‘Perfecting the process’ leads to impressive growth for 1-800-STRIPER

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When Luke Menear and his wife Heather launched a parking lot striping company in 1999, they were dreaming big.

“Since Day One the plan was to be the biggest striping company in the world,” Luke said.

A quarter century later, the Rochester-based company may not be No. 1 yet, but what was once a one-office operation has ballooned into a franchised business with 51 locations across 27 states.

Franchising began in January of 2023, and today 1-800-STRIPER crews work from Washington, Nevada and Arizona to Florida, Missouri and Tennessee. Nearly 40 locations have been added in the past 10 months, giving the brand the largest footprint in the parking lot striping industry in the U.S.

The growth isn’t based on some magical franchise formula, however. Instead, it’s all about basic business principles, Luke Menear said.

“I didn’t really know how to execute on that goal back in 1999, we just really focused on customer service and perfecting the system, the model and the processes,” he said.

“I call it ‘Sweat the little things.’ Every job is important, every customer is important, every line is important. That’s how we operate.”

Perfecting the processes allowed for growth. So, too, did a change of phone numbers, followed by a total rebranding. The firm was founded as United Striping Company; but after a decade in business Menear sought a way to really stand out.

“I really wanted to have the best phone number in the industry,” Menear said. “We figured out what would that phone number be; 1-800-this, 1800-that; 1-800-STRIPER was pretty obvious.”

Zeroing in on a number was merely the start of the process.

“I worked on it for about three years and finally acquired the number and during that time frame I had discovered franchising,” he said. “When we actually got the number, we went from saying we wanted the best company to actually rebranding our entire company to 1-800-STRIPER.

The rebranding greatly altered the trajectory of the business.

“At face value, the 1-800-STRIPER brand is considered to be best in class,” Menear said. “It tells who we are, what we do and how to get a hold of us.”

Up next: the development of a franchising plan.

“Operationally we were really, really sound because we had so many years in business, so it really felt like a franchise model,” he said. “But we had to work on all the legal, accounting and technology stack.”

Today 1-800-STRIPER continues to stripe parking lots across the Greater Rochester area while tending to franchise and customer needs nationally. The firm has between 25 and 30 employees locally.

“We went from a company with an office and a project manager to now having multiple departments,” he said.

That includes a support center, in-house call center that works on new leads, and a merchandising department that handles everything from company uniforms, equipment and custom stencils.

They also added a traveling field rep, Luke Menear Jr. He travels the country to conduct grand openings, compliance checks and site visits while also assisting with high-profile projects. He was a natural for the job; at 22, he pretty much grew up with the business.

“The first time he was on a parking lot with me where he was actually holding a chalk line, we have picture where he was probably 2 or 3 years old,” his father said.

Franchising allows multiple locations to collaborate on large projects. The firm recently completed the striping at a 1-million-square-foot Amazon facility in Scranton, Pa., a project that required over 500 man-hours over two weekends.

Menear believes 1-800-STRIPER will become even more popular with national firms because of how the process is in place.

“We’re a self-performing company with consistency in terms of material and quality,” he said. “In the national maintenance world, things get subcontracted out over and over and they lose that consistency, so we feel we really appeal to national brands.”

The hometown appeal also remains strong. Menear said the company is looking to expand into Buffalo and Syracuse.

“The whole thing is a dream come true,” he said. “People ask me, ‘did you ever think this would happen?’ and, ironically, the answer is yes.”

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