Sonny’s Enterprises is the world’s largest manufacturer of conveyorized car wash equipment and the industry’s only full-service solution provider for car wash operators in North America. “We are car wash people,” summarizes Chief Commercial Officer Andrew J. Smulski. “What really differentiates us from the competition is that we have always been a car wash company, built by car wash people. We have a total solution that we can provide to our customers—everything from design services through chemical delivery and service and preventative maintenance inside of their tunnel.”
The company’s history goes all the way back to 1949, when Sonny Fazio launched a small car wash business in the Boston area. After realizing that car wash parts were too expensive, Fazio sold his operation and turned his attention to tackling the problem. “He started a new company, just selling parts into the car wash industry,” Smulski says. “He ended up building his business into a car wash parts business, which was then built into a manufacturing company, because he had such great relationships and understood what customers were looking for.”
By the early 1980s, the company was building its own equipment in Tamarac, Florida. “They sourced everything and designed it,” says Smulski. “Since that time until now, they’ve been building car wash tunnels—the industry’s highest quality.”
Maintaining control of the operation gives the team the ability to deliver this personalized, high-quality solution. “We do all of our own engineering, manufacturing, and design—all based out of [Tamarac] today.” What began as a humble startup now employs over 1,500 people throughout North America.
The core principles that built Sonny’s Enterprises continue to guide the company to this day. “We say the goal of our business is to make car washing easier and that’s really what is at the heart of what we do as a company,” says Smulski. “It really starts at taking a look at who our customer is and what we can do to help make their life easier, make their job easier—everything that they need to accomplish on a day-in, day-out basis at a car wash.”
Providing a total solution is key to meeting customers’ needs, so the team has worked hard to make this possible. “Over the course of the last five to eight years, we’ve made a multitude of acquisitions,” Smulski explains. “And the acquisitions have been really centered around providing a complete solution for anyone who wants to get into the car wash business, all the way through helping them operate and the preventative maintenance side of the business.”
This complete solution begins with support from the consulting services division. “You contact them, they guide you through how to select the site, how to develop a car wash, what type of permitting process to go through. From there, we take it to our sales team where they’ll develop the equipment, help you understand what needs to happen, and understand the type of environment that you’re in. They’ll walk you through the complete engineering of a solution that allows you to wash cars and also understand what you’re doing from a controls and technology perspective.”
And the support doesn’t stop there. The company provides marketing services as well as guidance to help customers “understand their point-of-sale systems, the customer relationship management within given markets,” Smulski explains. “We have over 6,000 customers throughout North America and we have a good knowledge base of what it takes to run a successful car wash.”
The company boasts a unique training system to spread this knowledge. “We provide training through the industry’s first car wash college,” he says. “When someone’s deciding that they want to open up a car wash, they can send their employees to us. We will train them in how to run an effective wash, how to work the equipment, how to maintain the equipment, how to do better business; basically, everything from soup to nuts. Everything we do is based on the customer and helping make them successful, because we feel if the customer is successful, then we will ultimately be successful.”
Sonny’s Enterprises is at the forefront of car wash technology. “About 10, 12 years ago, we started our technology journey around integrating computers and systems into the car wash,” Smulski says. “We have a complete controls system that will help turn things on or off inside of the car wash, measure the amount of chemical that’s being put onto a car… Things that were done manually, we are now automating.”
Around two years ago, Sonny’s Enterprises invested in a new software platform to take operations to the next level. “Quivio is an ecosystem for the car wash operator that has over 25 different apps that allow a car wash operator to see into varying parts of their business and to start to link things through generative AI,” Smulski explains. “We do everything from HR management to customer relationship management; basically, any tool that they would have today, we can start putting that data together through our Quivio platform. Currently, it’s really focused on marketing and helping our customers increase their membership, hold their members longer, and increase their average ticket price. But we’ll be moving into other forays as we continue to invest in that technology journey.”
The team is currently working on the next technological advancement to improve the customer experience. “We’re developing on-site edge computing systems that allow people to bring the experience closer to the customer. So instead of having to use a touch screen or wait for someone whenever you’re driving up in your car, we’ve now put the power of an iPad in front of a customer with mobile point of sale systems. You can talk to a customer and engage with them while they’re at the car wash and waiting, to help improve their experience. Where it used to be just a standard pay station, now everything is mobile, which allows our operators to better engage their customers.”
Manufacturing efficiency is another critical company focus. “Well over a decade ago, Sonny’s started to implement lean processes into the manufacturing sites to help improve the output,” Smulski says. “Then in 2020 through 2023, there was such a huge ramp up of demand, we went through another wave of efficiency projects.” These projects have brought the plant’s layout and operations into alignment with the Kaizen method of lean manufacturing. “We’ve hired operational experts that came in from the automotive industry. They’re instituting the Toyota Manufacturing Systems process and doing a lot of things that are helping us improve, to become more efficient, and to provide a better quality product, but also drive down the cost through cutting out waste within our system.”
Now, after decades of success, the team is carefully planning its next steps. “Number one is continuing on the technology journey that we’re on today,” says Smulski. Overall, the long-term goal will be to keep providing the best solution for car wash operators. “Ultimately, we want to continue to maintain our industry-leading market share, continue to grow the business, and to expand into other markets like convenience and gas and start to understand how we can deliver and help increase the car wash and consumer experience.”
Armed with a track record of industry-leading solutions, this goal is well within reach for the car wash people.
