Soapy Joe's gathers 500-plus staff for company appreciation day
The San Diego County operator brought teammates from its 27 locations together at Mission Bay for recognition, food trucks, and prize giveaways.
By The Car Wash News Staff
3 min read
Soapy Joe's Car Wash, a family-owned operator running 27 locations across San Diego County, hosted a company-wide appreciation event for its workforce on Wednesday, June 24. More than 500 team members gathered at De Anza Cove Park on Mission Bay for an afternoon centered on recognition and time together outside the workplace, according to reporting from Car Wash Business Center.
The company invited all employees regardless of role or location, framing the open invitation as part of a broader focus on its staff. The gathering came as Soapy Joe's continues expanding across Southern California, having opened its 27th location earlier in the year.
What the event included
Attendees were treated to food from several local food trucks, interactive games and activities, prize giveaways, and swag bags for everyone who came. The company positioned the afternoon as a chance for colleagues who normally work at separate sites to connect and mark shared successes as a single team.
Lorens Attisha, CEO of Soapy Joe's, tied the event to the company's stated priorities. "People are the heart of everything we do," Attisha said, describing the gathering as one way the company thanks its teammates for their daily work and customer service.
The company described the event as a reflection of its effort to build a positive workplace culture and invest in the employees behind its growth. Soapy Joe's has been active on the personnel and expansion fronts in 2026, including naming a new chief information officer and opening additional locations across the region.
Why it matters for operators
Labor remains one of the toughest challenges in the express wash model, where hourly turnover is high and frontline staff carry the customer experience at the point of sale and on the lot. A recognition event like this is a low-complexity retention lever that any operator can study, whether the fleet is three sites or 30.
The details are worth noting for operators considering similar efforts. Soapy Joe's held the gathering off-site at a public park, used local food trucks rather than in-house catering, and gave every attendee tangible takeaways in the form of swag bags and prize drawings. Those choices keep costs manageable while signaling that the investment is genuine rather than a token gesture.
Just as important is the cross-location angle. Multi-site operators often struggle to build a shared identity when teams rarely interact. Bringing staff from every wash into one place, and having the CEO speak directly to the group, reinforces that individual site employees are part of a larger organization. That sense of belonging can influence whether workers stay through the seasons when hiring is hardest.
Operators weighing the return on a day of closed or reduced staffing should consider the alternative cost of constant rehiring and retraining. Even a single afternoon of recognition, if repeated and paired with consistent day-to-day management, can support the retention numbers that make labor budgets more predictable. The takeaway is not the food trucks or the giveaways specifically, but the discipline of scheduling deliberate appreciation into the calendar rather than leaving it to chance.
