Suds Club a community-oriented car wash
Published 11:23 am Wednesday, July 7, 2021
- Jacob Fried and family opened Suds Club in February. Suds Club is located at 673 Old Phoenix Road, Eatonton.
Jacob Fried and his family accumulated a steady stream of car wash patrons since the opening of Suds Club carwash in February on Old Phoenix Road. Suds Club is open 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
“It’s been great,” said Fried, owner of Suds Club and F5 Detailing and Restoration. “The community support has been overwhelming … our family couldn’t be any more grateful.”
The idea to build a carwash came to Fried when customers came into his detailing and restoration shop wanting just a wash and a vacuum. Fried and his family worked on a plan to build Suds Club for about 2 1/2 years, now their vision as a community-oriented carwash has come to fruition.
The car wash offers a customized wash for each vehicle. There is also a self-serve bay for those who wish to wash their own car or wish to wash their boat. As for the automated wash, there are two bays; soft touch and touch-free. Soft-touch contains brushes, while touch-free does not contain brushes. One difference between a more traditional carwash and Suds Club is that there is no track system. The operator of the vehicle drives their car through the wash. This allows for a variety of cars to be able to use the carwash.
“Our wash, since there is no track system and because of the way it scans your vehicle, as long as it is under seven feet eight inches, it can wash your vehicle,” Fried said. “We didn’t want it to be fast, because down at our detail shop we want to be very thorough, so it wasn’t about how many cars can we wash a day, it was more how many quality washes can we do.”
With the system they have in place, Suds Club can wash around 200 cars a day, which is about the average number of cars washed on a sunny day, according to Fried.
In addition to the quality wash, Fried and his family remain at the carwash for about 12 hours a day to help customers if they need assistance.
“It wasn’t a build it and walk away and hope for the best,” Fried said. “If there’s somebody who needs some help we want to be here to help them. Every single car that goes through there, we appreciate them.”
Membership can be purchased through the Touch4Wash application on a mobile device. The basic plan is $20 a month, the premium plan is $30 a month and the ultimate plan is $40 a month. With any of these plans, a customer receives one wash and vacuum per day. The ultimate membership includes: underbody blast, pre-soak, bug buster, wheel cleaner, lava foam, rainbow foam, weather shield, spot-free rinse, vortex dry and tire shine.
Plans for Fried and his businesses include the relocation of F5 Detailing and Restoration next to Suds Club to be a one-stop-shop to provide customers what they need.
“…We are going to build a building there so they can complement each other,” Fried said. “If you want to just go through the car wash, go through the car wash and come over and let somebody hand dry or vacuum out [your car], we are going to staff up and be able to do that.”
Fried and his family are very thankful to the community for supporting their business and want to show that appreciation to every car that goes through their carwash.
“We appreciate everybody, we truly, truly do,” Fried said. “Every single car that comes through this wash, we truly appreciate your business, the opportunity to wash your car, earn your business.”