Gov. Rick Snyder praised Two Men And A Truck International Inc.'s decision to expand its corporate headquarters in Lansing, thanking the company for its continued investment in the state and for bringing new jobs to mid-Michigan.
"Two Men And A Truck is a homegrown success story," Snyder said. "Its expansion demonstrates a continuing commitment to Lansing and Michigan. The company's new investment and the jobs it will generate shows Michigan's economic gardening in action. It demonstrates that bold reforms to our business climate and our state's world-class talent are now putting Michigan at the top of the nation's best places to locate, expand and grow new jobs."
Two Men And A Truck is the first and largest local moving franchise system in the United States, offering a full range of home and business moving services. The company has the opportunity to grow its number of franchise locations and plans to expand its corporate headquarters in Delhi Township. Employees at the headquarters will provide services for customer care, franchise business consultants, training and development, service desk and a call center. The project will generate a total capital investment of up to $3.95 million and create 125 jobs over the next five years.
As a result of the expansion, the company has been awarded a $350,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant.
"The expansion of Two Men And A Truck's headquarters will further strengthen its Michigan presence and provide additional good jobs for years to come," said Michigan Economic Development Corp. President and CEO Michael A. Finney. "The company's decision to expand in Michigan is a strong statement about the great opportunities that, thanks to our business climate improvements, Michigan now offers to growing companies."
Two Men and A Truck was founded in the 1980s in Okemos by two teenaged brothers, Brig and Jon Sorber. In 1989 it was franchised by their mother, Mary Ellen Sheets. Today Two Men And A Truck employs nearly 80 people at its corporate office in Lansing. There are 234 locations operating in 34 states in the U.S., 19 locations in Canada, one in Ireland and one in the United Kingdom. The company is still privately owned.
"Our roots are here and they are deep. I'm so proud to announce we will expand upon what we've already built," said Two Men and A Truck CEO Brig Sorber. "With every passing day, the business climate in Michigan grows stronger and stronger, and I'm happy our company is part of that progress through the addition of more jobs to the Lansing area. We thank Gov. Snyder, the MEDC, the Lansing Economic Area Partnership and Delhi Township for their critical support and partnership during our decision making process."
"LEAP is very pleased to package this deal on behalf of the region that enables the international headquarters of Two Men And A Truck to substantially expand its operations right here," said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of LEAP. "Adding 125 headquarter jobs and 7,000 jobs nationally, all emanating from a home-grown firm like this, again shows that the Lansing region is leading the state in economic development activity."
The Michigan Business Development Program provides grants, loans and other economic assistance to qualified businesses that make investments or create jobs in Michigan, with preference given to businesses that need additional assistance for deal-closing and for second stage gap financing.
The Michigan Strategic Fund will consider a number of factors in making these awards, including out-of-state competition, private investment in the project, business diversification opportunities, near-term job creation, wage and benefit levels of the new jobs, and net-positive return to the state. Business retention and retail projects are not eligible for consideration of these incentives.