MOJO gathers multi-brand leaders for three-day Florida retreat
The 150-plus location operator brought teammates from across its 20 regional brands to Panama City for leadership training, team building, and culture work.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
MOJO Family of Brands, a car wash group that runs more than 150 washes under 20 regional brands, brought its team members together in Panama City, Florida, for its 2026 Leadership Retreat. According to reporting from Car Wash Business Center, the three-day event mixed classroom instruction with beach time, shared meals, and group activities.
Teammates traveled from across the country to attend. The company framed the gathering as an investment in its people-first culture, pairing structured development with recreation intended to build connection across its brands.
What the retreat covered
Each day was anchored by classroom sessions focused on skills, alignment, and leadership development, followed by evening group activities designed to help attendees unwind and participate in team building. The format reflects a stated belief that strong teams are built both inside and outside the classroom.
Chief Executive Officer Terry Emerson described the retreat as a chance to invest in team growth and align on direction. "MOJO has been built by teammates who show up every day and give their best," Emerson said. He added that it is now up to the group to carry the work forward alongside teammates across the country.
Chief Operating Officer Harry T. Jenkins pointed to the company's workforce of more than 1,240 associates who he said work to create memorable customer experiences. "Our team of more than 1,240 associates are working hard each and every day," Jenkins said, describing the gathering as consistent with the company's culture of learning and celebrating together.
The retreat follows other recent MOJO activity, including the appointment of Matt White as Chief Financial Officer and the expansion of its Coastal Car Wash brand across the Tampa Bay region. Those moves, alongside the leadership event, point to a company actively building out both its corporate structure and its regional footprint.
Why it matters for operators
Multi-site growth creates a specific management challenge: keeping standards and culture consistent when locations operate under different regional brands and span multiple states. A centralized leadership retreat is one tool large operators use to counter the drift that comes with scale, giving site and market leaders a shared set of expectations and a chance to build relationships that make cross-brand coordination easier.
For independent and smaller chain operators, the takeaway is less about the beachfront setting and more about the underlying practice. Investing time in structured leadership development, even on a smaller scale, helps retain managers and reduces the turnover that drives up hiring and training costs in a labor-intensive business. Bringing field leaders together periodically to align on goals and standards can pay off in more consistent customer experiences across locations.
The emphasis MOJO placed on both training and informal connection is also worth noting. Classroom content transfers knowledge, but the shared meals and group activities build the trust that makes teams function under pressure. Operators planning their own manager meetings can apply the same balance without a large budget, combining skills sessions with time for staff to connect away from day-to-day operational demands.
As MOJO continues to add locations and fill out its executive bench, how well it sustains culture across a growing portfolio will be a useful case study for any operator weighing expansion against the complexity it brings.
