Intro: Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio. It’s Franchise Marketing Radio.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Franchise Marketing Radio and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show we have CEO and driving enthusiast with SafeWay Driving Brad Coleman. Welcome.

Brad Coleman: Hey Lee, thanks for having me. Good to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about SafeWay Driving and how you serving folks?

Brad Coleman: Oh man, we’re serving folks all over the place. But the biggest thing we’re doing is we’re helping prevent the phone call that nobody wants. Driving is one of those things that everyone does every day and doesn’t think twice about it, but it’s also the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do. So Safeway driving is out there making safer drivers, and it’s working. We’ve got the stats to show it, which we can go into.

Lee Kantor: Well, tell us about kind of the origin story. How did you get involved in this line of work?

Brad Coleman: Yeah. So it’s a little different than your average driving school for me. I grew up when I, when I got my driver’s license, I actually went through Safeway driving. So I’m a graduate myself. I’m a product of of Safeway driving. It’s been around for 52 years. After graduating from Safeway, I went on to, long story short, become a NASCAR driver and professional race car driver and loved going fast on the racetrack, of course, and one of our big sponsors at the time when I was racing was Nationwide Insurance, and they had obligations that US drivers had to do when we were traveling the circuit, which every weekend we are in a different city in the United States. You know, you’ll be in Kansas one week and then you’ll be in Virginia another. And they would have us go to the local high schools and speak to the teens there about the dangers of distracted driving. They’d bring a simulator, they’d have them drive, and we’d give them a cell phone and watch them crash all over the place. And, you know, it’s for for me. At first it was just this obligation. I’m like, ah, I don’t want to go talk to these high school kids.

Brad Coleman: They make me nervous. I wasn’t one of the cool kids in high school. Um, but there was this moment with one where I handed him the phone and he started crashing all over the place, and I just saw something in his eyes for a split second where something impacted him, and he had this realization of, wow, it actually is more dangerous to text and drive. And that really sparked something in me as well. Wow, I just impacted this kid and I might have just changed his life. So it it really kick started this passion for me, and I ended up loving doing those events after that and ended up talking to my dad, who was my manager at the time, and telling him about this passion. He said, well, you know, we’re not racing forever. Why don’t we go talk to your old coach Walker, who started Safeway driving where I went to driving school. Tell him about this passion and see what he has to say. And we went and chatted with him and turns out he was looking to retire and it was just perfect timing. Ended up ended up acquiring Safeway driving and been doing that for 16 years now.

Lee Kantor: Now, what was it like making that transition from, you know, kind of the professional athlete that you were to now running kind of a business?

Brad Coleman: Yeah. Well, it was the, the, the first year I was still racing, um, when, when we had taken over ownership of Safeway. So I was still in the NASCAR circuit, but we were able to have a couple races where the NASCAR was all decked out and Safeway driving graphics. So I was basically driving a driver’s ed car on the racetrack, uh, and on the back bumper. It even said student driver, uh, which I got a lot of flack for, uh, from my fellow NASCAR driver friends. Uh, but I would just point out that if they could see that that meant that I was beating him in the race so they really couldn’t make fun of me. But, uh, so we were we were still racing, uh, for, for a year. And, uh, in the meantime, just really went to work on, uh, Safeway driving as a company. My dad is is I’d call him, like, a branding expert. I mean, he he had a marketing and advertising agency for, for his, um, big part of his career. He’s he’s just really brilliant at, at the branding side of things. So he went to town and in taking what, what was your traditional driving school? You know, when you think of a driving school, you could picture it in your head, old beat up cars, um, inconsistent colors. Uh, you go into the classroom and it could be dirty and desks everywhere and overhead projectors and and stuff like that.

Brad Coleman: And and he we we modernized that and made it a clean brand. If you go to our website, you can see what it looks like and what our cars look like. They, they’re NASCAR graphics inspired. They have numbers on them, they got big decals on them and they really easy to spot, which is also safer for our drivers when they’re in their lessons, which is great. Um, so he went to he went to work really updating everything that was the business and, and making it a modern, clean brand that is an enjoyable place to be, which most people don’t enjoy going to a driving school. And, and we really wanted to change that. And for my piece, I took my my racing experience and my years and years of training of of learning how to drive a car to the best of my ability and putting that into our curriculum, which was already amazing. Uh, the guy who started it, Coach Walker, did a great job in developing this curriculum, and I just I just updated it a little bit with my experience and updated our our training for our instructors so we could have a consistent experience for all of our drivers. And, um, it ended up being being a great combo.

Lee Kantor: Now, before you got it, was it a franchise or was it kind of a mom and pop in a local community?

Brad Coleman: It was your definition of a mom and pop. It was literally Jean Walker, who was the football coach who started it, and his wife, Jean Walker, who who ran the business side of things. And it was the mom and pop. They had five locations across Houston when we ended up taking over from them. And they they worked hard every single day in the business.

Lee Kantor: And then when did you collectively decide to make it a franchise, or was this something that when you bought it, you were like, I think we can franchise this.

Brad Coleman: So we when we first bought it, that wasn’t really something. We were thinking about the franchise side of things. We, you know, it was it was from my passion of, of, um, just helping people become safer drivers that I had developed through my sponsorship obligations. And, and then my dad saw an opportunity with the business side of things. So that’s what that’s what started the the initial deal with Safeway. And then after 3 or 4 years, we, we saw man, we’re we’re making an impact in these people’s lives And and this is really taken off. Do we want to do a corporate expansion where we have corporate stores across Texas or, or do we want to look at a different model? And when we explored the franchising side of things, what really excited us about it was not we don’t want the feel of a big corporation who’s just opening up locations and, and not really a part of the community, but with the franchise model, we could find people that are in their communities and have lived there for a long time. They’ve had kids that have grown up and gone through the schools, and they care about their friends and their neighbors that want to make a difference in their community while also making money at the same time. So that’s that’s when we just knew the franchise model was what we wanted. So it could be a small business in every location we go, and there’s an owner there that really cares, that’s really passionate about it and really just involved in their community. So that’s that’s why we decided to go that route.

Lee Kantor: So is your kind of avatar for a franchisee, Coach Walker?

Brad Coleman: Yeah, that’s one of them. That’s that’s one of them. He’s, uh. Man, I would love it if he wanted to do that. He’s he’s retired at this point, but, um, it our avatar is really there’s a mix there. There is the football coaches that, uh, have been at their school for 20 or 30 years and want to make even more impact on the students that they’re with, because, I mean, everyone’s been impacted by a coach at some point. Um, I know I have, and my grandfather was a basketball coach for, geez, 40 years here in Houston. And they’re just very important. So it’s another opportunity to to start making some money and then keep impacting people’s lives. And um, we, we have people that are are salesmen. And with marketing experience, we’ve shown that that’s been really successful. They’re able to get out in their community, they’re able to talk to people and and share the mission of Safeway driving and how we’re impacting lives and how we can help them. And we have people that are in the pharmaceutical industry. We have, uh, people that are, uh, in the insurance industry. It’s it’s it’s all over the place. But we’ve seen what what’s really great is when it’s somebody who who wants to be involved in the operation, somebody who’s not looking just for a passive investment, but they want to really be a part of making that impact. Uh, and that’s, that’s who we’re seeing be most successful.

Lee Kantor: So in order, um, to be a successful franchisee for Safeway, do you have to have kind of a brick and mortar location, uh, with classrooms like you described, or is this something that you can show up and do this, you know, without that kind of, uh, investment in physical space?

Brad Coleman: Well, I think that’s one of the beautiful aspects of our franchise is you absolutely do not need an expensive brick and mortar storefront. You don’t need a big classroom. Um, our classroom is all online, so we we take care of that. We upgrade it all the time. It’s very modern and easy to use, and it does a great job of teaching the students. So our franchisees don’t have to worry about the classroom portion. What they need is what we call a drive site. So if they want to talk to a school and let them park some cars in the parking lot, they can do that. They want to talk to a church or any religious organization they may be affiliated with. They can park cars there, or we have franchisees who do deals with grocery stores where you can leave some cars in the grocery store, and then that’s the student will do the course online on their own time, whenever it works for them, on their phone or on their computer. And then when it comes time to drive, they’ll show up to the drive site and they’ll meet the instructor and do the the in-car portion of the lessons. And, uh, it’s it’s really nice. You don’t need that big, expensive build out. Um, the, the estimated initial investment for our franchisees is anywhere from 58,000 to 163,000. So it’s it’s it’s not that high.

Lee Kantor: And do they have to buy a special car or is that can they use cars they already own?

Brad Coleman: So one of the great things about our brand is the consistency between all the cars. Unlike most driving schools where it’ll be all over the place. So it’s Toyota Corollas. You got to get a white Toyota Corolla, preferably black interior. We have all our stickers, so you get them all put on the car and we’ve got the instructor brake and gas pedal on the right side. Well we’ll get you set up with a dash cam and your mirrors and and that’s what you’ll use. So yeah, everybody uses the same car.

Lee Kantor: And when you were doing this and you had in your head, okay, we’re going to franchise. What were those early kind of franchisees. What did it feel like emotionally for you to say, okay, now we’re trusting the brand and we’re going out and putting this in the wild here. Um, how did you ensure that they, you know, had a successful launch and and and ensure their success.

Brad Coleman: Well, it’s it is a weird feeling because you’re like, okay, um, hope this works because you don’t I don’t want people to, to spend this money and invest this time and this hope and then just have it be a flop. So we worked really hard to support the franchisees. We’re still doing that today, working very hard to do that. And we we still have franchisees. The very first franchisee still going strong just renewed. And he is just doing great. Um, and we’ve still got a lot of the initials and we’ve got a couple more that we’ve brought on. It’s it’s it was scary to answer your question. It was scary because there was a lot at stake.

Lee Kantor: Well, I mean, how did it compare, like when you were growing up and you were like, okay, I’m going to be a NASCAR and you and, you know, there was a lot of people like you that wanted to be driving on NASCAR and only a handful make it to the level that you made it. Um, you know, it takes something special to be you as a NASCAR driver. How do you kind of identify that something special in these franchisees? Because it’s not for everyone, but, you know, for the right person. This is a wonderful opportunity.

Brad Coleman: Yeah. It’s great question. Um, I it isn’t for everyone. And one of the things I’ll tell people, because when we have our observation days, I’ll be there and just guiding them through it, telling them about who we are and what we’re doing. And I’ll tell them my job is to try to convince you not to do this. This is this is not something that you just flip the switch and money starts rolling in. It’s something that you’re going to be a part of. It’s something that you’re going to work to build because you have to get out in your community. You have to tell people what you’re doing. You have to go to the PTA meetings, you go to the football games, you sponsor the the booster clubs and you’re really involved in your community. And, um, that’s one thing I’m looking for, is somebody who’s going to take that ownership, somebody who has the the passion and the ability to go talk to people because it’s it’s not for everybody. And, um, yeah, that’s that’s really what we’re looking for.

Lee Kantor: And it’s one of those things I think from the outside it may look like one thing, but when you’re doing it, it looks like something else. Like when you were driving professionally, no one saw all the hours you spent, you know, working on your skills and, and, and doing all the things behind the scenes that it takes to make it look easy when you’re doing it. And it’s the same thing with owning a business. It there’s a lot of behind the scenes work that has to be done in order to be successful. They have to go to those, you know, go to the the school events and they have to show up and they’re working when other people aren’t working. A lot of the times, like there’s sacrifices you have to make in order to make it work.

Brad Coleman: Yeah, that that’s exactly right. I mean, when you own a business, you are working a lot. You’re doing a lot behind the scenes that people don’t see. If if anything happens, it it it ultimately ends up on you as the business owner. So I mean, it’s the same thing with with Safeway driving. I mean, you’re out there in the community and you’re working and you’re telling people and, um, what’s great about, I mean, if you have a small business, you’re going to be doing it no matter what. But what’s great about Safeway’s opportunity is you’re really doing something that gets to make an impact in your community and save lives. Because the state of Texas, every year they take driving school data, every every new driver that a driving school trains, they’ll, uh, look at their driving record and see, okay, has this person gotten in a crash yet? So we’re able to see how safe and how effective is our program versus others. And what the data shows, according to the state of Texas, is that graduates of Safeway driving their chances of getting in a crash after graduating is almost half of what the average driving school is here. So we’re we’re super proud of that. And people that partner with us in their community get to share that with their community, actually see a difference and really save the lives of the people that they live with and their friends with while making money.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s one of those things where, um, you’re going to get a lot of thank yous, uh, from your clients. This isn’t, uh, you’re not selling something that is, um, you know, kind of a difficult conversation with people. This should be something that, hey, this is going to not only going to keep your kids safer, it’s also. It might, isn’t it? Don’t some of these schools, um, save money when it comes to insurance?

Brad Coleman: Yeah, it depends on who your insurance provider is and your individual broker. But there are a lot of insurance, uh, provides discounts. But, I mean, you just look at the price of a deductible if if anything happens. And right there is the difference in a driver’s ed package, because they do in the state of Texas and a lot of states, they have what’s called a parent taught option that you that the parents can do all the training for their for their teen. And for some people that works. When you look at the data that it’s not nearly as good as going to Safeway driving. And you know, I know money’s tight for for a lot of people. And if that’s why you do that, that’s I get it. That’s totally great. I mean, um, we even offer a parent taught program because we want the parents to give the best materials they can for their kids. So if you’re going to do that, we’re going to support you in that. But you’re really not saving money by doing that. If you go with Safeway, I mean, you’re so much safer. They get set up for this skill that will that they’ll have the rest of their life. And like you said, we have people all the time who will come back and say thank you. They’re safe driver. They haven’t had any incidents or man, your training really saved them in this moment. And we do a lot of training with neurodivergent students who they’ll come back and say, you gave our family freedom. Thank you so much. It’s it’s really a cool, a cool business to be a part of and know, like, yeah, I’m I’m saving lives.

Lee Kantor: Now in the school system. There was I mean, when I was in school, in high school, they had driver’s ed classes. Do they still have that nowadays? Is that or is that something that’s kind of.

Brad Coleman: That’s something.

Lee Kantor: That fewer and fewer.

Brad Coleman: That’s really gone away. Yeah. That’s that’s something that you’ll you’ll have it here and there. But what you find is that when it’s a commercial driving school where that’s what they do, you’re going to get a better result. You’re going to get people that really care about it. And that’s not to say that when it was at the school, there weren’t people that cared. But a lot of times you’ll get a football coach or a biology teacher that like they have to do it kind of situation and they may not want to be there. And it it’s not going to be the same as going to a school where that’s all they do, and they’re constantly upgrading what they do, and they’re staying on top of industry industry trends. And and they have somebody who has tens of thousands of hours of driver training, even though it was to go as fast as I could. When you look at being a race car driver, you also have to know how to avoid crashes in order to win races, and you have to learn how to analyze your surroundings. And what are your competitors doing? How do I put myself in the best position to win this race? I mean, a lot of that translates to on the street, creating safe drivers that are aware of their surroundings and putting themselves in positions to get from point A to point B successfully.

Lee Kantor: Now, how are most of your franchisees finding safe way? Because it’s not, I don’t think, um, an obvious franchise choice for aspiring franchisees. A lot of them wouldn’t even know. The driving schools are a choice. How do you kind of attract your franchisees?

Brad Coleman: Yeah, if you look at the Google Trends, there’s not a lot of people searching for driving school franchises. It’s, uh, it is a very unique thing. And it’s it’s it’s really cool. We’ve had a lot of success in just letting our existing and former customers know that this is an opportunity. We have. A good majority of our franchisees right now were Safeway driving customers. Their kids went through, um, so that that’s really cool to be a part of because they see the impact that it made on their kids. Um, and they want that for other families. So we have a lot of that, uh, we, we have driving instructors who wanted a better system to be a part of and wanted to be a part of a school that was really making a difference. Uh, so it’s really it’s it’s not hundreds and hundreds of leads coming in. It’s it’s it’s just like running the business. It’s talking to people, it’s letting them know that we exist and the opportunity, um, and bringing them in. And what something I’m really adamant about and passionate about is I’m not looking to grow this thing as fast as I can. That’s that’s not my goal. My goal is to do a quality growth where everyone’s I mean, we’re going to work hard to help people be successful, and we want to make sure if we’re opening up in a community because this is such an important life skill that it’s going to work, and we’re going to give all the tools we can and it’s going to do a good job before we move on and open another one. We’re not we’re not just trying to mass explode this thing, so we’re taking our time with it and really wanting to make sure it’s it’s good for the communities.

Lee Kantor: Is there a franchisee story you can share that maybe someone who, um, got into it and then really made an impact in the community in a way that maybe surprised you or was rewarding when you heard it.

Brad Coleman: Oh man, there’s so many. I can’t, I can’t. There’s oh, there’s so many. If you just go read the Google reviews, which I love doing because I want to see the good ones and I want to see the bad ones as much as they hurt. Uh, and you’ll see story after story of all of our franchises of. Wow, it’s such a great experience. Um, they, they they listened and they were so patient with my son or my daughter or me, because we we’ll train adults as well. Uh, and you see that everywhere. And it just it really hits home. I mean, in channel, channel two, NBC and Houston just ran a story all across this part of Texas, of a of a student of ours who was nerd, is neurodivergent, and they had their parents talking about the impact it made on their lives and on their son’s life, being able to drive a car and get a driver’s license. And it’s stories like that. I’ll I’ll hear stories from parents like that from all of our locations, so it’s really hard to pick one, because the reason I’m doing this, and the reason all this got started, was just my passion for impacting people that are driving cars and making safer lives. And I’m super proud that all of our franchisees are doing that.

Lee Kantor: So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on the team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Brad Coleman: Yeah, you just go to our website at Safeway. You’ll see up at the top there’s a button franchising. Now you click on that we’ve got info. You fill out the form and we’ll be in touch with you. Um, we’d love to partner with you if if you’re really in a place where you’re like, okay, I want to have some more ownership of my life and my schedule and have a business, um, that makes an impact. And while making money, that’s that’s something that’s really unique about what we do. You get to save lives and you get to make money at the same time.

Lee Kantor: Have you been able to convince any of your fellow NASCAR drivers to, uh, open a franchise. You got any of them on the pipeline?

Brad Coleman: Uh, I’m I’m a little embarrassed to say most of my fellow NASCAR drivers are not as passionate about safe driving as I am. I’m. I’m kind of an anomaly. There is another race car driver who did, uh, sports car stuff and ran 24 hour Le Mans and and a lot of cool stuff, who’s also really passionate about about safe driving. So I may I may have to give him a call and see if he wants to be a part of it.

Lee Kantor: Well, Brad, thank you so much for sharing your story today, doing such important work. And we appreciate you.

Brad Coleman: Yeah. Thank you. It was, uh, it was great chatting with you. I appreciate it, Lee.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Franchise Marketing Radio.