company has been around since 1994, this is one of the biggest things that has happened at Just Brakes.”

Large investments can often be quite risky, and Cloud admits it was rather difficult to convince the organization, especially the operations side of the business, just how beneficial the POS would be. “Once we got over that hump to see the light and saw how much benefit the automated system brought to the organization, it loosed everything up a bit,” he said.

As Just Brakes continues to grow, there have been some challenges that are inherent going from a small- to mid-sized company. One of Cloud’s major initiatives has been to challenge other departments such as HR, real estate management, and accounting to take more ownership of their decisions. Previously, everything was up to operations to figure out any problems.

“I’ve helped to define within the organization who’s responsible for what. I’ve tried to keep operations focused on its task at hand and evenly spread out other issues among the appropriate departments,” Cloud explained. “This has been evolving for us, making sure within the last year that everyone understands what their part is.”

Ongoing improvement
Along the way, Cloud has implemented multiple programs aimed at improving the Just Brakes’ facilities. The company’s new maintenance department implemented a program for all stores and equipment. Several years ago, the maintenance department existed to mainly “put out the fires,” explained the chief executive.

During the middle of last year, Bennett rolled out Just Brakes University, the first of its kind to integrate brand new management hires into the stores. “Someone who comes in looking to be in management enters a program that trains them how to be a Just Brakes manager,” Cloud said. “This has been a major piece we needed to expand more aggressively.”

In addition to its management team, Just Brakes has a multitude of loyal employees. “We have a tenure like you wouldn’t believe,” he said. Out of the company’s 820 employees, an estimated 60 people have been with the company for more than 10 years.

Because the majority of business at Just Brakes is strictly operations, Cloud ensures that the mothership (headquarters) equips the more than 140 stores with everything they need to be successful. “Part of the success of our company is a plan in which our stores, without legally putting the name there, are like our partners—it’s their business, without the risk of signing their names on the dotted line. Ultimately, everyone is responsible for the success of their store, a major reason why Just Brakes continues to be successful,” he concluded.