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A year ago, Brent Graef (BBA ’95) had a high-level position at a high-class establishment: the luxurious Four Seasons Palm Beach. As room manager, he oversaw the activities of the front desk personnel, the concierge and bell men, the staffs of housekeeping, the beach, and a kids’ club. But a love of cars, a desire not to move, and an itch to own his own business converged to lead him in a whole new direction. He’s now partnering with his brother-in-law, Mitch Yngber (BA ’92), in a year-old venture, AAutotech of Kendall. The original AAuto Tech has been in Coral Gables for 21 years. “The hotel business is like the military: you move every three to five years,” Graef said. “My dad was in the business and I lived in Louisiana, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, California, Texas, Arizona, and New Hampshire before coming to South Florida.”
His itinerant life carried on as he established his own career in the hotel industry. ”As a professional, I had worked in hotels in San Antonio, Boca Raton, and Beverly Hills before arriving in Palm Beach in 2002 for my second stint in the Four Seasons chain.” As he approached the threshold of another advancement, he had to decide: move with his wife and infant daughter to a new location, or do something different and stay in South Florida. “Cars have always been a hobby of mine, so I decided to join my wife’s brother in the business,” he said. AAutotech of Kendall, which has around twenty employees, offers three areas of auto-related services: insurance/collision (Yngber’s interest), restoration (Graef’s interest), and aftermarket alterations. His long years of experience in the hotel sector, much of it spent in public areas and listening to customers, has been a competitive advantage for AAuto Tech of Kendall. “This industry lacks a strong enough focus on customer service,” Graef said. “Most of our work is insurance repair, and you have to assume the customer is not too happy. After all, he or she has a damaged car, plus everyone has a deductible so anyone coming in is out some money right at the start.” Graef works with the customers by providing timely information—something all customers appreciate in any business. “For cars that will be here for awhile, we update our customers once a week on the progress of their jobs,” he said. The site also has an attractive waiting room and the staff can help customers arrange for rental cars. “Our shop manager is excellent and is well known among insurance companies, which is helpful to customers, too,” he said. Graef is hands-off where the cars are concerned, but he’s hand-on on the business side: tracking orders, handling inventory, ordering parts and supplies, and following up with insurance companies, in addition to interacting with customers. Even though the business is a far cry from his previous career, Graef feels that what he learned in the College of Business Administration has been critical preparation. “The business curriculum is set up to prepare people who have the dream of having their own businesses,” he said. “You need to be well rounded, and in the college, a degree in business means accounting, business law, economics, marketing, international business, and computer backgrounds. All of this coursework prepared me for the world I am now in, giving me a whole range of skills that I can apply.”
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