Two brothers who own a moving services franchise in Norwalk, Millwood and Port Chester plan to grow its fleet and staff in the new year.
With the help of a loan from the Small Business Administration and Wells Fargo & Co., brothers Stephen and Marc Viggiano of Ridgefield and Port Chester, respectively, plan to open their fourth Two Men and a Truck location in Yonkers in January.
Ahead of the expansion, the Viggianos recently hired another business partner, Justin Brogan, to be the general manager of their Millwood office. Marc will slide into Yonkers, while Stephen will oversee the Norwalk office. They plan to hire from 10 to 18 workers in Yonkers.
Brogan, who worked with the corporate team of Two Men and a Truck in Lansing, Mich., for five years, secured his job as managing partner with the two brothers and moved to New Fairfield with his family earlier this year. He said he had always wanted to own a business without taking on a lot of risk.
What made him want to work for the Two Men and a Truck franchise was its track record of growth. In 2014, revenues from the Viggianos”™ franchise grossed about $2.4 million in Norwalk and $1.25 million in Millwood. In Yonkers, they project to gross $600,000.
“We”™re growing our existing operations and starting new ones from scratch,” Brogan said. “The key to growth is keeping everyone organized. In Fairfield, we”™re up 5 percent for the year. This last half of the year, we”™ve been up 20 percent from the earlier half.”
Brogan said the parent company”™s sales doubled from 2009 to 2013, from $160 million to $320 million. That was surprising to him since the moving industry remained flat during the housing crisis, yet he said Two Men and a Truck carved out a market share from its competitors.
In the third quarter of 2014, the company reported about $108.98 million in total revenue, a 15 percent increase over 2013.
Customer service is paramount to the business, Stephen said. Being involved in the community and treating its employees well will flow into how the business serves its customers, he said.
Technology is also a critical component of the moving company franchise. Since it is a business on wheels, it maintains all of its records and invoices online.
“Everything was written with paper and pencil and typed out in a word processor when I started this business 17 years ago,” Stephen said. “Now we have a system that can estimate price for us when we punch in the number and types of furniture. We even use GPS on our trucks to know where they are during the day. Technology is a pretty big investment. Those who want to stay in the game need to take on new technology.”
The franchise has a total of 40 people on staff in Fairfield County and between 15 and 20 in Westchester.
The Viggianos and Brogan plan to open a Danbury office in March.
