Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Wojohn.
Hi Zach, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
When I first started my parking company, Executive Parking Systems, in | 1998, I could not afford to buy the metal key podiums, so I built my own out of wood in my basement. The boxes I was building were strong enough to protect the keys, tickets, and other lot essentials against the weather elements, but also to withstand having a tow chain wrapped around it, yanked off of a porch where it had been screwed onto the railing, drug miles down Roswell Road and thrown into the church parking lot, where I retrieved my box and went back to work. True story. As my company grew, the new metal file cabinet–type podiums became the “standard” in our industry. These
cabinets would rust quickly in the Atlanta weather, were “flimsy and easily defeated” (per Major Senzer of Zone 2 Atlanta Police Department), and had to be replaced often due to lack of durability. Fast forward to one weekend in December 2019. I received a phone call telling me a $147,000 Porsche was stolen on Friday night, another call saying a $171,000 Porsche was stolen on Saturday night along with four other sets of keys where we had to shut down the garage and boot the other cars so they could not be stolen, and then another call for a $98,000 BMW stolen on Sunday night, all taken with flathead screwdrivers bending back the metal and reaching inside the boxes taking the keys
That following Monday, I called the manufacturer of the podiums and told them what happened and asked if there was anything they would be willing to do Ha consideriny boxes had been locked and they failed due to lack of quality. wbieh Their response was, “We are really sorry that happened,” and that was it. As a customer, Executive Parking Systems had to have a better key storage solution. There was not a better product on the market to solve my issues, which were plaguing others in the parking industry. After a quick Google search, I found out that this “standard” product had not had any improvements in over 20 years and the crime against the valet industry was a national crisis. I sat down with pencil and paper and drew out my ideal valet key storage podium – made out of wood again. I was a church talking about what happened the weekend before and my idea of building my podiums out of wood and my friend, Grant, said, “Why don‘t you come by my office and bring your drawings?” I showed up in the parking lot of Henry Incorporated, the Southeast‘s largest metal manufacturing company based out of Decatur, Georgia. Unbeknownst to me, Grant was Grant Henry of Henry Inc., a third–generation metal fabricator. He looked at my drawings and said, “Yeah. I think we can handle that.” Partnered with Grant, his team of engineers, and metal workers, we took my rough pencil sketch and turned it into the product now known as Valet Vault.
With industrial–grade aluminum, we have eliminated the rust from weather elements, created a door that could withstand over 1,000 pounds of pull pressure, not allowing any point of entry, let alone a common hand tool, and illuminating the interior and exterior of the podium, creating a lit workspace for the valets and wayfinding for customers. Using Executive Parking Systems to pilot the product, refining it to meet market needs, Valet Vault was successful in identifying the best key storage solutions for the parking industry. In our one and a half years of development, we have successfully patented our key storage solution technology and partnered with Assa Abloy with Yale‘s Industrial Grade 1 Locks to create the world‘s strongest valet key storage podium. We have also recently developed another industry first: a patent–pending portable, LED–illuminated, wind–resistant wayfinding sign called the Alumisign. Previous signage was either non–illuminated using reflective vinyl and a sand–weighted base or A–frame sandwich board or a
hardline, concrete–trenched, permanent electrical sign. Our product is unique in that it is both portable and illuminated. Alum Sign gives all businesses a portable, lit, wayfinding, sidewalk presence.
Striving always to be Safer, Smarter, Stronger.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it‘s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. When we were first in development, no one could have even begun to guess that a worldwide pandemic called Covid–19 would happen. I was racing to come up with a fix to the problem of stolen cars and the valet industry came to a screeching halt. , I had just come up with the solution to our plaguing problem and could not give the podiums away. We are definitely higher priced than the other podiums, however, our quality has no comparison. We could not get into a place where people could actually touch our product to see the difference, which in our minds justified the cost. We had online Zoom calls, which gave us introductions to the people we needed to know, but no one could see, touch, open the door and watch it self–close, nothing to our product. Then when the economy and valet locations started to slowly open, the crime started to open as well, making valets sitting targets again. We got some orders, but the big question was our price above the rest. It was not until the in–person trade show in July in Dallas, Texas that Valet Vault began to see its worth where people had heard about it all over the country but could now come and see it and touch it. We are headed to Las Vegas next week for the first National Parking Association tradeshow, where more people will get to see and touch not just Valet Vaults but also the AlumiSign.
We‘ve been impressed with Valet Vault, LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We offer the world’s strongest patented valet key storage solution. We have five types of Valet Vaults to meet any customer needs. The Defender 50 and Defender 40 allow for lit wayfinding and up to 400 keys and multiple
customizations, from paint colors and textures to LED–lit interchangeable front–panel inserts or permanent metal routed labeling. The Sentinel 50 and Sentinel 40 are our lighter but just as durable, key storage options holding up to 400 keys with custom paint options. The Guardian is our wall–mount option holding up to 200 keys. Our customization options are endless when it comes to what your client/customers desire. If you want to hold 800 keys in a circle, we can make that for you.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I have been interviewed and asked many times about the parking industry as a whole with the autonomous cars and Lyft/Uber/rideshares. My answer is that as long as humans are organic matter, we will always get around in steel, rubber and airbags, thus always needing secure key storage. Currently in the US, there are almost 300 million cars on the road and those cars end up, at some point, needing to park somewhere. I feel safer knowing my keys are kept in a Valet Vault.
Pricing:
- Defender 50 base $6000
- Defender 40 base $4500
- Sentinel 50 base $3750
- Sentinel 40 base $3250
- Guardian $2950
Contact Info:
- Email: info@valetvault.com
- Website: www.ValetVault.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ValetVault20
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/ValetVault20
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/Valet_Vault
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCszmKPEDayUk9UCzSpeCC6g
Image Credits
Zach Wojohn, Rob LaLonde, Jeff Grundman of Henry Inc., Tom Carter of Toledo Ticket Technologies (for Best Practices slide), Lloyd Harrington (for “Changing the Game” slide)
