Shop View: Yingling's Auto Service
1. Open Kiosks
With Yingling’s Auto Service’s recent intensive remodel in 2012, service manager Pete Fail says that they wanted to create a more open environment for customers. When a customer goes through an initial write-up or check-out, a service writer works with them directly on the kiosks. The computer monitors are below the glass, to keep things out of the way as the customer enters the lobby.
2. All of the Lights
Behind their desks, service advisors see a light system that allows them to non-verbally communicate with technicians. The red light means that a technician needs more parts, the blue light corresponds to one service advisor and the white light corresponds to the other advisor.
3. Clowning Around
The shop has a 90-gallon, saltwater fish tank that currently has two clown fish. The aquarium arrived during the shop’s 2012 remodel, when co-owner Brandon Yingling brought in his own aquarium for storage, which drew interest from other staff members and inspired them to add one of their own. Fail says the shop has previously owned a serpent starfish, peppermint shrimp, and an assortment of snails and clams.
4. Coffee and the Community
The coffee bar offers a fridge stocked with different sodas, water and juice boxes, and a Keurig machine with coffee, tea and hot chocolate. There are a variety of brochures, and other reading material on the counters that advertise local, non-competing businesses. The picture on the wall is a birds-eye view of Topeka, the shop’s home city for the past 60 years.
5. Homage to History
Yingling is a collector of antiques, and there are many old signs and trinkets throughout the shop. Before entering the shop’s waiting room, customers see an old Texaco gas pump, an homage to the shop’s initial origins as an oil company.
SHOP STATS: Yingling's Auto Service Location: Topeka, Kan. Operator: Brian and Brandon Yingling Average Monthly Car Count: 360 Staff Size: 12 Shop Size: 11,000 square feet Annual Revenue: $1.52 million
