Two Men and A Truck awarded two franchisees its Moving People Forward scholarship, paying their franchise fee in full.
Moving franchise Two Men and A Truck awarded franchisees Tanya Nickel and Lucas Keefe with the brand’s Mary Ellen’s People Moving Forward scholarships.
The scholarship, named for company co-founder Mary Ellen Sheets, covers the entirety of the franchise fee for the recipient and the exact amount depends on the area, President Randy Shacka said. Nickel received $50,000, as she’s taking a more populated territory. For a smaller territory, the scholarship totals $30,000.
To qualify, managers need an outside sponsor or franchise partner. They then go through six months of training to really get a feel for how to run a franchise territory, including sales, marketing and finance. It concludes with the managers presenting a business plan to the executives overseeing the scholarship.
Tanya Nickel, right, will open her Two Men and A Truck franchise in Berkley, California, in February.
“We get the chance to really get to know the manager through the process,” said Shacka. “Likewise, they understand the relationship on the franchisee-franchisor side of things and also the resources they have available from a support standpoint.”
The company created the scholarship in 2015. Stemming from similar training programs, roughly two to four people apply and go through the process every year. Applicants are scored at every step, with 2023 being the first year that two people exceeded the minimums and were awarded, Shacka said.
Nickel is opening her Two Men and a Truck franchise in Berkley, California, this month. Keefe will be opening a location in Meridian, Idaho within the next few weeks.
Moving from Bunbury, Australia, to Sacramento in 2015, Nickel began her time with Two Men as director of sales and marketing for Mark Snyir, partner and Sacramento franchisee. It didn’t take her long to get into operations, and she became interested in owning a franchise location.
The scholarship is advertised among potential franchisees often, so Nickel saw an opportunity to speed up the process. “The scholarship is always present,” said Nickel. “Two Men and A Truck are very keen on promoting employees to open their own branch.”
Other aspects of the brand caught Nickel’s attention. For one, the family feel and genuine support from the home office in Michigan was a draw, she said. The brand also made it easy to educate herself through its Stickman University, so she essentially received a crash course in how to run a franchise while working with Snyir.
“The moment she applied, we started the process,” said Snyir. “We dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s to get this going early.”
Acquired by Roark Capital’s Servicemaster Co. in 2021, Two Men and A Truck helps with moves in 380 territories across the world.