For 50 years, Chief’s Towing has recovered vehicles and other disabled machines in the Bloomington, MN area. In their work with municipalities and police, they offer towing and storage services to keep vehicles safe after they’re impounded or removed from public spaces.
While they’re familiar with the cash ebbs and flows that happen with a seasonal business, nothing prepared them for what would happen with the COVID-19 crisis.
As the pandemic swept across the US, Minnesota was one of the earlier states that shut down. This meant that roughly 80% of employees across MN were able to work from home. This greatly reduced the amount of traffic on the roads, limited the number of people being pulled over, decreased the number of accidents, and drastically reduced the amount of car dealerships calling to seek Chief’s services.
“In terms of dollars and cents, it was a big hit,” says Chief’s managing director Jeffery Schoenborn. Chief’s Towing has worked with 21st Century Bank for five years and quickly turned to the bank for a PPP loan to pay utilities and employees.
To support Chief’s, 21st Century Bank’s team helped coordinate and process the loan. “Chief’s Towing is a great example of a company that really needed a PPP loan but didn’t think they needed at the time,” said Jon Dolphin, bank president. “Who can see into the future? It turned out to be a blessing for them.”
And Schoenborn couldn’t have been happier.
“21st Century Bank made it easy to get a loan. They answered all of our questions, and I exchanged several phone conversations and emails,” says Schoenborn.
The team at 21st Century Bank enjoyed having Chief’s Towing as a client. “They’re an old school, ‘my word is my bond’ kind of business. If they say something, they mean it, and they’re going to follow through on it,” Dolphin said.
Those values run deep within the business. Chief’s Towing is grateful for all its customers and employees and works to build and maintain relationships. It’s this very attitude that keeps staff around, some of which have been with the company for five to twenty years.
