Fountain Tire’s Darrin Zubiak: Champion Business Builder

by | Apr 23, 2025 | 0 comments

Connecting with customers and his community makes this Fountain Tire more competitive.

By Lois Tuffin

A lifelong hockey player, Darrin Zubiak doesn’t mind going into a corner to get a job done as part of a team. He applies the same mentality to his Fountain Tire location in Vermilion, Alberta.

To date, his trophy case at Fountain Tire in Vermilion has held some pretty impressive hardware:

  • Last year, he was recognized as Fountain Tire’s MVP of the Year. Nominees are graded on several business success markers, including leadership, community involvement, customer relationships and safety.
  • He also won the company’s Rookie of the Year honours in 2009 (and was the only rookie to also earn the MVP designation).
  • His shop was named the Vermilion and District Chamber of Commerce’s Business of the Year in 2013.
  • It followed up with the Customer Service of the Year award in 2024.

No wonder this leader considers “teamwork” as his secret to success. Over the years, he has learned five other strategies that make his tire and repair shop thrive.

Zubiak was first drafted to the Vermilion store in 2008, though he says at first, he found it hard to leave a close-knit, successful shop in Lloydminster, Alberta, where he had worked with a group of hockey nuts like himself since 1999.

There, he had worked his way up the ranks from service truck driver to shop foreman, on to inside sales then assistant manager. Along the way, he gained a broad range of experience in farm service, roadside assistance, oilfield service and retail.

Eventually, owner Brant Wheeler coached him to go play in the big leagues with his own store. So, Zubiak arrived in Vermilion, a town of 4,500 people, with his wife Deanna and young children, Ryder and Natalie, where they knew no one.

Even more daunting, he walked into a shop of veteran staff who were leery of the new manager. However, he worked alongside them day after day to prove himself and earn their respect.

“I wasn’t a finger-pointer,” Zubiak says with a laugh. “I was one of the guys. I’ve always been a team player. We’re a team here. We need to do everything together.”

His crew includes Deanna, who works as the shop’s administrative assistant; an invaluable assistant manager; two mechanics; two service truck drivers; and three tire technicians, including Ryder.

After two years, Zubiak bought half the store’s equity and continues to co-own it with the parent company.

According to Fountain Tire, this type of partnership-based business model combines community-invested store management with corporate intelligence to provide service that truly puts the customer first. Thanks to this shared ownership business model, Fountain Tire has been named one of Canada’s “Best Managed Companies” every year since 1994.

Serve customers well

When asked about challenges during his long career, Zubiak prefers to talk about what he has learned and applied.

For customers, he has focused on service above all. “If you have good service,” he says, “people will come through the door.”

A quick look at his statistics show that playbook pays off; his numbers have never dropped over the years.

He has won multiple Benchmark Awards for surpassing his financial targets each year while maintaining high safety and customer feedback ratings.

In fact, the store’s overall rating is 4.8 stars out of five, but Zubiak just shrugs, since he says he has never asked for a review.

“At every staff meeting, I always say, ‘Treat people like you want to be treated.’ They don’t want to walk into a Fountain Tire with a problem, so be compassionate.”

The shop offers a range of perks, including contactless drop-off, digital vehicle reports, financing, pickup and drop-off, tire storage and a shuttle service.

Support your community

Form the start, Zubiak jumped in to help the community that he was asking to welcome him. The Junior B Vermilion Tigers needed a general manager, so he took on that role. He also learned how to coach soccer in addition to coaching hockey.

“You support them; they support you,” Zubiak says. “They could go to Edmonton or Lloydminster, but they choose to buy and service their vehicles at my location.”

He helps any organization who comes in asking for help for their causes, but doesn’t invest in major sponsorships. “I treat everyone equally,” he says.

Learn from peers and mentors

Zubiak joined the tire business as a technician at age 15 in the shop of a family friend in Glaslyn, Saskatchewan. He credits his father Dale for instilling a strong work ethic in him.

In Lloydminster, he soaked in lessons on how to run a good shop from his boss Wheeler, and shop foreman Kent Staniforth.

In addition to his mentors, he also learned valuable business skills from Fountain Tire’s advanced management training (now known as Drive) in 2007-08. There, he met leaders from across Canada who remain friends all these years later.

Put in the hours

This shop owner admits that he doesn’t delegate well but resists being a control freak.

“I want to be involved because it’s my business. If I can help somebody get the job done quicker, I will.”

That can mean long days to get the job done.

“I tell new guys coming into the Fountain Tire world that it’s not going to be easy. I’ve missed school and sporting events for my kids because of work,” he admits.

“If you have a partner, they need to realize this is not an eight-to-five job. You have to put your time in. For me, that time has really paid off with a comfortable life.”

Extend extra service

Zubiak carries on the legacy of company founder Bill Fountain by offering mobile service. Since he opened his first store with his brother Jack in Wainwright, Alberta, he offered agricultural tire services to meet the needs of local farmers. This helped him expand the business into more rural areas.

That has helped the company grow to 167 locations spanning Central and Western Canada from Vaughan, north of Toronto, to Victoria, British Columbia.

While Zubiak could have had his own store sooner than 2008, he is glad he waited since Vermilion fits his family so well. In March, he gets his 25-year company ring, shortly before celebrating the same landmark anniversary with Deanna.

Outside of work, he still plays hockey. And he sees the dynamics on the ice as parallel to those in his shop.

“You can see when people have played team sports,” he says. “Everything is so much easier.”

This article also appeared in the February/March Indie Garage print edition. Read the DIGITAL FLIPBOOK VERSION HERE

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