Articles Ranking
Where the documented owners are, ranked by state
Texas has four documented owners, all selling recurring route services. California, Pennsylvania and Washington have three each, twelve states have one, and four entries give no state at all.
This database documents 33 businesses. This page ranks the places they are based, by how many documented owners each one has. Texas leads with four, California, Pennsylvania and Washington follow with three each, and twelve states have exactly one. Four entries give no state at all.
Two cautions before the table. The count is where each business is based, as recorded in the database, not everywhere it operates: Gram's route runs in six states, Bolt Storage holds facilities in 11 and Scoop Soldiers has franchised territories in 16. And the count tracks who has been interviewed in detail, by UpFlip, CNBC Make It, Acquiring Minds and the other sources on each entry. It says where the documented owners are, not where boring businesses do best. Ties are listed alphabetically.
EJ McCoy and Josh Cahill (pet waste, McKinney), Ryan McCoy (pet waste, Dallas), Brannon Fowler (trash bin cleaning, San Antonio) and Joel and Hunter Davis (pool service, Frisco). All four sell a recurring route service.
Daniel Tom (portable toilets, Bay Area), Johnny Robinson and Sergio Silesky (window cleaning, Orange County, sold) and Ian Hecht (dumpster rental leads, Los Angeles).
Marcus Gram (vending, Philadelphia), Sam Evans (junk removal, Harrisburg, sold) and Dan Spracklin (septic, suburban Philadelphia).
Mike Andes (lawn care franchise, Blaine), Cristobal Mondragon (cleaning, Seattle) and Trevor Kokenge (landscaping, Seattle).
Adam Hill (vending, Tampa Bay) and John and Tom D'Eri (car washes, Parkland).
Brian Winch (parking lot litter, Calgary, Alberta) and Brian Scudamore (junk removal, Vancouver, British Columbia). Two provinces, grouped here for the count.
Arizona (Hunsaker), Colorado (Rolfe and Reynolds), Georgia (Huber and Hagberg), Illinois (Roll), Maryland (Sanya), Missouri (Landwehr), New Hampshire (Hatch), New Jersey (Haskell), New York (the Menears), Ohio (the Menzes), Oregon (Ortiz) and Tennessee (Brown).
Left out, and why
Four entries do not name a state. Haley Gallagher's Moonlight Commercial Cleaning, Alan Tursunbaev's GoDetail and Nathan Lenahan's HVAC company are listed only as United States in their sources, and Dan Burnside's failed HVAC acquisition only as rural United States. We do not guess a location an owner has not published.
What the map shows
Texas is one kind of business. All four Texas entries sell a service that recurs on a schedule: weekly pet waste pickup, monthly bin cleaning and weekly pool care. Three are in the Dallas area, and two of those are the same franchise system, since Ryan McCoy bought the Dallas territory of the Scoop Soldiers company EJ McCoy co-founded in McKinney. Our ranking of how often the same customer pays again puts pet waste near the top.
Metros cluster, not states. Seattle is the only city with two entries, Mondragon and Kokenge. Two of Pennsylvania's three are in the Philadelphia area. Several one-owner states are rural or small-town operations: Hatch in Center Conway, New Hampshire, Roll in Quincy, Illinois and Rolfe in Cedaredge, Colorado. Our piece on the rural paradox covers what changes outside a metro.
Climate shows up in a few rows. The pool route is in Frisco, Texas and the holiday light business in Scottsdale, Arizona, while Hatch's septic revenue falls from about $200,000 in a peak month to about $30,000 in a New Hampshire winter. The rest of the table looks unrelated to weather. Our piece on seasonality covers which trades swing with it.
The revenue ranking covers the same 33 entries by size, and start here explains how owners get into the database. This site is one of SideRoad's weekly builds, and new rows will be added as owners in other states publish their figures.
Common questions
Which state has the most documented boring business owners?
Texas, with four: EJ McCoy and Josh Cahill and Ryan McCoy in pet waste removal, Brannon Fowler in trash bin cleaning, and Joel and Hunter Davis in pool service. California, Pennsylvania and Washington follow with three each.
Does the ranking show where boring businesses do best?
No. It counts where documented owners are based, which reflects who has been interviewed in detail. Several businesses also operate well beyond their base: Marcus Gram's route runs in six states and Bolt Storage holds facilities in 11.
Are any of the documented owners outside the United States?
Two, both in Canada: Brian Winch's parking lot litter business in Calgary, Alberta and Brian Scudamore's 1-800-GOT-JUNK? in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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