Two Men and a Truck expansion to create 125 jobs in Lansing area

Posted: February 27, 2013 - 11:15 AM

DELHI TWP. — A local moving company plans a major expansion of its business in the next five years, creating 125 new jobs in the Lansing area and building a 25,000-square-foot addition to its Delhi Township headquarters.

Two Men and a Truck International Inc. today will announce its expansion plans at a news conference that is expected to include Gov. Rick Snyder, company executives and regional economic leaders. The family-owned company intends to push into roughly 300 new U.S. markets with franchised operations that will grow its nationwide presence to roughly 500 sites.

The firm received a $355,000 grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund, managed by the Michigan Economic Development Corp., as well as a $5,000 matching contribution from Delhi Township. No tax incentives are included in the package, said Brig Sorber, Two Men and a Truck’s CEO.

Sorber said the company will spend the bulk of its estimated $4 million investment by the time the project is complete in about 18 months. That includes about $500,000 in renovations to Two Men and a Truck’s existing facility on Belle Chase Way.

“We need to pay attention first and foremost to our hometown companies and grow them, so this is, to me, a great story about entrepreneurialism,” said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of regional economic development agency Lansing Economic Area Partnership Inc., who helped with the grant proposal. “It’s really an incredible story.”

Two Men and a Truck logged 390,000 moving trips in 2012. It has 234 locations in the United States, 19 in Canada and one each in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Sorber said. That figure is up 20 percent from 2011.

The company has experienced 36 consecutive months of growth and is on target to achieve $325million in sales this year, Sorber said. Revenue totaled $261 million in 2012.

By 2020, he said, he wants Two Men and a Truck to be a $1 billion company — admittedly a “very audacious goal.”

Company President Randy Shacka said expansion conversations began in earnest about six months ago in an effort to plan for growth over the next decade. Two Men and a Truck posted losses in 2008 and 2009 at the height of the housing crisis, but restructured itself at the corporate level to place a greater emphasis on customer service and increase marketing efforts.

Today, Shacka said, the company is projecting 23 percent growth this year compared to 2012 — even in a housing market that has not returned to prerecession levels.

“Even though the economy isn’t booming, our numbers are,” he said. “We believe in the brand, we believe in staying in Michigan and we believe in the growth we’re seeing, but we’re going to need great people here.”

Close to 80 employees now work at the corporate office, a figure that will top 200 within five years, Sorber said. The positions in areas such as finance, training and marketing are expected to pay at least $46,000.

“It’s really a domino effect,” Sorber said of the local investment. “If we can support more franchises, we can start more franchises.”

Read the LSJ article here.