Good things come to those who wait

Business owner Jeff Dadam has endured nearly two years of FEMA floodplain-related delays in opening his Fast & Friendly Express Car Wash in Maricopa, but overcoming challenges is nothing new for this entrepreneur.

In fact, one of Dadam’s biggest career challenges ultimately became his greatest success.

In 1997 a young Dadam and his beverage-distributor father Jack Dadam joined an unknown European energy drink company to build its brand and distribution channels in North America.

The job was a gamble, and the brand was Red Bull.

For the first five years, Dadam and his father peddled the unfamiliar, peculiar-tasting beverage to retailers who slammed door after door in their faces.

“We had a lot of people laugh at us,” Dadam recalls. “We had a lot of people who said we were crazy and this will never work.”

Energy drinks were largely unheard of in the United States at the time, and the price of the unusual beverage seemed outrageous to many.

“You think about it, you’re coming into a country … and you’re trying to sell an eight-ounce energy drink for $2 per can, and when most people first taste it, they think it tastes funny,” Dadam says.

“It will be an architectural asset to the community and not just functional,” says Marvin Overson, president of MCO & Associates, which served as the general contractor for the car washes. “Jeff is a first-class guy, and everything he does is first class.”

Maricopa Economic Development Director Micah Miranda says the decision by Dadam to open his first full-service car wash in Maricopa is “humbling” and “shows that Maricopa is a viable and attractive location for private-sector capital investment.”

“We’ve heard a lot of residents passively and actively wanting these simple services just for the sake of convenience,” Miranda says.

The city currently experiences a $274 million leakage of sales that should take place in Maricopa and do not, Miranda adds. The car wash will be another opportunity for residents to patronize a business in their own community.

Dan Beach, the new director of Maricopa’s Center for Entrepreneurship, says his organization appreciates the entrepreneurs who choose to build their businesses in Maricopa and that it will support them in any way possible.

“There are entrepreneurs in Maricopa who we haven’t even discovered yet, and through the center, I hope we can find them and nurture them … to hopefully grow their business in Maricopa,” Beach says.

As Phoenix-based entrepreneur Dadam marches down the final stretch toward opening his long-awaited car wash in Maricopa he credits his love of his work with keeping his spirits up.

And he also credits his family. The 44-year-old is married with two children and enjoys annual fishing trips and outdoor activities with the entire family.

“Jeff is just a very humble man,” Overson says. “I can’t emphasize enough the quality of character that man has.”