Wraptors eager to shift expansion into high gear

by carly_mchugh | 30 March 2023 4:16 pm

By Carly McHugh

It all began with a single vehicle wrap shop in Mississauga, Ont. Established in 2016, under the name “Toronto Wraptors,” the goal of the new business was to create a future for founder Stas Kravchuk’s growing family.

Since then, the company has evolved to become Wraptors Inc., a full vehicle customization empire, strengthened by Kravchuk’s keen marketing expertise. Not only has Wraptors become a household name in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), but it has also transcended national borders to offer its services in Florida and South Africa.

Sign Media Canada spoke with Kravchuk and his wife, Christel Barbie, about the philosophy behind the company, along with its recent projects and specialties, and their plans for the company going forward.

Sign Media Canada (SMC): What is the history of the shop?

Christel Barbie (CB): We started Wraptors because we got pregnant with our first son. We wanted to make sure we had a future for him, and now our twins—a business we could pass on to them. A real career.

We had our vehicle wrapped at the time, by one of our current employees, who wrapped it in his garage. Everywhere we went, everyone kept saying, “Oh, this is an amazing paint job.”

At the time, being about four months pregnant, we thought, “This has to be a really good business, because everyone’s asking us, and no one knows anything about wraps.”

We decided to give it a shot, opened our first location, and just began marketing it.

Stas Kravchuk (SK): Christel and her mother came up with the name. We had to fight hard to get it, as the Raptors basketball team wanted us to lose the trademark. Now, the business has 13 locations.

SMC: What makes your company unique?

SK: The business is unique because it’s reformed the look of the traditional garage. We’re focused on bringing a vibe, with a super-clean facility and a boutique feel. We’re also interested in working with celebrities and athletes. Our brand is centred on not just cars, but a lifestyle.

SMC: What is the lifestyle Wraptors Inc. strives to promote?

CB: Our lifestyle is entrepreneurship, being able to have your own business, and not necessarily having to go to school for 15 years to be successful. You can have taste and have fun, enjoy life without judgement, and just work hard.

SMC: How large are your facilities?

SK: Our head office in Mississauga is 929 m² (10,000 sf), and our office in Miami is 557.4 m² (6,000 sf).

SMC: What type of projects does your shop primarily work on? 

CB: Vehicle wrapping and full car customization. We do paint protection film (PPF), ceramic coating, powder coating rims, painting calipers, personal company decals, and commercial wraps. We also do full vehicle builds, including body kits and car audio. Pretty much anything you want done with your car, we offer it, at all our locations.

One thing we’re proud of at Wraptors is we treat the Honda Civic clients the exact same as we treat the Lamborghini clients. A vehicle represents something you worked hard for, so it’s important we treat it like your prized possession, no matter the value.

SMC: What type of projects have you been working on recently?

SK: We’ve been working on a big project with Diogo Snow, a celebrity artist, on Art Basel pieces and cool car design projects.

SMC: How much of the installation process is handled in-house?

CB: Pretty much everything we do is in-house. We used to do our printing and decals elsewhere, but we’ve recently acquired a company that focuses on commercial vehicles and brought it inside our head office. The only thing we send out is the powder coating rims, because having the spray in the shop would be really bad for the wraps.

SMC: What tools, equipment, and resources do you use to complete your projects?

CB: We have a graphic designer, we have someone who runs our large-format printers and plotters, and then we have someone else who helps them print as well as does the install, because commercial printing and wrapping is completely different than just a regular colour change project.

SMC: What are the steps involved in your planning process?

SK: The customer will come in, and ideally, they’ll have their own graphics and their own logo already created. If not, we’ll send it to our graphic designer, and they’ll create a mock-up. The mock-up will go back and forth with any changes until the customer is happy, then once it’s approved, it’ll go into the printing room and the printers will print it out. At that point, we’ll already have the sizes and measurements of the vehicle. We always like to have the vehicle in-house before we start printing, in case any measurements are off, something isn’t aligning, or there’s something different on the vehicle—so we can catch it before we print the entire project. Once the project is printed and installed, we do a big reveal. We have a media team that does photos, videos, content—anything the customer can use for their own business, and we can put on our social media.

SMC: How is technology changing your business operations?

CB: For jobs like colour changing, technology hasn’t changed much in our industry—only because we use very basic elements, from heat guns to the material. We buy our material from 3M or Avery, it already comes printed that colour, and you just install it, so there isn’t much technology involved in that process.

SMC: What is the key to staying successful in your industry?

SK: A quick turnaround, a warranty, a great team, and who you know.

SMC: What are your plans for the future of your business?

SK: We’re planning for future growth in the U.S., and possibly a location in Dubai.

CB: Our Orlando location opened on Feb. 7, and the newest location is opening on March 23, in Cape Town, South Africa. We’re doing the renovations, the painting has been done, and we’ve already hired installers, so it’s basically already a go. We’re just not able to get out there until then to do the opening.

We also want to open maybe two or three more locations in Florida before expanding to other states. I grew up in the U.S., and there’s so much potential there for growth. Stas has spoken about how he wants to do Atlanta, Ga. We were also thinking about somewhere in Indianapolis, Ind. I’d like to do Daytona, Fla., because it’s such a NASCAR world there. Then, maybe Tampa. We’re going to expand more on that side of the U.S., then hopefully jump over to Los Angeles next.

SMC: What factors do you consider when expanding Wraptors Inc.?

CB: You don’t want to saturate your market. We can’t expand any more in the Greater Toronto Area, because then we’ll start competing against our own shops.

In Florida, we have our Miami office in Fort Lauderdale, but we also want to do Boca Raton and downtown Miami. However, the more places you put out there, the more clients you’re taking away from that area, so you basically just have to make a big map and start putting pins in it.

I always do a search for each location, to see how many wrap shops are there and if there’s a good industry. We also like to go places where we know one or two people. For example, my sister is in Indiana, so I have a bit of a background on what the industry already looks like there, and how many people would be interested in getting wraps.

At the end of the day, Stas is really good at marketing, so if there isn’t an area for him to be in, he’ll create it.

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/wraptors-eager-to-shift-expansion-into-high-gear/

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