Nashville, Tennessee — CARSTAR recognized its top franchise partners in Canada and the U.S. last week during the company’s annual CARSTAR Conference, held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.
CARSTAR Canada awarded the title of 2022 Franchisee of the Year to the CARSTAR Centennial Auto Group, led by Ezra, David and Robert Kember.
“The Kembers are a proud CARSTAR family with deep roots in their community,” wrote CARSTAR in its accompanying press release. “They continuously give back, whether through supporting local sports teams, church donations, or cystic fibrosis fundraising initiatives.”
The Kembers recently expanded from a six-store MSO to eight locations through acquisitions. They also recently built a new 830 sq. m. (9,000-square-foot) facility to replace an aging store and will be adding a ninth purpose-built facility by the end of the year.
“It’s a little too early to feel the full effect of this award, but we are honoured,” Ezra Kember told Collision Repair magazine. “We joined CARSTAR with two facilities in 2004. In those early days, CARSTAR’s support with the direct repair partnerships was a key step in our success.”
“We feel very supported by our CARSTAR family,” added David Kemper. “Dave Meery, our zone director, has driven a lot of our growth through informing us of new purchasing opportunities. He does a lot of work with us to help smooth out any transitions or industry challenges.”
Other Canadian CARSTAR honours went to Romena Deokinandan, owner of CARSTAR Newmarket, which claimed the Net Promoter Score (NPS) award; Colin Manuel, owner of CARSTAR Miramichi, who took home the Length of Rental (LOR) award; Lorenzo Pellicciotta from CARSTAR Oakville East and CARSTAR Oakville West, who snagged the Ironman award; and CARSTAR Torcam group, led by Javier Torres, Sebastian Torres and Liliana Galeano, who took the Marketing Award for their forward-thinking strategies in the post-pandemic era.
CARSTAR franchisees from Quebec and Ontario were also honoured for their top-notch donations that helped CARSTAR surpass its $25,000 fundraising goal in support of Cystic Fibrosis; the company raised more than $100,000 for the cause.
Honourable mentions for notable donations went to:
- CARSTAR TORCAM Group: Liliana Galeano, Javier Torres and Sebastian Torres
- Lorenzo Pellicciotta of CARSTAR Oakville East and CARSTAR Oakville West
- Bisram Deokinandan and Romena Deokinandan of CARSTAR Newmarket
- Frank Abate of CARSTAR Toronto St. Clair; Daniel Trevisanutto
- Éric Hénault of CARSTAR St-Félix-de-Valois
- Jimmy Bolduc of CARSTAR Beauceville and CARSTAR St-Georges
- Maxime Waked of CARSTAR Decarie, CARSTAR Hochelaga and CARSTAR Brossard
- Jean-Luc Rouleau or CARSTAR Longueuil Ouest
- Patrick Bertrand president of Les Entrepôts AB
Check out more of Collision Repair‘s photos from the CARSTAR Conference below!
