152 - Efficiency Over Expansion: How Matt Kranz Built His Dream Team
September 30, 2025 - 00:38:59

 

Show Summary:

From broom to Bentleys, Matt Kranz maps the climb from a cramped back-office closet to leading Long Meadow Garage, a three-bay shop attached to a gas station and c-store. He unpacks hard-won lessons from a chaotic first job, showing why turnover and shortcuts kill trust, and how a dirty white shirt at the counter builds credibility. Matt explains his pivot into European and luxury work, the tools and security credentials he chooses with purpose, and how shop-to-shop collaboration expands capability without bloating costs. He shares real KPIs, a lean team structure, and the discipline behind DVIs and the 300 percent rule. Training is a constant, with on-the-job diagnostics, lunch-and-learns, and curated content keeping techs and advisors sharp. With demand three weeks out, Matt prioritizes efficiency and quality over bay count, yet still sets a stretch target for what three bays can do. He closes with straight talk on the tech pipeline and his best advice to new owners: do not take it personally, learn, systemize, and keep leading.

 

Host(s):

Jimmy Lea, VP of Business Development

 

Guest(s):

Matt Kranz, COO of Longmeadow Garage

 

Show Highlights:

[00:00:21 ] - Matt laughs about recording from a tiny back office and traces his start in 2000 sweeping floors while his father worked the parts side of the industry.

[00:02:08 ] - Lessons from a badly run first shop reveal what not to do, from high turnover to dishonest practices, and why every example teaches something.

[00:04:07 ] - As a working manager, Matt helps take a location from roughly 250k to about 690k in annual revenue and learns the power of a “dirty white shirt” at the counter.

[00:05:23 ] - Moving to a long-standing Mobil station, Matt becomes the fourth owner and leans into European and luxury work while still serving mainstream makes.

[00:07:14 ] - He invests in tools with intent, maintains NASTF security credentials, and builds reciprocal relationships with specialty shops to fill capability gaps.

[00:09:10 ] - Team snapshot: two techs, one inspector, one service writer, and a culture focused on customer experience, mentorship, and generational perspective.

[00:11:29 ] - KPIs on the table: about 1.6M total revenue, roughly 300 cars a month, near 420 ARO, and state inspections at 35 dollars that add six figures in volume.

[00:15:02 ] - Strategy over size: optimize a single shop for quality and efficiency before chasing bay count, even while eyeing a stretch goal near 3.6M from three bays.

[00:23:05 ] - Training in action: on-the-job diagnostics, WTI lunch-and-learns, ASE replays, and curated YouTube content to keep skills sharp across the team.

[00:30:46 ] - Every vehicle gets a DVI and the 300 percent rule keeps inspections, estimates, and presentations consistent, with QC as the next level up.

 

In every business journey, there are defining moments or challenges that build resilience and milestones that fuel growth. We’d love to hear about yours! What lessons, breakthroughs, or pivotal experiences have shaped your path in the automotive industry?
Share your story with us at info@wearetheinstitute.com, and you might be featured in an upcoming episode.

 

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Episode Transcript Disclaimer

This transcript was generated using artificial intelligence and may contain errors. If you notice any inaccuracies, please contact us at marketing@wearetheinstitute.com.

 

Episode Transcript:

Jimmy Lea: Good morning friends. So excited to be here with you today. My name is Jimmy Lee. I'm with the Institute and this is the Leading Edge podcast. Joining me today is Matt Krantz from Long Meadow Garage and it is a three Bay Garage at a gas station with a C store, and with Fuel. And Matt, you own all of this, correct?

Jimmy Lea: Correct. Yep. Oh my gosh, Matt, and you're joining me from those of you. You can't see this, but you can hear this. It looks like Matt is joining me from a janitor closet converted to an office. What are we looking at here, Matt?

Matt Kranz: It is, it's just a small office in the back. Originally we did all the paperwork by hand, so there wasn't a need for much.

Matt Kranz: And we never improved it. We're working on some improvements to maybe make this office open floor into the shop, so,

Jimmy Lea: oh, that, that is awesome. I think if you put your hands out, left to right, you could probably touch both walls.

Matt Kranz: It looks that small. I think I can actually, yeah,

Jimmy Lea: it's that small and front to back is probably just about the same.

Jimmy Lea: You could probably see about the same. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Well that's awesome. So, your shop, you've got the three bays, but let's I wanna go back in time to when you started in the automotive industry. What did that look like for you? And then we'll come where you are today and then we'll go to where you're going in the future.

Jimmy Lea: Okay. So where did you start?

Matt Kranz: I started in about 2000 and started working at the shop, sweeping the floors down the road. My father actually owned a muffler shop back then. It was a mining gee. So it was a good beginning. And I wound up he wound up selling that and moved on and he became basically a parts rep.

Matt Kranz: So he worked for different parts companies throughout the years and, I wound up continuing to work on like weekends because I was still in high school at that point, right. I was gonna just take a year off to save some money for college or technical school, and I wound up taking that year off, making some money and never went back to school.

Matt Kranz: Taught myself, and

Jimmy Lea: here we are, school of hard knocks. So you went straight into a shop.

Matt Kranz: I went into a terrible, terribly run shop. I stuck with it, but I saw, you know, what, some of the people, the high turnover rate and the dishonesty. I got to see all that, learn from it and learn from their mistakes.

Matt Kranz: And I, I took all the experiences with, you know, basically with for gold that they. Experiences you could not get. You could only be told about,

Jimmy Lea: yes. Told about, or you have to experience it and what you experienced is that everyone is a good example. Everyone's a good,

Matt Kranz: yeah. Yeah. A good example. Do even when you're doing things wrong, you're a great example

Jimmy Lea: or a bad example of what you shouldn't do or a good example of what you shouldn't do.

Jimmy Lea: That. That is awesome that you were able to do that. How long were you at the shop then? How long were you there? Breaking knuckles, cutting your teeth.

Matt Kranz: At that shop for about six, no, seven years, I think it was seven years. And as I started, they, you know, the people who owned it, you know, with the turnover.

Matt Kranz: I think we went through 20 managers in the first two years. And I was just sweeping the floor. I was still learning how to, you know, work on things and work on 'em on the side because a lot of the stuff they did was only brake suspension. An exhaust. And that didn't excite me. I wanted to get more into engine's performance.

Matt Kranz: I did a lot with racing. So like anybody, I got myself in trouble. But, you know, it I wound up finding the right ways to do it. So today I can show the guys, you know, some of my race cars and bring 'em out and say, look, let's go to the track and we're gonna, we're gonna go to speed limit to the track.

Jimmy Lea: B limit to the track, and then on the track, now it's time to race.

Matt Kranz: Now it's time to have fun. Go break something now. Just don't hurt yourself. Yeah. But the yeah, I mean all those experiences, you know, I eventually wound up managing that, that location. So we started out, I guess the first couple years that was a 200 to $250,000 in total revenue operation.

Matt Kranz: The last year I left, which would've been oh seven, was the total, was the complete year. That year we closed out at about six 90. So big improvement, and I was the manager for the previous four years. So, I feel like I was responsible for that.

Jimmy Lea: Congratulations. Yeah, you were responsible for that.

Jimmy Lea: That's awesome. So how long were you at this shop then at turning a wrench and managing

Matt Kranz: About seven years total. Seven years

Jimmy Lea: total.

Matt Kranz: Oh, seven years total. And I was a working manager, so I was expected to be in the shop. You know, we'd run back and forth to the counter, talk to the customers. And I think that helped a lot.</