February 2020

34 AFTERMARKET FEBRUARY 2020 TOP TECHNICIAN-TOP GARAGE www.toptechnicianonline.co.uk A CEDAR GROWS IN WORTHING Following its success in Top Garage 2019, Aftermarket revisits Cedar Garage to see what makes the business a winner Sponsored by: C edar Garage is the business that keeps on giving. First we had a very educational visit to the West Sussex garage in 2017, and then we have kept following up on their growth. This is partly because they keep winning Top Garage, and it's not hard to see why. To remind readers, Cedar Garage (www.cedargarage.co.uk) has been running since 2013 in its current form. The business is co-owned by Kevin Pearce and Matthew Copp. Originally based on one site in Worthing, Cedar Garage now encompasses two outlets. The original garage on the town's Tarring Road provides coverage for all makes, while only one mile away on the Littlehampton Road you will find the newest site, open since January 2018, dedicated to German marques. Between the twin garages, the business has a team of 23, including three apprentices, at present. We went to see them in 2017 when they had just the one site. Then in 2018 they were the winners in the inaugural Top Garage competition. Fast forward to 2019 and the competition had expanded to include different classes for businesses of different sizes. Cedar won again, in the group for businesses with more than 11 staff members. A few months after their 2019 win, we were back again to see what had changed, and to find out about the drive to excel that is pushing the team forward. Cedar Garage has two sites, and two Top Garage wins. The business is obviously doing something right. We asked Kevin what he thought was causing Cedar to be experiencing this ongoing success, both in business and in the competition: "I think it is the structure that we have built in," he replied. "The team is obviously the biggest part of it. They buy into the same sort of vision as Matt and I do. This puts the customer at the forefront and puts their needs above ours. Everyone works towards the same goals. We all want to impress the whole way through. To achieve these goals, we have policies and procedures in place for most things. Everyone knows what they need to do, and when it needs to be done to make it a nice, smooth, fluid day, every day." Front to back Among the 23 team members we mentioned earlier, there are now seven front-of-house staff members: "We took on an extra front of house member in September," mentioned Kevin. "That has given us four at our