Adding Polish to the Family Business: Meguiar’s Didn’t Start With Cars, but Now Is Tied to Them
By SAMANTHA LEE
At a recent family gathering, Barry Meguiar’s 3-year old grandson Jordan was given a toy car to entertain himself during dinner.
But instead of playing with it, the boy unfolded his napkin and began to wipe the toy down with great care, burnishing the car’s every surface.
Grandpa Barry, chief executive and president of fourth-generation car-care products company Meguiar’s Inc., watched proudly.
“Nobody told him to do that,” he said. “It’s in the blood.”
Barry Meguiar’s grandfather, Frank Meguiar, started the Irvine-based company more than 100 years ago. Frank Meguiar had 12 children, including sons Maurice, Malcolm (Barry’s father) and Kenneth, who followed him into the business. Kenneth Meguiar, now 73, is the youngest of the three sons and as a major shareholder still is involved in the company’s operations.
Barry Meguiar’s two cousins, Frank, 53, and Mike, 55, run the company’s Nashville manufacturing plant, which also employs Frank Meguiar’s grandson and three great-grandsons. Mike Meguiar also serves as chairman.
At Meguiar’s corporate offices, Barry Meguiar’s daughter Nicole Meguiar-Fiery runs the company’s catalog division, while husband Atticus Fiery is vice president of sales and marketing.
Barry Meguiar’s wife Karen, he said, is the company’s unofficial ambassador. She’s gone to every trade show for the past 38 years.
While Meguiar’s is known for high-end car waxes and polishes, the company began when cars weren’t much more than a novelty.
In 1901, Frank Meguiar began making his own furniture polish in his home. He used an eggbeater to mix the product one bottle at a time. The surfaces on early automobiles were made of wood with finishes similar to furniture. So Meguiar adapted his polishes to cars.
A century later, the company has more than 300 products for use on every surface imaginable: cars, boats, plastics, leathers, even carpets and drapes.
Early on, the company’s mainstay was a line of professional waxes called Meguiar’s Mirror Glaze. A big hit with car buffs, the company grew at decent clip until 1973. Then the company decided to mass-market products under the Meguiar’s name.
The company, which until then employed six people, expanded with demand for products from stores such as The Pep Boys, Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target. Today Meguiar’s counts more than 230 workers.
The professional market, once Meguiar’s sole business, now accounts for 40% of sales. This part of the business employs technicians who work in the company’s training center and also in assembly plants, body shops, detailers, and car clubs to demonstrate products. Meguiar’s has partnered its professional products with companies such as BMW AG, DaimlerChrysler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and boat maker Correct Craft Inc.
The commercial, or retail, side of Meguiar’s now accounts for 60% of business. The commercial products, according to Meguiar, are marketed differently. For both divisions, regular appearances at trade shows and car events are important outlets, Barry Meguiar said.
The company has been approached with buyout offers, Barry Meguiar said.
“We could sell the business and put a lot of money in our pocket,” he said. “But we’re having too much fun.”
Rivals include Turtle Wax Inc., The Clorox Co., owner of Armor All, and Ashland Inc.’s Valvoline Co., which owns Eagle One.
Meguiar’s edge is that “we are car guys,” Barry Meguiar said. “We’re not trying to understand through market research what a car guy is.”
Keeping the company private also makes it easier to keep the family’s secrets, according to Barry Meguiar.
“Being in the family dictates you keep two secrets: first you don’t tell anyone what goes in the products,” he said. “Second, you don’t tell anyone what our sales are.”
As for the fifth generation, Barry Meguiar said cousins Mike and Frank have their eye on a few of their grandkids who have shown interest in the business. As for Meguiar himself, he has five grandsons, and one baby granddaughter, who already has taken a liking to pink car accessories, he said.
