Business View Magazine
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Gary Smith, the President of the company, is Everett’s
son; Mandi Brandon, the company’s Director of Opera-
tions and Head of Marketing is Gary’s daughter; and
Scott Smith, Mandi’s uncle, manages the international
side of the business. Recently, Business View Maga-
zine spoke with Scott about the company. The follow-
ing is an edited transcript of that conversation:
BVM: To begin, can you tell us a little about the his-
tory of the company?
Scott: We’ve been around about 40 years: it started
back in the mid ‘70s. Essentially, we started it in the
automotive sector. We found that there was a big need
for the renovation of various types of materials that
were found within that sector, such as vinyls, and plas-
tics, and things like that when cars were turned back
in for resale.
BVM: What do you mean for resale? Are you talking
about used cars?
Scott: Yes. A dealership would take a car in on trade
and built into the figure they give you, is what it’s going
to cost them to make that car re-sellable – the me-
chanics making it run nice; the exterior, making it look
nice. But there was no effective way of taking care of
the interior. There were little kits that could fix a rip or
something like that, but nothing really was out there.
But we could go in and make that interior look just as
new, and smell just as new, and feel just as new, as
when the car was new. And when you buy that used
car, to you it’s not a used car – it’s a new car. You take
that car home and show all your friends and neighbors
your ‘new’ car; it’s not your ‘used’ car. So, we found a
niche where we went in with a series of water-based
products and we evolved into what we are, today.
BVM: What do you mean by “evolved?”
Scott: Over the years, our products have been devel-
oped organically. As manufacturers threw different
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Color Glo International
WHAT:
Specialists in color restoration and repair
WHERE:
Headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota
WEBSITE
:
