Step by step
by Mark Connor The act of raising your children, some suggest, is also the act of raising your grandchildren, because your core values and habits live on in the following generations.
Such seems to be the case with the Bonfe family, whose business, Bonfe’s Auto Service and Body Repair, is still growing in its third generation and 54th year. The key growth word is gradually, because the family believes in expanding only when you can handle it.
Begun in 1951 when Sam Bonfe opened a mechanic’s garage on West 7th Street and Smith Avenue in St. Paul, the business passed to Roger Bonfe in 1972, who soon expanded to auto body repair. His two sons, Tony and Tom, now run it.
While the business was successful during its initial incarnation, its growth began under Roger’s guidance. He worked to combine generous customer service and selected expansion tactics to get the size and volume necessary to stand up to national chains and dealerships.
“He started out small,” says Tom Bonfe about his father, “and he’s grown little by little over the years. It’s taken him since the early ’70s to get to where we are now.”
Tom, 36, and Tony, 38, own 60 percent to their father’s 40 percent share of the business. The whole operation currently consists of six buildings, including a mechanical shop managed by Tom across the street, while Tony manages the body repair departments in five buildings connected together on the original site.
“My brother and I have been running it 100 percent since the early ’90s,” Tom says. “There are some shops we’ve seen that have just started huge, and then they have a tough time making it. We’ve started small and grown little by little over the years, and we haven’t done any huge steps at all.”
Never overextend
Therein lies one of the keys to his father’s success, says Tom, the belief that you should never overextend yourself, but you should keep moving to new levels of growth you are able to handle right now. Two such moves were the 1999 purchase of their closest competitor, St. Paul Automotive, across the street and half a block down, and completion of new body shop facilities on their original site.
The purchase of St. Paul Automotive was amicable, with second-generation owner Mike Dooley gladly offering to sell when he heard of the Bonfe brothers’ desire to expand. (Public records show the property was purchased for $450,000.) Tom’s management of the mechanical shop was moved entirely into the 16-bay facility, the extra land with it allowing for more parking space, and the new buildings on the original site providing for indoor storage of cars and separate areas for body repair and paint work.
“There was a little trade rumor on the street that they were looking at several businesses that were somewhat similar to mine,” says Dooley, who wasn’t quite ready to retire but was looking into it. While Dooley also did body work, it was never as high a volume as Bonfe’s, and with other investments he wasn’t interested in expanding. So he believed the sale was a good idea.
“I appreciated the stuff that they do,” he says of Tony and Tom. “Those guys are very good.” Dooley adds that the Bonfe family’s single-minded focus on auto repair, accentuated by high-quality work and customer service, impressed him enough to believe in their expansion. “They’re directed at one thing: auto repair. Roger always kept saying, ‘That’s all I’m interested in is the car-fixing business.’ ”
Anticipation of change and the ability to adapt to it is another component of the family’s success. Sam Bonfe’s original focus was solely on the mechanical end of auto repair. But his concentration on excellent customer service laid the groundwork for the growth of today.
Insurance-driven
On a slow day not long after Roger took the business over, a mechanic had finished a job on a car that needed some small body repair. He told Roger he could fix it, so they cleared it with the customer. “So we got into body work just kind of on a hash,” Tom says.
Body work yielded massive growth, now comprising 70 percent of Bonfe’s business. “95 percent of that business is insurance-driven,” says Tom. Their goal is to become one of the three or four recommended service providers offered by insurance companies to customers when they report accident claims.
“There’s always going to be the mechanical repair industry,” says Tony. “There’s always going to be a need for collision repair shops. So the strongest will survive, and whoever wants to adapt and change to make your business successful, those will be the shops that stick around.”
That means technicians get continued training, and the owners stay on top of new industry developments. “Every year we go to the national auto body convention where the manufacturers of equipment display it in Las Vegas,” Tony says.
Longevity helps
Tony emphasizes the family atmosphere of the business. “One advantage we have on the chains and dealerships,” Tony contends, “is we have the same people working here for a long time. We have very little turnover.” People come in asking for one of the brothers by name, he says, or an estimator they’ve previously encountered.
One customer perk at Bonfe’s is that even for an oil change they wash the car inside and out, and all repairs are stored in a climate-controlled facility so the car is never frozen or too hot when the customer picks it up. They also drive customers to and from work while the car is serviced. “It’s huge,” Tony says of the practice. “People love it.”
East metro business boosters are glad of the family’s investment in their St. Paul location. “I think they’re a good example for a lot of bootstrap entrepreneurs, but they’re also demonstrating their commitment by a continuing investment in their property on West 7th as well,” says Larry Dowell, president of the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, of which Roger Bonfe is a member. “They’re a great example of investing in the town.”
Roger Bonfe says the new construction on the original site, including demolition of the original garage for a newer one connected to the four other buildings, cost $1.2 million dollars, and annual sales average between $4 million and $5 million. He says December 2004 and January 2005 were record months.
With 42 employees, Tony and Tom say they may open two or more small gas stations with three- or four-bay mechanical garages within five or more years. Tony and Tom say they were never forced into the business and their two older sisters aren’t involved, but they’ve both been around it all their lives.
With Tony’s children and Tom’s children, the long-term future could bring another generation of the family tradition. Meanwhile the Bonfe brothers say they’ll stick to growing at a gradual pace, just as their father taught them.
[contact] Roger, Tom and Tony Bonfe, Bonfe’s Auto Repair and Body Shop: 651.224.7571. Larry Dowell, Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce: 651.265.2770, larry@stpaulchamber.com
