Valet Living Acquires V.I.P. Waste Services, Expands in Midwest Region

Tampa, Fla.- based Valet Living has acquired V.I.P. Waste Services. Founded in 2010, Ohio-based V.I.P. Waste Services provided valet (doorstep) trash and recycling programs for apartment communities, serving more than 30,000 unique residents per week in the Midwest region. The strategic acquisition further increases Valet Living’s presence in the Midwest.

“The mission, values and culture of Valet Living are very similar to that of V.I.P. Waste Services,” says Patti Girardi, chief marketing officer at Valet Living. “Valet Living has built a successful business that services more than one million apartment homes across 38 states, and now the V.I.P. Waste Services team will join forces with the Valet Living team to operate as one.”

The co-founders of V.I.P. Waste Services, Jesse Lear and Travis Smith, will join Valet Living as regional sales executives in the company’s Midwest market. For Lear and Smith, a future partnership with Valet Living was part of the initial business plan. When they came up with the idea for this service back in 2010, they thought they were the first. A quick Google search revealed otherwise. A company out of Tampa called Valet Living had beaten them to it. According to the highlighted map on its website, the company already had a strong national presence, but there was a big white empty space in the Midwest.

“After noticing [the void], I remember saying to my business partner Travis, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could build a similar company in the Midwest and eventually sell it to Valet?’ In a way, that was the original dream. Our desire to sell waned as we experienced more and more success, but after seven years, a conversation was sparked with the executive team at Valet Living, and we were impressed by what we heard. It was surprising how much their values and culture aligned with our own, and their vision for the future was exciting. We ultimately decided that it made sense to join forces and grow together,” says Lear.

Lear attributed V.I.P. Waste’s success to three things: a relentless commitment to keeping existing clients happy, a willingness to get creative and find ways to meet the unique needs of each potential client and a focus on building authentic relationships with people who had the ability to say ‘yes’ to V.I.P Waste.

The continuity of service will allow V.I.P. Waste’s customers to have a seamless transition and employees to have increased benefits. “V.I.P.’s customers will continue to experience the same level of service and will actually see several enhancements as a result of this acquisition,” says Lear. “As a larger company with significant financial backing, Valet Living is able to find, keep and reward great talent in ways that simply weren't feasible for V.I.P. as a small company. All of V.I.P.’s full-time associates now have excellent benefits packages, and two of our most devoted associates were promoted and given life-changing salary increases. We believe that happy associates translates to happy clients.”

All current V.I.P. Waste Services clients will continue with their service with no disruptions, and they will now have access to Valet Living’s proprietary iValet technology, as well as on-demand assistance with maintenance staffing, unit turns and pet waste stations.

“Valet Living has expanded to deliver on its vision as the only nationally recognized, full-service amenities provider to the multifamily industry, enhancing life for both residents and property managers,” says Girardi. “In addition to doorstep collection and recycling services, Valet Living also sets the standard for turn services, maintenance support and pet solutions and will soon be announcing additional resident-facing amenities.”