Kevin McGrath spent 16 years in the oil and gas industry, but he always knew he wanted to own his own business. McGrath’s friend and colleague, Terry Roberts, had just decided to take a year off from his corporate job to recalibrate and discover what he would do next. Throughout that year, the two kept in touch and looked for an opportunity that fit them both. By Kelsi Trinidad
Kevin McGrath spent 16 years in the oil and gas industry, but he always knew he wanted to own his own business. McGrath’s friend and colleague, Terry Roberts, had just decided to take a year off from his corporate job to recalibrate and discover what he would do next. Throughout that year, the two kept in touch and looked for an opportunity that fit them both.
McGrath knew that he didn’t want to manage a large workforce or get highly leveraged in fixed physical assets. Both McGrath and Roberts also knew they wanted a franchise model that had a recurring source of revenue. The two partnered with their friend and former colleague, John Rann, with the three partners taking on the challenge of operating two City Wide Facility Solutions locations simultaneously.
“We wound up with City Wide because of the experience of being there and speaking to the CEO and owner of City Wide, Jeff Oddo. He made some pretty salient points about the phase that we were in – in terms of being entrepreneurs – and what the next few steps looked like,” said McGrath. “So that was a net positive for us. Also, the model itself was just head and shoulders above the model of the other opportunity we were considering.”
They opened their location on the cusp of the global pandemic in February 2020 – a historically tough time to launch, but they were able to keep their business running throughout those years.
“That was a bit scary,” McGrath recalled.” “But we had a business that addressed the exact issue that the government was shutting down businesses based on. I think in an unexpected way, as the market changed, it kind of showed us how resilient doing this was, versus maybe some of the other things that we considered.”
The partners are proud of their business’s success, but what they most appreciate is how business ownership allows them to provide for their staff, independent contractors, and their families – and that the team is active in the community through various charitable projects.
Kelsi Trinidad