RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — RIVIERA BEACH, FLA. -- The climbing temperatures have car washes across South Florida in overdrive.
Car wash operators report acceleration in business as customer demands evolve.
Providing the convenience of a car wash has been a big business driver for Darrell Patterson over the last ten years.
However, opening his third Wash + Wax location in Riviera Beach last summer came with a few bumps in the road.
“It was trying times, but we held in there and it worked out,” said Darrell Patterson, owner of Wash + Wax.
When the pandemic put a break on business, he shifted to contact-free service to meet new customer needs.
“We had to provide more self-services for the customer to take advantage of,” added Patterson.
The demand for a clean car on-the-go is also gaining speed on the Treasure Coast as new business owners enter the car wash industry.
“I would sanitize my car after I got a car wash and that’s when we spoke about it and decided we were going to offer it,” said Ina Romano, co-owner of Islands Auto Spa in Hobe Sound.
Islands Auto Spa is currently in the final phase of construction and is scheduled to open in mid-February.
The owners will take on the new business venture with plans to introduce a new sanitizing fog for extra protection.
“It’s more of a handheld fog machine that gets attached to the air hoses and we’re able to fog the car quickly,” said co-owner Sebastian Monte.
TONIGHT AT 5:30🚗🧽🚘🧼Car wash owners are finding an alternate route to drive sales after the pandemic put the breaks on business last year... We'll share their key to success and why more people are joining the industry...
— Linnie Supall WPTV (@LinnieSupall) January 21, 2021
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