RNR Tire Express is expanding to the Dakotas with five new locations in 2022, including one in Grand Forks.

Kevin Weisbeck and Max Pfeiffer, both from Aberdeen, S.D., are the franchise owners of the new locations in Sioux Falls, S.D., Rapid City, S.D., Bismarck, Fargo and Grand Forks. Larry Sutton founded RNR Tire Express in 2000, and the business has been expanded to more than 150 locations in 26 states across America.

Pfeiffer’s background includes being president of the Pfeiffer Hospitality Group, as well as co-owner of K&M Development. Weisbeck has been at the helm of Quest Development & Construction, a national hotel developer with projects in excess of $250 million in costs since 1991.

Although locations in South Dakota will open their doors first, Pfeiffer said he hopes the Grand Forks location will open within the next 18 months. However, that timeframe is not set in stone, and the Grand Forks location could potentially open earlier than that.

“Right now, we’re working with Dakota Commercial,” Pfeiffer said. “We just started working together, and we just had a call this week. We’re working on finding a building conversion, or just a raw piece of land to build on. If we find the right building to be renovated to be converted, it would decrease that timeline, but if we’re building new, then those things take time.”

While the hospitality industry and the automotive industry don’t have much employee skill carryover, Pfeiffer said the goal for he and his Weisbeck remains the same.

“The biggest similarity is just making sure that the customer experience is exactly what they’d expect when they walk through the doors,” Pfeiffer said, “If a guest stays at a hotel, we want give them an experience that makes them want to come back or tell their friends about our hotel, and that’s the same for RNR Tire Express. Once somebody gets through the life cycle of one tire, if we do a good job, if we treat them with respect and set them up on an affordable plan like they expect, the whole idea is that they’ll come back when their next set of tires, or when their spouse, friend or child needs their next set of tires.”

Pfeiffer said expanding RNR Tire Express to the Dakotas is the result of time spent assessing a multitude of industries and regions for expansion.

“Even before COVID-19, we were looking at different industries outside of hospitality just to diversify our office,” Pfeiffer said. “It just so happens that we vetted several different franchises, and we talked to several different franchise development (representatives). We went down to Tampa at the end of March and met with the RNR team, and it just seemed like a really good fit. They are people that we’re really looking forward to working with.”

Pfeiffer said the hiring process will begin soon because of difficulties filling positions in industries all over America. The first member to come aboard will be a manager due to a requirement that the candidate go to Tampa for training. From there, the manager will hire their own staff of six to eight people.

“We’ve seen it all over the country with our hospitality portfolio, and we’re going to have to start early,” Pfeiffer said. “We’re going to have to make sure our wages are competitive, and we have to build a corporate culture that makes people want to come work for us.”