1-800-GOT-JUNK? Cleans Up a Dirty Business and Turns Trash Into Cash (1/01)

Brian Scudamore started 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, North America's Largest Junk Removal company, straight out of highschool in 1989 with only $700 and a beat-up old pick-up truck. Scudamore's company has built a network of 22 Franchise partners without outside funding or having to take his company public. "The concept of 'burn rate' just never made any sense to me," says Scudamore.

With a vision of creating the 'FedEx®' of junk removal, Scudamore says, "I dropped out of University with just a year left to become a full-time JUNKMAN! And yes, my father, a liver transplant surgeon, was not impressed! -- although he is onside now."

"Our recipe for success has been simple. Take a fragmented and dirty business and clean it up by adding clean, shiny trucks that act as mobile billboards, uniformed drivers, on-time service and up-front rates, and then mixing in a culture that is young, fun and completely focused on solid, profitable growth."

The San Francisco native adds that the company has been a huge success because junk is a universal problem. Whether it's old furniture, construction debris or yard refuse, it can be difficult - sometimes downright impossible - to find someone willing to haul off your unwanted junk.

And although it's a simple business, Scudamore claims, "We couldn't possibly have grown this quickly without technology - sort of a low tech business with a high tech spin." All calls come into 1-800-GOT-JUNK?'s central call center where we do all the booking and dispatch for our franchise partners. Franchise partners then access all of their real time reports, schedules, and customer info off of JUNKNET - the franchise wide intranet that allows franchise partners to get into business quickly, and to focus solely on growth."

1-800-GOT-JUNK? is sold out in Canada and has franchise partners in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, LA, San Diego, Quad Cities, IA, Minneapolis, Chicago and Buffalo, NY. Projected annual sales for 2001 are $11 Million. The company is targeting all markets that are larger than Vancouver, where it first got its start and has plans to open a total of 118 franchise locations by 2003.