Hawtree & Sons Riverside Garage continues to invest in its successful forecourt washing hub, marketing its latest additions – two dual-purpose car-dryer and high-powered vacuum machines – as giving a “showroom finish”.
It has spent £75,000 on the Adriateh units, and the groundworks and tarmacking for them. They join three Adriateh jet washes, and two laundry machines, and a dog wash on the Gillingham site in Dorset.
Director Seb Hawtree, one of three brothers running the second-generation family business, says that the wash area has become a destination for customers “helping to drive both repeat visits and longer dwell time” at the Murco/Spar site.
In its first year The Paddock branded three-bay jet wash hub turned over £130,000, with its 94% gross profit margin making it one of the most successful parts of the business. Since then, this year income from valeting has gone up a further 25%.
This is partly down to “unexpected viral exposure” on TikTok, with customers filming and sharing videos of themselves using the jet wash facilities. Also, around 15% of the customers using the jet washes go on to dry or vacuum their cars.
Fuel business has also increased since the introduction of the valeting hub, with sales value at the pump up 9%, illustrating says Hawtree how the facility has attracted new customers to the site.
Also popular are the dog wash, which the business receives ground rent for, and the two laundry machines which give the business a combined £1,500 commission a month, while also driving coffee and food to go sales.
“It’s quite unusual for a customer not to buy a coffee while doing their laundry,” says Hawtree.
He adds: “We stay ahead of local competitors through continual investment, premium equipment choices and a strong focus on the overall customer experience,” says Hawtree.
