Midas, whose franchise system is one of the world’s largest providers of automotive services, recently hosted its annual convention in Nashville.

The company kicked off the three-day event with a celebration to commemorate its 68th birthday with vendors, support team members and franchisees, with representation from approximately 70% of the Midas franchise system, setting a new attendance record for the franchisor.

Midas, a subsidiary of TBC Corporation, continues to grow and evolve. In his opening speech, President and COO Lenny Valentino remarked, “We made the decision that, as part of our evolution, we would center our business around the customer experience. That’s our vision for Midas. We are going to set the gold standard in and out of our industry for customer service.”

Franchisees were key contributors throughout the conference and participated on panels and in discussions on important topics including people development, servicing hybrids and EVs, emerging vehicle technology and more.

Giving back to communities

The Midas franchise system is dedicated to strengthening communities, and for the second year in a row, selected a local non-profit organization to benefit from a donation during their annual convention. This year, Youth Villages in Middle Tennessee was presented with a check for $1,500 to benefit the nonprofit’s LifeSet program. LifeSet is one of the nation’s first — and now one of the largest — evidence-informed programs helping young people who age out of foster care.

The organization, which also had a booth presence at the convention’s trade show, received a matching donation from the International Midas Dealers Association (IMDA), for a total donation of $3,000.

Awards

The awards ceremony on the final evening gave attendees an opportunity to celebrate franchisees’ hard work and innovation. This year, the number of franchisees recognized for earning $2M, $3M, $4M, and $5M in revenue, increased by more than 157%. The franchise system also celebrated achieving 36 months of record-breaking sales. Other awards included:

• Franchisee of the Year
  This award honors both single and multi-unit franchise owners, who are ranked based on their store performance on the following five criteria/KPI’s: customer count volume, tire sales volume, total sales volume, total sales growth and total five-star Google reviews. This year’s winners were Daniel Evers (Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Quebec and single-unit recipient) and Nasser and Amer Halwani (Detroit and multi-unit recipient).
• Midas Hall of Fame
  The IMDA, in conjunction with Midas, brought back this distinguished honor at this year’s convention. To be considered for the award, candidates must be a 20-year or more Midas franchisee or current or past corporate Midas employee or IMDA member in addition to being a dedicated and hardworking ambassador of the brand, displaying an unwavering passion for their work, and demonstrating a willingness to positively impact their fellow franchisees and the Midas system. This year’s honorees were Kent Smith (15 stores in the New England Area) and Randy Lucyk (Kalkaska, Michigan; retired).
• Mark Smith Community Involvement
  This award recognizes a franchise owner who strives to build strong community involvement in the markets where they serve. This year’s Grand Prize winner was Gus Herlong.
• Nate Sherman Honorary Achievement
  This award honors former employees who have supported Midas for many years. This year’s winners were Michael Lewis and Mike Bukowski.

“With franchisees and the Midas support team working together, we created and shared information about new programs and technology that will not only reward our stores, but will also help to put more profit into our bottom lines,” said Adam Stranik, president of the IMDA. “I’m excited to continue to build upon the momentum from this year’s event and look forward to next February when we’ll bring our annual Midas-IMDA convention to Orlando.”