Mid-Year Report: Burt Brothers endures ‘year of shorts'

NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah — Like nearly every other tire dealership in the U.S., Burt Brothers Tire & Auto Service has been dealing with a high demand for its products and services and a low supply of tires, parts and technicians.

"You can call it the year of the shorts — short supply, shortage of employees, shortage of toilet paper, all that kind of stuff," co-owner Jake Burt said.

"As Utah is rebounding from the economic toll of COVID, and people are driving more, just sourcing tires has become a full-time job. Working with customers to set proper expectations has also been a challenge to ensure we deliver a quality product and keep them coming back to us."

Product shortages even disrupted plans to open the company's 14th store, in Layton, Utah. Mr. Burt said the dealership has been waiting for months for the delivery of garage doors for the newly built facility, which is expected to open in July.

Employee shortages

In addition to finding employees to work at its newest location, Burt Brothers has been struggling to find qualified job applicants to fill all open positions at its stores. So the dealership has learned to be flexible.

"We try to employ individuals that measure up to the Burt Brothers standard, but we've had to make a lot of adjustments to accommodate employees," Mr. Burt said.

"We've not had to sacrifice our values or commitment to our customers by doing that. Sometimes it's allowing them to work less hours or to come in later or longer lunch breaks or two days off in a row during the week, versus one day," he said, noting this strategy of flexible work schedules has helped attract new employees.

He gave the example of one recent job candidate who was working temporary jobs so he could take care of an ailing parent two days during the week. Burt Brothers accommodated by letting him take those two days off every week.

"And he's one of our best employees," he said.

Mr. Burt said he expects this type of work flexibility to become more common to attract job applicants.

"You're doing anything you can. You're throwing them all the money. Sometimes money is not even the answer. You can go to McDonald's and make $15 an hour.

"It's a hard industry we're in — it's hot in the summertime, it's cold in the wintertime, and tires are dirty, and there's grease and oil and all that kind of 'fun' stuff."

Mr. Burt also touted the company's other attraction — a career plan for its employees.

"I think what we've done really well with, as we've gotten a little larger, we've developed a plan that is basically a road map for their success. So we can take an entry level C-tech, the bottom starting out position, and map out how they can become a technician A or work through an apprentice program for mechanics and end up being a master technician.

"There's no 90-day time line or anything like that, but there is a pathway that, if they get these qualifiers, they'll move to the next level. From that level, with some work experience and more time, crossing off a few more qualifiers, they'll get to the next level.

"Having them have a path that is put on a piece of paper, that they can physically check off with their supervisors and their mentors to help them progress down the way, that's been really eye-opening for us on just giving candidates and employees a pathway on how they can succeed."

The dealership, which has about 330 employees, including 50 part-timers, also provides training programs and helps pay for schooling and tools for mechanics and apprentices.

It's a program that has been really well-received, he said. "We've been seeing some success with it."

Product shortages

The dealership has been dealing with shortages of tires and auto parts from vendors, as shipping logistics have been disrupted worldwide.

"A lot of times you call the dealerships to get fuel pumps or whatever kind of parts you might need, and they don't have three or four sitting on the shelf. It's a couple of days to get them in.

"We do a lot of lift kits, wheels and accessories. … We had a guy wait six months to get a lift kit when normally they are just sitting on the shelf and you got to clean off the dust to sell it. Everything is in short supply right now, and I don't think we're close to what we had in 2019 when it comes to product availability. I don't expect that to really change here anytime soon," Mr. Burt said.

"Hopefully we can keep our customers satisfied with what's in stock. That's one thing we've run into with wheels and tires. A customer will come in saying, 'I want these wheels on my vehicle.' Well, they're 60 to 90 days out at best guess. … You have to find them a different one or get them to settle for something different," he said.

He said many customers aren't choosy about the brand of tire they buy anymore.

"A lot of it comes down to which tires are available. If there is only one set on the shelf, that's usually what they're going to end up with. It's crazy. People don't come in asking for certain tires anymore. It's kind of, 'What do you have? What can you get for me today?' "

Mr. Burt said the dealership has been working with its direct suppliers to get special purchases and make smaller orders.

"A lot of times you put big orders in and you don't get them. We found that ordering smaller loads, more consistently, we've been able to get better success than ordering huge truckloads," he said.

Uptick in services

These shortages are exacerbated by a surge in demand for automotive services as more people hit the road again.

"We've seen larger invoice amounts. We believe it's a combination of customers having waited to get work done on their vehicles and also keeping their vehicles longer," Mr. Burt said.

"I think maybe they put off their repairs, the (vehicles) sat for a little bit and didn't get driven. … Our service shops are pretty busy. We have to make an appointment for one to two days out to get them in right now, which is something new for us, too."

Mr. Burt said he thinks customers are willing to spend money now, after having received federal stimulus checks and not spending much last year, plus there is the pent-up demand to travel.

The shortage of new vehicles also is helping boost automotive service work.

"More and more of our customers are realizing the shortage of vehicles out there. You see the car lots and they are basically empty, so they are realizing the importance of maintaining the vehicle they have," he said.

"As we talk to them about their long-term plans, many of our customers have told us that they are holding on to their vehicles a lot longer and this helps us provide more service and maintenance to them to keep those cars rolling and on the road running safely," Mr. Burt said.

Challenges

"I see some of our biggest challenges for the second half of the year, I sure wish I had a crystal ball based on current trends, I think it's going to be extremely important for us to really watch our bay revenue," Mr. Burt said.

He said that the dealership often subcontracts local engine shops to fix customers' engines so the tire dealership can focus on quicker, more profitable service work.

"Our guys are fully capable of doing that (engine work), but I could sublet that job to an engine shop and that's all they do. I'd rather have 10 or 12 brake jobs in the bay for the same amount of time that engine would be in there," he said.

"It's working smarter, not harder. Every time you do that engine job, you just get inundated with other good 'gravy' work. Some of those get put aside.

"Those (customers) can go anywhere to get those kind of things serviced, but we want it done at our stores in a timely manner."

He said there is reciprocity with local shops the dealership sublets service work to, such as doing alignment and tire service for engine shops.

"We scratch each other's back all the time. And it's fun to partner up with other local businesses and smaller chains who are usually in our neighborhoods anyway and keep everybody taken care of here."

New store

Burt Brothers expects to increase this year's sales by 10% over 2020, especially with the opening of a new store in July and another store about a year ago.

The Layton store, the most northern location in the company's Salt Lake City territory, is going to be the dealership's "garage-mahal," according to Mr. Burt.

The store will be the dealership's largest facility, built on three acres, and will employ 30. It will feature about 10 service bays that can accommodate large trucks and recreation trailers, three quick-lube bays and a warehouse.

The dealership recently held a grand opening for its Draper, Utah, store, in a former Firestone Complete Auto Care store, that took 18 months to open due to pandemic-related delays in permitting and other requirements.