November 19, 2007 // Franchising.com // - San Francisco, CA - Mike Callaway, General Manager of the new COLLEGE HUNKS HAULING JUNK San Francisco franchise, started his career as a lowly Wingman for the company's original operation in Washington, DC and now has driven the service vehicle across the country to open the West Coast operation. In his first year as an employee, sales hit $225,000. By his second year, they had quadrupled to $1.1 million. Callaway climbed the ranks as Truck Captain, Assistant Manager, and now has headed west to stake his claim as the General of the first West-coast operation.
"It's Manifest Destiny," jokes Callaway. "We have to stake our position on both coasts in order for our company to achieve the vision of being the nation's number one junk removal service."
Callaway insisted upon driving the College Hunks Hauling Junk truck across country as a symbol of his pioneering the West coast. He encountered similar obstacles; however, in one instance running out of gas in Wyoming and having to sleep in the truck while nearly freezing to death.
"I think anywhere there's a disposable income for homeowners, there's going to be stuff accumulating in homes," Callaway states, "whether they're in transition or starting to do home improvements and need to get rid of stuff."
Most of the business' clients are married professional women between 45 and 65 years old, Callaway says. "In most cases, the husband is a pack-rat, and the female is the decision-maker who wants to clear stuff out of the basement and garage."
College Hunks is also growing its commercial customers, which include property managers, home remodeling contractors and realtors.
College Hunks Hauling Junk has sold its first West Coast franchise for $112,500, marking the third such deal this year for the 2-year-old company, which is the first US-based junk removal franchise.
Located in San Francisco, the franchise will cover eight zones, each representing 65,000 to 85,000 households with annual incomes of $50,000 or more.
Soon after launching its franchise program earlier this year, Washington, DC-based College Hunks Hauling Junk signed franchise deals in Orlando and Tampa, Fla.
A portion of the revenue goes to College Bound, a D.C. nonprofit that prepares public high school students for college.
ABOUT COLLEGE HUNKS HAULING JUNK
Not your typical junk haulers, the company provides professional, clean-cut collegiate workers to dispose of unwanted items. Additionally, a portion of its revenue is donated to college scholarship programs.
College Hunks Hauling Junk grew out of a summer gig in 2003, before founders Omar Soliman and Nick Friedman used their summer experience to pen a business plan, which ended up taking first place out of 150 entries in the Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition.
Not your typical junk haulers, the company provides professional, clean-cut teams to dispose of unwanted items.