Sorry if this is already common knowledge on here, but I just saw that Flyin Miata has become an employee owned co-op! FM Ownership. This is really cool and exciting to me, since it seems like the news is always about consolidation, with BavAuto, Pelican and the Turner parts business all getting rolled up into a behemoth. Nice to see that quality parts and great service/customer support can make for a sustainable independent business!
This is really cool!
Since I just made the public announcement about 15 minutes ago, it's not really common knowledge :)
FM is not a big profit maker, so we're not all that tasty to the behemoths. Bill and Teri Cardell, the founders, also did not want to sell to someone who would just strip the company of the valuable bits and ship it to California. They wanted to keep the company as it is with the same values and in the same place. What we are good at is providing employment for long-term employees. So a co-op made perfect sense for us. Since they've been fairly hands-off for a few years, it's really going to be a pretty easy transition.
Fun fact: the co-op members have an average of 12.9 years with the company. Our average across the company is something like 8.2 years.
I'll be doing a FB live video taking questions at 2:00 Mountain on Thursday, but if anyone has anything to say or ask - I'm here now.
Congrats to Bill and Teri.
Also, congrats to Keith and the other co-owners!
Finally, congrats to Miata owners everywhere!
That's really cool. Congratulations FM!
Congrats Keith, that is cool!
I couldn't love this more! What a terrific story.
Thanks, Keith and all the other FM employees who have always been exceptional over the 18 years I've been involved in Miata ownership.
That is super cool news!
Congratulations Keith and other new FM owners!
Congratulations to Bill and Teri on their retirement, and to all the new owners of FM! 
I've been around car stuff for a long time, and I've never met a better group of people in an aftermarket company.
Super cool
Awesome! Congrats to the whole FM gang!
very cool, congrats!
How do I buy a franchise? 
That's amazing news! I love nerding out on this stuff. Since you asked for questions...
1. What was the hardest part about this process?
2. What part were you (or others) concerned about, that went easier than expected?
Flyin Miata, the micro brewery of speed parts. Truly inspirational.
That is great news for a great company. Congratulations!
That is awesome news. With so much consolidation, corporate double-speak, and general frustration/red tape/bureaucracy in the working world, stories like this truly warm my heart.
Congratulations Keith and the rest of FM!
I wish FM had Hyundai and Kia parts as I'd buy from them in a heart beat. Maybe we need to do a spin off of Flying Miata and have Flying Hyundai?
Regardless, congrats to a hard working crew. I've heard almost no negatives and lots of positives over the years.
CrustyRedXpress (Forum Supporter) said:That's amazing news! I love nerding out on this stuff. Since you asked for questions...
1. What was the hardest part about this process?
2. What part were you (or others) concerned about, that went easier than expected?
Hardest parts were writing the bylaws - basically, our constitution - and dealing with financing. Most banks don't know what to do with a co-op. We had to look around for a bit for a CPA who understood as well. We've been working on this for nearly a year.
I may have to get back to you on #2 :) But oddly, we had a very good summer. Home improvement stores did well during the pandemic as did car improvement stores, it seems. Having the business doing very well certainly made things easier.
bobzilla said:I wish FM had Hyundai and Kia parts as I'd buy from them in a heart beat. Maybe we need to do a spin off of Flying Miata and have Flying Hyundai?
Regardless, congrats to a hard working crew. I've heard almost no negatives and lots of positives over the years.
We sell engine internals for the 1995 Kia Sephia GS. Our lug nuts are probably compatible as well. What else could you possibly want?
This makes me wish I liked the Miata more than I do. I do like them, just not more than what I already have.
That is great news Keith!!!! As a business owner I have wondered about where my company will go when I retire. Maybe I should consider the co-op rout with my employees. Never considered it before.
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