When referencing our annual Top 50 List of U.S. Conveyor Carwashes, this month’s cover story author, Steve Gaudreau, sums it up as “… one of the most anticipated news events of the year in the carwash industry.”
That anticipation has been growing in recent years as top chains have increased their number of locations. While still considered highly fragmented at the operator level, our annual list has shown significant growth among the top 50 conveyor chains in the U.S. market — some through intense acquisition and development activity.
While we’re still in the middle stages of verifying the information for this year’s list at the time of writing this, interesting changes are starting to surface.
In our 2017 list, for example, the fifth largest conveyor carwash operator at the time verified operating 50 locations. For the 2022 list, it looks like the requirement to make the fifth spot might be almost four times that mark. Also, as noted in our 2017 list, the minimum baseline to make the list was nine locations. While it’s still too early to tell, that number might be double this year when compared to 2017.
That’s remarkable change in just five years.
While I do enjoy going through the process of completing the research each year for this list — mostly because it’s great to connect with operators I’ve gotten to know over the years — it’s also been rewarding to hear the impact the list has had on the industry as a whole and some of its members. For instance, while attending the NRCC show recently, an industry professional let me know how the list helped him find a new career opportunity in the market.
The 2022 tentative list changes daily as our research rolls on so more surprises might still be in store and/or some of these early findings mentioned here might have to be walked back, but for now, this year’s list, which will be published in the next issue, is shaping up to be one for the records.
Gaudreau, who is an early supporter of our list, takes a look back and forward in this month’s cover story. As anticipation builds, we will wrap up the research in the coming weeks.
On another note, one of our social media platforms hit a significant milestone recently. We now have over 600 subscribers on our YouTube channel. Thank you to all of our followers and connections on social
media.
If you haven’t already, you can follow along on the social platforms listed below on this page. We will be featuring plenty of Top 50 announcements on our social media accounts as well as on Carwash.com in the coming months.
We appreciate your support, thank you.
