CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK

C4 Herald-Banner Saturday, MarcH 31, 2012

THE FUTUREH e r a l d i n g

B u S i n e S S & i n d u S t r y

By Caleb SlinkardHerald-Banner Staff

Walk into the Greenville Chick-fil-A location around lunchtime, and you’ll see one of the busiest noon destinations as people line-up to taste their unique chicken sandwich. But Chick-fil-A, and the location’s owner/operator, Cathy Miner, are about more than just chick-en. One of the best examples of this is their Spirit Nights, where organizations can part-ner with the restaurant to receive a percentage of sales from a specific night.

“We want to be in the com-munity, and doing things for children is a big deal for us,” Miner said. “We have a lot of churches who have spirit nights for mission trips, and the Paris Junior College nurses program came and did a spirit night because it promotes their community as well as ours.”

Groups which take advan-tage of the Spirit Nights include local churches and charities, like the Hope Center of Greenville.

Miner has been with the company for 16 years, operat-ing a mall unit in Plano before coming to Greenville three years ago.

“I knew I didn’t want to be in a mall unit my whole life, and this location came open in 2009,” she said. “Chick-fil-A asked me if I wanted to come out. My deal was, I like smaller communities. I like being away

from the Metroplex, the busy-ness of things, and that really inspired me to come out here.”

In Greenville, Miner found

exactly what she was looking for, although initially the con-struction on the service roads along I-30 westbound was an

issue.“The toughest part for us

was the construction, at first,” she said. “The sales were okay,

but now that the construction is completed, we’ve seen our business almost double.”

As Greenville grows, so may Chick-fil-A, according to Miner, potentially even expanding to the local colleges.

“We’re hoping to build the business as far as we can, and we would like to do a multi-unit eventually,” she said. “I don’t know where we would put it – that’s up to Chick-fil-A – but I would like to expand to other places in the communi-ty.”

The quick service industry itself is becoming more and more difficult, but Chick-fil-A has been able to stay ahead of the curve.

“The industry is very com-petitive, so we have to stay a step ahead of the competition,” Miner said. “Chick-fil-A has a great brand and a great pres-ence in the nation, and we’re growing by leaps and bounds.”

Miner’s Chick-fil-A provides jobs for dozens of local individ-uals, many of whom have never had a job before.

“You want to hire individuals from the community because that helps them grow as peo-ple, and gives them an opportu-nity to learn what the business world is really like,” she said. “Sometimes, this is their first job, and they don’t have the skills they need. We can instill in them manners, character and customer service, all while being in a Christian environ-ment.”

By Caleb SlinkardHerald-Banner Staff

It might seem surprising, but while Bulldog Transmission owner Jarrod Buck now spends his time repairing cars, he was initially planning to do a very different kind of surgery.

“I really thought that pre-med was the route I wanted to go,” he said. “I learned that I wasn’t very passionate about it, so I decided to pursue what I knew how to do and knew that I loved.”

Before beginning his own business, Buck had worked for his dad, who owns a transmis-sion shop in Greenville, for almost a decade.

“I’ve always loved helping people, and this is an industry where there is a lot of that going on, and of course, there’s good money in it,” he said. “I worked for my dad since about 2001, which is how I got started. I didn’t want it to be perma-nent, but I’m really good at it for some reason.”

Jarrod decided that he want-ed to branch out, but didn’t want to take business away from his father, so he opened a store in Royse City.

“I got to brainstorming on how I could continue to do this and make more money, but not directly pull from my dad, so I decided to open up in a differ-ent market,” he said. “My dad and I partnered up, and it’s a win-win situation for us both. It brings in new business to us both, but it doesn’t interfere with his established business, and he’s got me for help and I still have him for help.”

Jarrod opened his store last June with the help of his broth-er.

“It took a lot of time, blood sweat and tears, but it’s really worked out and each month it’s grown,” he said. “My brother

has been with me since the get-go, and my stepmom and dad from the other shop come in and help me now and again.”

While business started off slowly, it’s steadily increased over the past 10 months. Jarrod does everything from transmis-sions to motors, breaks, tune-ups and installing stereo equip-ment.

“At first, it was pretty slow,” he said. “My dad would feed me some work from the Greenville store, but the only advertising I had was a sign. It was like I closed my eyes, and then opened them again and I was busy, and I haven’t slowed down since then. I do every-thing except for tires, and I specialize in transmissions.”

Jarrod relates his success to the help of his family and his

honest approach.“I’m pretty honest and up-

front with people,” he said. “I try to do what I say I will do, so the word of mouth has helped me grow pretty quickly.”

Jarrod envisions Bulldog Transmission growing into a leader in the Royse City com-munity as it continues to expand.

“I want it to grow into the mom-and-pop shop for Royse City,” he said. “That shop is non-existent, and I want my business to be a hometown store, a place you can trust and get a good, honest, and quick job done. Eventually, I want to move into a new building, Lord willing.”

Trust and faith are important for Jarrod, who believes that having a strong local store will

be more beneficial to the com-munity than a large chain store.

“You should trust your

mechanic as much as the peo-ple you drop your kids off with,” he said. “I think having a shop like that is crucial for a town that’s going to get big-ger.”

While the automobile indus-try has had some severe set-backs in the past decade, Jarrod is confident that the industry will survive.

“My dad’s theory has always been that for every year they make a car, the industry will stay alive for 10 to 15 more years,” he said. “I see the industry getting a little more difficult because of newer tech-nology, but I have always caught up so far, so I think I’ll be fine.”

Though it was risky at the time, Buck is glad that he changed from pre-med.

“My dad said that there is a difference between a job and a career. A job is something you do because there is something to be done,” he said. “A career is something that, if you’re lucky enough, you can choose and enjoy it and hopefully pro-vide for your family. In a per-fect world, you should try to find something you enjoy doing.”

PrOFile On

PrOFile On

CaTHy MinER

Jarrod Buck

dishing up chicken while serving the community

Transmission shop owner follows in his father’s footsteps

caleB Slinkard / Herald-Banner

Jarrod Buck tests various wires to try and find the source of a car’s electrical problems.

caleB Slinkard / Herald-Banner

Jarrod Buck stands in front of his shop in royse city, next door to royse city Hardware

caleB Slinkard / Herald-Banner

More often than not you can find Miner working right next to her employees at the front counter of the store.

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