The story of Tommy’s Express starts when the Essenburg family established Quality Car Wash in 1969 and expanded to seven locations across West Michigan. Years of innovation and operations experience propelled the Essenburgs to offer their car wash parts and equipment through Tommy Car Wash Systems. In 2016, the Tommy’s Express franchise was born with a vision to establish a recognized national car wash brand and expand globally.  

Serving communities, adding value, and enriching lives is the mantra Quality Car Wash and Tommy’s Express both live by, initially inspired by the Essenburgs.

Beginning with Quality Car Wash in 1969, the Essenburgs always put others before themselves and constantly expressed gratitude for those surrounding them. This heart of giving continued when they branched out to franchise internationally with Tommy’s Express Car Wash, which is still alive and thriving today.  

For more information, check out our blog on the history between Quality Car Wash and Tommy’s Express!

Passed down by the generations, the Essenburgs have continued to lead their washes with these core values, putting community first above all things.  

This mission wasn’t just a spoken goal either, as it was actively and constantly demonstrated! Events and ongoing fundraisers such as the Helping Hands fundraiser, the annual MDA Golf Scrambles, the Holland PD Racecar Day, and many more exemplified the Essenburg family’s pursuit to make a positive change in their community.

These actions haven’t gone unnoticed either. Several streets and parks in the Holland area have names dedicated to and in honor of the Essenburg family.  

As of Summer 2022, Jun Essenburg continues to lead by example by being a regular contributor at the office; despite being in his 90s, he values spending time with others and discussing the business.  

The visionary impact of these core values started by Sonny and Jun has continued to ripple into our efforts today as the story of Tommy’s Express continues to be written, carrying on the tradition of giving back to the communities who have welcomed us into their lives. 

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The story of Tommy’s Express starts when the Essenburg family established Quality Car Wash in 1969 and expanded to seven locations across West Michigan. Years of innovation and operations experience propelled the Essenburgs to offer their car wash parts and equipment through Tommy Car Wash Systems. In 2016, the Tommy’s Express franchise was born with a vision to establish a recognized national car wash brand and expand globally.

Helping Hands Fundraiser

In 1999, after three decades of continuous support and love from the Holland community, the team at Quality Car Wash sought to repay the community for their kindness by giving back. Thus, the Quality Car Wash team created the Helping Hands Fundraising Program. 

The program allowed organizations in the area to buy discounted wash vouchers which they could then resell and keep the proceeds.

This program created unlimited fundraising potential for community members and program users, allowing them to raise money for their cause.

Helping Hands Impacts Communities

Groups that participated in the fundraiser came from all corners of the Holland community: Churches, youth groups, baseball teams, schools, science clubs, little league soccer teams, and nonprofits. 

When the fundraisers finished, the groups earned an average of $1,000 to return to their organizations.

With the growing demand for the innovations implemented by Quality Car Wash, Tommy Car Wash Systems was specifically developed to handle producing, selling, and distributing the technology created by the Essenburgs. 

Paving the Way

The success of this brand then led to the creation of the Tommy’s Express Car Wash franchise, which would be the name for washes outside of West Michigan. Turning Tommy’s into a franchise was done to achieve the modernity needed for creating a global car wash brand.

Our guests, families, and community have always been a priority at Tommy’s Express, and we look back at our roots with pride. View our history timeline to learn more about the Quality Car Wash and Tommy’s Express story, or check out our blog!

The post The Story of Tommy’s Express: Helping Hands Fundraiser Program appeared first on Tommy's Express Car Wash.

The story of Tommy’s Express starts when the Essenburg family established Quality Car Wash in 1969 and expanded to seven locations across West Michigan. Years of innovation and operations experience propelled the Essenburgs to offer their car wash parts and equipment through Tommy Car Wash Systems. In 2016, the Tommy’s Express franchise was born with a vision to establish a recognized national car wash brand and expand globally.

One of the most significant community events hosted and sponsored by Quality Car Wash began in 1992 and was known as Seatbelt Safety Day. On this day, the Holland community was invited to convene at the Quality Car Wash on South Washington St. for a full day of eating hotdogs and popcorn, meeting racecar drivers, and learning about seatbelt safety.

Seatbelt Saftey Success

This event was held in combination with the Holland Police Department, which had a strong presence at the event. The police would set up crash simulators for children where they could ride down a slide on a sled-like vehicle and experience the importance of wearing a seatbelt when driving.

Some years later, the police would even bring in crash test dummies, which kids could take pictures and play with.

To bring more interest to the event, Quality Car Wash reached out to local racecar drivers to attend, giving families and children the chance to talk to the drivers and check out their speedy rides. One year, even Indy 500 driver Scott Brayton made an appearance!

Along with the yummy food that was grilled in the parking lot, there were even Quality Car Wash pogs and slammers that kids could collect, trade, and battle. Although these toys are a tad outdated today, they were a much-beloved pastime in the 90s. 

Seatbelt Safety

The success and turn-out of the first Seatbelt Safety Day led to this becoming an annual event in Holland. For the next five years, drivers and the Holland Police Department would meet at a Quality Car Wash location for an evening of informative fun and community involvement.

It’s events like these where the Essenburg mantra of giving back to the community shines through. That same goal continues to drive Tommy’s Express and Quality Car Wash today. Check out your local Tommy’s Express location to experience a clean like no other.

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The Essenburg family established Quality Car Wash in 1969 and expanded to seven locations across West Michigan. Years of innovation and operations experience propelled the Essenburgs to offer their car wash parts and equipment through Tommy Car Wash Systems. In 2016, the Tommy’s Express franchise was born with a vision to establish a recognized national car wash brand and expand globally.

The worldwide implementation of Tommy’s Express Car Wash was a vision that began with Tom Essenburg and was passed down to Ryan Essenburg, the current president of Tommy’s Express.

Being a leading innovative mind in the car wash industry, Tom Essenburg was a founding member of the enhancement group for car washes, a group of the top car wash owners in the world. 

Global influence

With the primary goal of observing recent trends and innovations in the car wash industry, both the good and the bad, the enhancement group would travel around the country to different wash sites. 

They would take notes on what they found and then discuss the next step for the industry and how to utilize and implement these innovations to help solve problems at their own locations.

After privately discussing, the enhancement group would attend conventions to speak about the future of car washing and the direction they saw the industry heading. 

Tom would speak to packed crowds eager to hear what he experienced traveling with the group, such as the recent innovative trends and how those trends changed his outlook on the industry. His wealth of knowledge captured the attention of international eyes, leading many to travel to Holland, Michigan, to see how Quality Car Wash processed so many cars in such little time.

The car wash innovation of Tom Essenburg

The Quality Car Wash on S. Washington St. was the one they came to see. It featured a 180-foot tunnel. The added length improved speed and wash quality due to the increased dwell time of the product and the additional cleaning equipment in use.

The Essenburgs were also one of the first in the industry to utilize a subscription model, which promoted unlimited wash plans.

Of course, not all innovations come to fruition. Innovation is fraught with failure.

Occasionally, this was the case for Tom as he continued coming up with ideas to make the wash a better and cleaner experience for guests.

Through trial and error, this experimentation led to some of the most remarkable findings and innovations in car wash history, such as the game-changing conveyor belt system that has become the industry standard for the top-of-the-line guest experience. 

Thanks to the Essenburgs’ innovative spirit and engineering, Tommy’s Express has become a globally-recognized brand within the car washing industry.

Experience the innovations of Tom Essenburg and his family for yourself by stopping at your local Tommy’s Express! 

For more information, view our history timeline here or read more about the Quality Car Wash and Tommy’s Express story. 

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