McKinney, Texas 38,000 sq. ft.

(Left to right) Mark Weiss, Amy Lambert, Don Anderson, Shirley Dozzi, Randy Estes and John H. Rattan.

Rattan opened the doors of The Body Shop at "LBJ and Central" in 1976 on a dirt floor with two employees. He'd never owned a body shop, and had worked his way through college at Texas Tech in Lubbock by working in the grocery business. At first, he relied on his brother-in-law for technical expertise. A favorite story around the shop is that when he was asked to go and get some 400 grit sandpaper, Rattan, having no idea of what "grit" meant, returned with exactly 400 sheets of sandpaper. "I'm not a car guy, and I'm not good with my hands," Rattan explains.

The Body Shop of ten years ago was a difficult place to work, according to Operations Director Mark Weiss, age 41. "With John, back then, it was his way or the highway."

"My bosses in the grocery business always yelled at me, so I yelled at my people," says Rattan, who adds, "But the industry has changed, technicians and estimators are hard to hire and expensive to train, and well, that style of management just doesn't work today."

Rattan may have been a tough boss, but he had a knack for "building relationships," according Weiss, who competed against Rattan in the early 1980's and has worked for him since 1987. "At first he worked on the used car dealers, then got into new car dealerships. The business was built around work from dealers who didn't have their own body shops. He got in tight with a big Mercedes dealer and then other high end cars, notably Lamborghini." Later, The Body Shop starting working with Mazda dealers and similar lower-cost imports. Today, Asian cars are a larger part of the business than European.

Although he initially concentrated on auto dealers, Rattan also wooed insurance people, especially Allstate. Today, most of the business is DRP-related. "Coming from the grocery business (famous for low margins), John believed that volume was the way to go, and he worked constantly at building sales volume," Weiss explains. "I did it out of necessity," says Rattan. "We had lousy locations until we opened McKinney (in 2000), so I had to go out and get the customers."

Allstate-Sterling will change industry

"We started with Allstate in the '70's, after we fixed a Lamborghini for them," says Rattan. That was before DRP's, but today Allstate DRP work represents a good chunk of business for The Body Shop. "Am I concerned by Allstate buying Sterling? Sure, it caught me off-guard. They'll find out it's not all just numbers; it's a people business. But remember how worried auto mechanics and tire stores were when Sears went into the auto and tire business? Did it put all the garages out of business? It will change the industry, one way or the other. If they (Allstate) succeed, you'll probably see other consolidators selling out. If they don't buy or open any more shops, it will answer the question once and for all about insurers owning body shops."

Times changed, so did the man

Rattan has seen tremendous change in the industry, and he likes what he sees. "As body shops have evolved into a cleaner, more high tech business, they've become better neighbors, more civic-minded." This comes from a man who has himself evolved. In the mid '80's, Rattan was known in Dallas body shop circles as a hell raiser. He would drive around in a bright yellow jumpsuit emblazoned with the BASF Glasurit® parrot. "When he'd pick up a fancy Italian sports car to repair, he'd be sure to drive by it by my shop and others to let us know how well he was doing," said Weiss. " He's very different today, and I think our people would agree that this is a great place to work. "

The bright yellow jump suit hangs in a closet, and Rattan has polished his image, serving as director and chairman for the Chamber of Commerce, serving on hospital boards and fund-raising for the YMCA. He used to frequently attend industry meetings, and was on the industry seminar circuit with fellow Texan Bobby Johnson for awhile, but now finds community organizations to be "a more productive use of my time." While he comes to The Body Shop every day, he spends much of his time working on a home building business in nearby Anna, Texas. And although the yellow jump suit may be history, BASF is still the paint of choice. The Body Shop had always sprayed Glasurit by BASF on high-end European imports, but switched to Diamont® eight years ago. " We've built a reputation on Diamont and have no intention of changing paints," notes Weiss.