Founded in 2011 and based in Miami, El Car Wash is the largest and fastest-growing express car wash operator in Florida. It is a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm with offices on six continents and more than $90 billion in assets under management. The brand is known in South Florida for prime locations, high-quality operations, distinctive aesthetics and an industry-leading membership program; nearly 80% of revenue comes from subscription plans.

When Warburg Pincus acquired El Car Wash in 2022, the company operated 17 locations. At the time the case study was written it expected to operate 80 locations by that fall, with plans to expand further through greenfield openings and future acquisitions. Leadership was planning for 50, 100 and eventually more than 200 sites.

Growth at that pace strains operations. Chief Information Officer Jerry Gomez needed to elevate the customer experience, improve visibility into data spread across multiple systems and keep the business secure, all while opening new stores and equipping new team members. Strong operational processes had to be established quickly, and the technology foundation had to be consistent and secure across every site.

El Car Wash also follows a best-of-breed strategy, choosing the most effective tool, system or partner for each critical function rather than a single all-in-one platform. That approach demands thoughtful integration and governance. The company wanted a technology partner with the technical depth to support rapid, private-equity-paced expansion while managing day-to-day operations.

Thrive became El Car Wash's strategic technology partner, supporting the core areas the company needed to standardize as it grew. The document lists the services as Private Cloud, Managed Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Microsoft 365 support and Azure, end-user support, Transform IT and Technical Advisory.

In practice, Thrive manages El Car Wash's Microsoft environment, provides network management across all sites, handles security, and runs the onboarding and offboarding of systems as stores open and staff join. Clear standards, consistency and security controls are in place so each new location follows the same model. Gomez said strong operational processes were essential and that Thrive enabled the company to establish them quickly.

Thrive's role fits within El Car Wash's best-of-breed approach: rather than replacing the specialized marketing, operations, customer experience and analytics tools, Thrive provides the infrastructure, security and support layer beneath them. That lets the company pair agility with scale and adapt faster at the store level.

El Car Wash is also using AI to manage data across the business. An AVR system handles frequent customer tasks such as cancellations, credit card updates and finding the nearest location, and the company tracks every KPI to avoid wasting water, time or chemicals. Gomez said the goal is to apply AI across all areas of the business, from membership analysis through chemical usage, working with partners that bring technical depth and best-practice knowledge to rapid scaling.

• Grew from 17 locations at the 2022 acquisition toward 80 locations, with Thrive supporting each new site
• Established strong operational processes quickly, with clear standards, consistency and security across all sites
• Thrive manages the Microsoft environment, network management across all sites, security and system onboarding and offboarding
• Memberships drive nearly 80% of revenue, with an AI-assisted AVR system handling cancellations, card updates and location searches
• Company moved from playing catch-up with technology to driving innovation at scale, according to the CIO