By Robert Williams

Editor

Owner Kevin Zitzow and his staff of four celebrated 20 years in business at Vergas Auto Repair on June 6. Surpassing two decades of success has not been a solo task.  ¶  “I haven’t done this adventure alone,” Zitzow said. “There have been a lot of people involved from day one. I’ve got anywhere from the clients to employees, to friends and family, and a business coach, just somebody to bounce something off.”   ¶  Zitzow credits seeking out the advice of others, both in the business, along with professional business consultants and strategists.  ¶  “I paid a lot of money to business coaching through the years,” he said. “That’s how I’ve learned about some of this technology—networking. If I had to do it all alone I’d still be in back wrenching myself and an angry old man.”  ¶  Zitzow, a Vergas native, attended college in Brainerd after graduating from Frazee High School and pursued Automotive Engineering at Mankato State University.  

¶  Zitzow’s career began in Perham working for five years at Perham Auto Repair. He was encouraged to try making a go at running a shop in Vergas.

“I lived in town and I had an opportunity,” he said.

That chance came by way of a rental spot from Dean Haarstick at Vergas Ford Equipment Company for two years before Zitzow broke out on his own and moved to the current location, the former home of Auto Touch Body Shop.

“I went through a lot of years from growing and learning and buying,” he said. “I didn’t know nothing about business. I remember going to my accountant about three weeks in asking him what I needed to do. I handed him a whole box of papers and he got everything straightened out and I’m still with the same accounting firm 20 years later.”

Looking back two decades there is one thing that stands out and that is the affordability of car repairs, parts and service in the early 2000s.

“Cheap compared to now,” Zitzow said. 

Zitzow went back into his records to prove it and looked up his first client and the job he did then would cost three times as much today.

“Everything is triple the price,” he said. “When you’re a small one-man show you can keep those labor prices low but with today’s regulations and you’re paying health insurance and paid time off and 401k and the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act there are hidden costs that you don’t see as a client. As a business owner you see those costs and they just keep on going up.”

The Zitzow brothers, Jeff, Greg, Kevin, and Nic got to witness running a business and the ups and downs because their dad Dewey was a business owner, purchasing Zitzow Electric from his father in 1978. The company is now run by Jeff. 

“We’ve seen the daily struggles and accomplishments with my dad,” Zitzow said.

Vergas Auto Repair had its own growing pains over the years.

“I went from a 400-square feet at Vergas Ford to a 4,800 square-foot facility 20 years later,” Kevin said. 

Zitzow hired a business coach in 2007 and purchased multiple hoists, started doing alignments and put on an addition to the shop adding a bay in 2014.

Vergas drivers are lucky to have a shop that provides alignments as they are not found in every small town shop.

“It’s because it’s expensive—a new machine costs around $50,000 for a good one,” said Zitzow.

Over the years, each of the hoists has been replaced and another was added. Cost on hoists have gone from $5,000 to $20,000 in that time.

Always on the lookout for inspiration, Kevin visited a friend’s shop in Chicago after COVID and paid him for some consulting while spending an entire day in the shop. 

“His deal was thinking differently; that’s why I have a boat over my porch,” Zitzow said. “His deal was to open your mind. I was driving back from Chicago. Every business owner forgets that you have curb appeal. What do you think of when you roll up to a Mexican restaurant or a Chinese restaurant? You walk in and people are very visual. So he said, ‘What does every auto repair shop out there have in common?’ You walk in the front door and it’s completely plastered with automotive crap that nobody cares about. When I came back from Chicago I did that whole what’s different? Well, we live in Lakes Country. What would be cool? Having a porch with a boat on top of it. That’s why I went with that.”

The early days of running the shop in Vergas were not the easiest, but Vergas Auto Repair filled a hole in the village’s business district.

“It was survival and to not work for anyone else and Vergas had a huge need for a modern day shop,” Zitzow said. “Back then, it was the old-timers. It was Bub Moe all by himself. He was a good mechanic but he didn’t want to work on modern stuff. I originally wasn’t going to do tires, but a friend of mine owned an OK Tire in Perham and he actually loaned me some equipment to get going on tires right away. I didn’t have the money to buy them and he loaned them to me until I could pay for them.”

From basic operations to technology, Vergas Auto Repair has operated in a climate of near constant change in the automotive industry and more so in the repair and maintenance side of the business.

“I used to do hand-written repair orders and estimates and use my cell phone,” said Zitzow. “Now with software technology everything is all digital inspections.”

Digital inspections include photographs of all areas of a vehicle.

“I’ve seen so many changes and I hit that perfect age group where when I started I had seen a lot of the old stuff but grew into a lot of the new stuff,” Zitzow said. “We’re really making another transition into new vehicles. Electronics are getting pretty sophisticated.”

In 2018, Zitzow opened his second shop, Perham Car Care Center.

“I was able to build a non-Main Street business over there through just doing what I do,” he said. “Sometimes it’s not about the thrills and frills and sometimes it is. After running a business for long enough you start knowing what you’re doing and I thought I could do it again, which I did and we had a lot of success over there. After COVID, it turned into a very employee-oriented world. It’s no longer a small business owner’s world. Finding good employees is really hard and retaining that employee is really hard.”

That became a daily struggle and was what led to Zitzow selling his Perham shop this spring after it took more than 18 months to replace his service manager

“I couldn’t find help; it was 18 months I searched for someone to do that job and couldn’t find anybody,” he said. “Basically, what happened was I was too thin, having to run two shops, being there only.”

Zitzow prides himself on helping others learn and sharing with younger people the lessons he has learned over the years.

“The two guys who wanted to buy the shop; I knew them and they really wanted to do it so we made a deal,” he said.

Although, the Perham sale was done with some reluctance.

“I didn’t want to but I did,” said Kevin.

Part of Zitzow’s accumulated knowledge was exchanged when Zitzow sold Perham Car Care Center to Bryce Borough and Nicholas Geiselhart.

The sale had a special connection. Zitzow’s first job was working for Nicholas’ dad Scott.

“They have their own set of goals, but you kind of just give them little hints here and there,” said Zitzow. “I wish I would have known more about taxes, saving money instead of spending it in the wrong areas.”

Looking back, the current state of Vergas Auto Repair resembles nothing to what the pipe dream was in the early 2000s.

“Not even close; I would never have guessed that I’d be able to just leave when I want and do what I want and have enough employees,” said Zitzow. “There are a lot of things I would have changed 20 years ago. 

“Over 20 years of getting to know customers and clients, 20 years ago they had babies and now I’m working on their cars. 20 years is a benchmark for a business. It’s been a lot of ups and downs. I wish I would have been able to tell myself 20 years ago what I know now, both financially and educationally.”

Zitzow has pondered other business opportunities for the future, but presently his concentration will be full-time on the Vergas shop.

“Now that I’m back in Vergas full-time I’m going to be doing a lot of remodeling,” he said.

One plan is to redo the inclined parking lot by making it more friendly to customers and snow plows.

Zitzow also has a passion for serving the Vergas community outside of his shop having spent 23 years in the fire department as well as being a current board member of the EDA/HRA where he formerly served as chairman.

It’s the community of Vergas and the surrounding area that has made Vergas Auto Repair a success story.

“If I could say one thing it’s thanks for the community support for 20 years; without them I couldn’t have done this,” Zitzow said.