Two Men and a Truck
5200 Denton Highway in Haltom City
817-631-9514
2211 E. Division St. in Arlington
817-778-4491
twomenandatruck.com
Thirteen years ago, when Taylor Suman started working as a mover for the Huntsville, Alabama, franchise location of Two Men and a Truck, he probably couldn’t have imagined he would be opening his own franchise in Fort Worth in 2017.
Two Men and a Truck is the nation’s largest local moving company with more than 380 locations worldwide and more than 2,600 trucks on the road. The company was also recognized as a 2018 Top Franchise by Franchise Business Review.
Suman worked as a mover part time while attending the University of Northern Alabama, but he found himself transferring to Arizona for both school and work after his wife, Rachel, received a full scholarship to Arizona State University.
From there, while working toward his bachelor’s degree in business administration, he worked up the ranks at Two Men and a Truck from mover to manager to operations manager to regional manager.
With this management experience and five years with the company, Suman approached colleague and friend Nick Roerig, who was another franchise manager in Arizona, to discuss buying the Fort Worth franchise.
Roerig, Gordon Shaffer and Gabe Gilbert all worked at the moving company and had been friends since high school. Gilbert and Suman had worked together and with Roerig and Suman being friends the quartet decided to go in on a franchise together.
“We decided to join up and conquer the world and make it work for us,” Suman said. “Well, conquer the moving business.”
The four co-own the Fort Worth franchise region, which includes Arlington, the Mid-Cities and Fort Worth. There are two physical locations in the region, one at 2211 E. Division St. in Arlington and one at 5200 Denton Highway in Haltom City.
Suman says the goal is to add more locations as the business grows.
“For me, upon being a manager for a period of time I wanted to take the next step and become an owner and put my own twist on a franchise of my own,” Suman said. “We decided on Fort Worth because it’s a burgeoning area with a ton of growth and we decided the area aligns with our ideals.”
At a more analytical level, when the company decides where to open a franchise, it looks at the average household income of single-family homes and how many of those homes are above Two Men and a Truck’s ideal threshold of $70,000.
In Fort Worth, the company identified about 1,500 to 1,700 homes in that range. Suman said that with that “burgeoning volume of potential business” they knew it was an opportunity too good to pass up.
Suman, Roerig, Shaffer and Gilbert purchased the Fort Worth franchise Nov. 1, 2017. In every Two Men and a Truck franchise, there is one majority owner and other minority owners. For the Fort Worth operation, Suman is the majority owner and holds 50 percent of the franchise, while Roerig, Shaffer and Gilbert split the other 50 percent.
Suman and his wife moved from Arizona to Texas to run the business, with Rachel taking on employee appreciation within the franchise. Roerig and Shaffer are located in Tennessee, where they run the Brentwood franchise, and Gilbert lives in Georgia, where he runs the Douglas County operation. Since all four have a stake in the company, Suman said, they meet four times a year to discuss business management and make sure things are on track.
Growth is important for Two Men and a Truck, and Suman says the Fort Worth location is already seeing great expansion. It has gone from 12-15 employees at their start to now having 45 with plans to grow to 60-70 soon.
“Our personal goal here in the Fort Worth franchise is to grow by 40 percent, and as of March we are exceeding that expectation in growing 45 percent,” Suman said. “Our franchise goal is based upon the volume of the city and household income. Our goal is to double in the next three years and right now we are on pace to meet if not exceed it.”
Suman says the company aims to put the customer first every day and understand that moving is a stressful situation for most people so the want to make sure customers have a care-free experience.
“Two Men and a Truck really tries to be a business in and of the community and help as much as we can. As we grow as a company we want to ingrain in the community,” Suman said. “We don’t want to be the average moving company, we want to be of the community and help people not only move, but grow.”
Movers for Moms
As a company, Two Men and a Truck participates in many community initiatives and has donated hundreds of thousands of service hours since 2009, according to the company website.
In 2017, its franchises donated more than $3 million worth of moving services through initiatives including Movers for Moms, Movers for Military, Movers for Meals, Movers for Mutts and Truckload of Warmth, the website says.
This emphasis on community impact and giving back dates to the founder, Mary Ellen Sheets, who after her first year in business donated her profits to 10 charities. This is where the company’s motto, “Movers Who Care,” comes from.
The 2018 Movers for Moms campaign runs April 2 to May 7. To help abused and homeless mothers get back on their feet, the Fort Worth area franchise locations will be collecting essentials such as personal hygiene items, diapers, laundry detergent and other toilestries. The franchise has partnered with Safehaven of Tarrant County and Women Called Moses to help expand their efforts.
Suman’s franchise goal is to collect more than 8,000 items for donation.
Suman also is working with nearly 20 local businesses during the Movers for Mom campaign including Remax Pinnacle, Allegiance Title Co., Liberty Tax Service, several Chico’s dress shop locations, and Cornerstone Martial Arts. All will have collection boxes at their offices.