VANCOUVER, British Columbia (BRAIN) — Mobile bike repair franchiser Velofix has hired Ward Grootjans, a former Canyon Bicycles executive who will focus on Velofix's global growth.
Grootjans, who joins Velofix as vice president of gloabl business development, will be based in the Netherlands. At Canyon, he mainly focused on international business development and sales.
Velofix currently has more than 50 franchises operations in North America. Grootjans will focus on global rollout and on building Velofix D RECT, a direct-to-consumer bicycle delivery and assembly program for bicycle brands.
"The last five years I was part of revolutionizing the bike industry by building a global bike brand that sells direct-to-consumer," said Grootjans. "To be a leading brand in the bike industry it's necessary to be truly customer focused. I learned about Velofix and was impressed by the concept. After meeting the t eam, seeing their professionalism, enthusiasm and personalities, I realized that t hey will change the bike industry. I am happy to bring my experience to their customer-centric revolution."
Velofix co-founder Chris Guillemet said, "Our entire motivation for starting Velofix was to deliver a professional experience that i s completely focused on customer convenience and satisfaction. With his background and experience at the world's leading consumer-direct bike brand, Ward is the perfect person to drive our global expansion and Velofix DIRECT program. We are the leading brand of mobile bike shops and have aggressive growth targets for the coming years; Ward is going to help us exceed those goals and continue our expansion at a fast pace."
Velofix' expansion plans include a total of 150 franchises across North America and launching in Europe in 2017.
