Episode 37 -- Wichita Chamber Business Accelerator

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For the past 25 years, Steve Dixon has been helping others to live their best life through providing career opportunities at P.B. Hoidale. He shares with Don and Ebony his passion for the community and people in it while providing critical needs through the gas stations his business builds.

Steve is the President and CEO of P.B. Hoidale, a company founded by his great grandfather over seventy-five years ago. Hoidale is a regional company headquartered in Wichita with locations throughout Kansas and Oklahoma. While being best known for building and servicing retail fueling locations across the region, Hoidale is involved with projects relating to the storage, pumping, measuring, and dispensing of fluids for a wide variety of customers.

Peter Bernard Hoidale founded the company that bears his name in 1946. Starting from a small office in Wichita, Kansas, selling fuel storage tanks and pumping units, the company had its first geographic expansion in the mid-1970s. This expansion came in the form of branch offices in Garden City and Chanute, Kansas. As the company continued to grow through the '70s and early '80s, they added additional product lines to complement their fuel equipment business, such as air compressors and lubrication equipment. By the mid-'80s, Hoidale had expanded into Oklahoma, opening offices in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 1990s brought about another expansion of their business into electronic tank monitoring and point of-sale systems. These new POS systems were designed to provide their customers with more accurate information about how their businesses are performing. The mid 90's also saw the opening of their Kansas City branch office. Since the turn of the new century, they have again expanded their product lines to better meet the existing, as well as future, customer demand for heavy-duty lift equipment, and automated lubrication systems. They will continue to expand both their product lines as well as their geographic reach to better serve their customer base as it grows in new and exciting directions.

P.B. Hoidale

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On this episode we discuss:

• His great-grandfather starting the business from his garage
• Why he likes to hire people who don’t already have a lot of experience
• Treating employees like family
• What concerns Steve about talent development
• Helping the team feel pride in the value they provide
• How technology has evolved their offering
• Why community investment brings energy to Steve’s life
• Desiring and supporting growth in the Wichita entrepreneurial community
• Providing career opportunities outside of the typical college path

Listen on popular podcast directories and aggregators, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pandora, and ICT Podcast Network or using the player above. Send feedback on this show and/or suggestions for future guests or topics by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or emailing communications@wichitachamber.org.

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Wichita Chamber Business Accelerator is a weekly podcast devoted to supporting and learning from area business owners. Released every Wednesday, it's produced by Forge Podcast Co, managed by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Evergy. 

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