By Jim Utter
Director of Journalism
If you thought Whistle Express Car Wash make slow its expansion plans with the recent acquisition of Take 5 Car Wash, that couldn’t be further from the mind of Whistle CEO Jose Costa.
“We’re not stopping with Take 5. We’re going to go buy more,” Costa told Car Wash Daily News in a recent interview. “So, it’s going to take a minute to integrate and assimilate and train and grow (from the acquisition).
“But then, when we feel it’s on the right track, we’ll go look for more.”
On Feb. 25, Whistle Express announced it had entered into an agreement with Driven Brands Holdings to purchase its Take 5 Car Wash business for $385 million – a move that would more than triple Whistle’s size and make it the largest express car wash company in the United States.
The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. The completed deal would leave Whistle with more than 530 express car wash sites across 23 states.
Costa, who took over as CEO of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Whistle in spring 2022, after tenures Bojangles Restaurants and Driven Brands.
“When I got here, we had 450 units and we scaled to 150,” he said. “We have big dreams, and we have a big appetite, and we have a strong balance sheet. So, it was a matter of looking for the right opportunity at the right time.
“Many months ago, we started having conversations with Driven Brands. We have a lot of alums here that worked at Driven and specifically worked in the car wash business. We all know the asset very well.
“We’re excited to take over a great company with great team members and eventually rebrand them to Whistle Express over time.”
Costa admitted the acquisition of Take 5 will likely require Whistle Express to “slow down some” on its previous expansion plans, but by no means does the company intend to sit still.
“We’re going to build and we’re going to buy some. In the next few quarters, we’re probably going to slow down because assimilating 380 units is a big task. But, once we feel things are progressing in the right direction, we’re definitely going to keep growing.”
Costa said the addition of the Take 5 sites “fits perfectly within our footprint” but also recognizes there could be some overlay with current Whistle sites that may need to be addressed down the road.
“Since we’ve been working on this deal for many, many months, we have asked ourselves that question. We are doing the analysis and it’s going to be a market-by-market decision,” he said. “But that’s certainly the right question to be asked.”
Costa said he hoped the Take 5 deal would be completed in 45 to 90 days, but Whistle was in the “very advanced stages of trying to get it closed.”
Obviously, the sooner the deal is made official, the sooner Whistle can get to work on merging the Take 5 sites into the Whistle portfolio. It won’t be a seamless task and Costa said Whistle must take care to avoid the potential obstacles to a successful transition.
“That process entails a lot of over communication to the customers, explaining the reason why and the benefits of this new brand, and we’re going to do it market-by-market,” he said. “This is not easy. This is not one day you go to sleep, next morning you wake up and they’re all Whistle. I wish it was that easy.
“People are very anxious when there’s lack of transparency and lack of information, so we tend to over communicate. We want to remove anxiety. We want to be very thoughtful. … We are going to do it very slow and thorough. We cannot afford to drop the ball.”
Costa said there are some noticeable differences between Whistle Express and Take 5 sites – the use of graphene and brush prep at Whistle locations for instance – but expects to merge the best attributes of both companies in the combined entity.
“When you combine both companies, you have 1.5 million subscribers. We must find the best way to utilize that platform and provide the best value for that membership,” he said.
“I feel customers are actually going to see a shift to the positive on the interaction side and the experience of technology. Take 5 has an amazing team and we’re blessed to inherit that team, so we’re starting with a great, great, great base.”
