Traveling an economic road many businesses found bumpy in 2020, APRO member RNR Tire Express (RNR), the largest custom tire and wheel franchise in the U.S., rolled to record profits last year, its 20th in business.
With a 12.1% increase in sales during the period, the company reached $211 million to capture the 175 spot on Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Franchise 500” list – 90 spots above its 2019 ranking. This is the ninth consecutive year RNR has earned this prestigious national recognition from the publication. RNR also achieved significant annual growth in brand strength, financial strength, unit growth, and corporate support while gaining additional accolades as the top-performing franchise in Tires & Wheels.
Inc. Magazine bolstered RNR’s anniversary celebration, awarding Owner Larry Sutton and his hard-working franchisees the 3953 rank on its 2020 Inc. 5000 list, which recognizes the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Inc. also ranked RNR at spot #310 among Florida’s most rapidly expanding private companies and spot #79 among Tampa’s.
The company earned earlier recognition from Franchise Times, a leading publication in the franchise industry, which ranked it 252 in global sales in 2019.
Sutton opened his first Rent-N-Roll store, the forerunner of RNR, in September 2000. In 2006, he received APRO’s Lifetime Achievement Award. And, like a certain battery bunny, he just keeps going.
In addition to recently opening 12 new stores across the U.S., RNR has also signed development agreements with experienced entrepreneur groups to open more than 47 new stores in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Colorado, Arkansas, Arizona, and New York, to total 421 stores under contract. And, there’s plenty of room for more. Sutton is currently seeking both single- and multi-unit franchise owners in U.S. growth markets, including Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
The secret to RNR’s two decades of success is no secret. Featured prominently on the company’s website, it explains the company’s longstanding national prominence and growth:
Larry Sutton, you quickly realize, has created a culture within his franchise operation that focuses on the franchisees in his system and the entrepreneurial spirit in each of them.
