ARCHIVE

A LIMOUSINE SUCCESS STORY!

ABOUT RESTON LIMOUSINE

Washington Post * September 8, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC -- Reston Limousine, is actually a bus company that transports 5 thousand people on its fleet of 100 shuttle buses in the Washington region on any given weekday.

Reston Limousine, founded in 1990 by William Bouweiri, has 30 sleek sedans and stretch limousines. Its 31-foot Hummer rents for $175 an hour; a Lincoln Town Car sedan runs $75. Those vehicles do the glamorous work of driving athletes to clubs, Virginia horse country doyennes to the Kennedy Center and politicians to Georgetown dinner parties.

But the company's workhorse, and its greatest source of revenue, is its fleet of 100 shuttle buses, which serves clients such as Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Justice and George Mason University. The shuttles, like the ones you ride at airports, ferry clients' workers on scheduled routes between their various office branches, Metro stops and other locations. George Mason pays Reston Limo $2 million a year to carry students between campuses and parking sites.

William's wife, Reston Limousine President Kristina Bouweiri, and I were standing outside the offices of one of her biggest customers last week, and that's when she let me in on a little secret: "I double dip," she said.

I was aghast for a nanosecond. Then she explained.

"Let's say I have two shuttles serving the U.S. Geological Survey during the day, which was true until recently. In the evening, those shuttles go to 40 hotels in the Dulles Corridor and take guests into D.C. for tours at $35 for each person." (Hotel concierges earn $3 for each customer they refer.) "The bus holds 25 people. So the value of the USGS contract that was worth $240,000 was worth $150,000 more because sightseeing adds revenue. It's all utilization."

Reston Limousine does this with all its vehicles. Call it "asset utilization," "throughput" or whatever you like. But the business practice guiding Reston Limousine's profits is the same as a steel plant or a McDonald's franchise: Once you've acquired your business assets, make them work as hard as you can.

Lebanese immigrant William Bouweiri was a limousine driver back in 1986 when he used an extraordinary $5,000 tip to help buy a couple of cars and start his own company called Unique Limousines. Bouweiri relocated the enterprise to Reston in 1990, renamed it Reston Limousine, and soon after met and married Kristina. Their five vehicles at the time generated about $400,000 annually, mostly from airport trips and small jobs around town.

The big break came in 1992 when a man knocked on the door of their Reston office and said he would bring them the paperwork for a federal contract if they would hire him as a driver.

"We said, sure," said Kristina.

The bid was for shuttle service for the U.S. Geological Survey office in Reston. The Bouweiris had never bid on a federal job, so Kristina picked the brains of her accountant and mechanic to find out how she could get the low bid and still turn a profit. She did the paperwork herself.

"It took me a month," she said. "It was very hard. You need some serious gumption."

Winning the $140,000 annual contract opened their eyes to the opportunities in government contracts.

"We thought that if there is one, there's got to be more," Kristina said.

Reston Limousine grossed $14.8 million in 2008. But business has dropped 15 percent since the stock market crash last year. Investment bankers and financial services executives who thought nothing of paying more than $100 an hour for round-the-clock limousine service aren't calling any more. Reston Limo is hoping for more than $13 million in revenue this year.

The company recently bid on contracts for shuttle service at Dulles International and Reagan National airports that would have doubled its revenue, but it didn't make the first cut.

The monthly payroll alone runs $500,000 for 200 full-time employees (160 drivers and 40 administrative workers) and their health care, and another 100 part-timers. The company pays approximately $200,000 a month for the bank loans and leases on its vehicle fleet, $100,000 for fuel, $70,000 for insurance, and $30,000 for rent on its Sterling headquarters (owned by the Bouweiris) and a Maryland hub where vehicles are stowed.

A Global Positioning System device in nearly every vehicle and a 24-hour dispatch/war room with live video of dozens of major Washington region traffic intersections aren't cheap either.

The company laid off about a half-dozen staffers earlier this year, and the Bouweiris have cut back on expenses and company lunches. A $100,000 brand makeover has been put on hold. It won't hurt the owners, who live on 25 acres in Loudoun County. They both take salaries, which I estimate are just shy of $500,000 total for the pair. Kristina would say only that my estimate "is high."

And if they tire of driving, there's always the limousine service.

BACK