TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Franchisees Give Back Through Cause Marketing Campaigns

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®, the nation’s largest franchisor in the moving industry with more than 400 franchises and 3,000 trucks in operation, has always aimed to provide service first and foremost. From helping people through one of life’s most stressful events, moving, to prioritizing upward mobility for employees, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is more than just another franchise opportunity. That is why many of the franchise owners within the system are committed to giving back to their communities through cause marketing campaigns, and the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK brand makes it easy to do so by recommending initiatives to get involved in.

Holly Stewart, a TWO MEN AND A TRUCK franchisee in Atlanta, is one such owner determined to give back. Before franchising, Stewart’s background was in market research and customer service. After accepting a General Manager position with TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, Stewart worked her way up through different positions, eventually running 10 shops around Atlanta. Today, she owns five TWO MEN AND A TRUCK territories herself throughout the area. 

“The reason I franchised is that when I came on with TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, I realized that I could make an impact, both in my business and in my community,” said Stewart.

To give back to her community, Stewart hosts TWO MEN AND A TRUCK’s Movers for Mutts® campaign every year. She works with local shelters and foster-based rescues to help the furry friends in her community find a home. Over the years, Stewart says her locations have donated 80,000 items through collection boxes, city-wide sponsorships and local drop-off points at schools and daycares. 

“The goal is to do what we can and leverage our platform as much as possible to help with a project we are passionate about,” said Stewart. “We find that you have to share TWO MEN AND A TRUCK’s core values. If those aren’t also your personal values, it probably won’t be the best fit. We have a passion for giving back to the community, integrity, and care.” 

Johnathan Cuttino, a TWO MEN AND A TRUCK franchisee in Macon, Georgia, is another example of how franchise owners give back. Cuttino has been with the brand for 11 years, originally starting as a driver and working his way up to becoming a sales representative and a regional manager for five locations. Eventually, the opportunity came up to become an owner himself in Macon. 

“I’ve always wanted to be a business owner, and I really fell in love with the business model and the atmosphere at TWO MEN AND A TRUCK,” said Cuttino. “One of my dreams was to help as many people as possible, and with this business, I can help employees advance in their careers while also helping the community.” 

Since coming on board, Cuttino says he’s done charitable work with food pantries, women's shelters, humane societies and more. One recent partnership is with One Warm Coat, an organization that collects donated coats for people less fortunate and “shares warmth one coat at a time.” Cuttino offered his services to pick up a few truckloads of coats from a warehouse and deliver them to the primary care center in Macon.

“A lot of clothing companies will throw away items if they have a surplus, and One Warm Coat looks to give those items to people who really need them instead of to the dump,” said Cuttino. “It also helps the environment — they keep a million pounds of clothing out of landfills each year. When I heard about the initiative, I knew it’d be a great way to really make an impact and do some good through my TWO MEN AND A TRUCK business.”

Morgan Nelson is the Director of Marketing and Recruiting for Empire Franchise Group, an organization that owns nine TWO MEN AND A TRUCK locations throughout the country. In her position, Nelson says she is always looking for ways to make community outreach a priority.

“One of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK’s core values is giving back to the communities they serve, and since we have a strong presence here, we want to help in any capacity,” said Nelson. “It is a great way for us to be involved, and there are no words behind the feeling that we are able to provide meaningful and impactful services.” 

Empire Franchise Group has participated in the Movers for Mutts initiative since 2019.“I have a huge heart for animals — my two dogs are both rescue dogs,” said Nelson. “We have partnered with nine different animal shelters across our locations and also reach out to community partners, like vets, doggy daycares and dog groomers to host donation boxes. I also coordinate different events in the community, where local businesses will donate some of their sales towards local shelters. We just had an event last weekend where we set up a booth at a local dog park, brought in some food trucks and introduced people to some puppies from the humane society to raise awareness about the campaign.”

Another organization that Empire Franchise Group partners with through TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is First Book, a non-profit focused on education equity that donates books to low-income schools. “This year, we bought 200 copies of ‘When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree’ books and coordinated drop-offs with local schools,” said Nelson. “For many of these students, this is the book they can call their own, so it is a great opportunity for us to give back to communities who may be struggling.”

Charlene Bush is the Marketing Director for multi-unit TWO MEN AND A TRUCK franchise owner Alan Oversmith. After joining the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK corporate office in 2016, Bush worked as a franchise business consultant before starting in her marketing role. Today, Bush says she loves participating in some of the charitable programs that the brand rolls out across its system. 

“Charity is huge in our organization, as it is in most TWO MEN AND A TRUCK businesses,” said Bush. “We feel doing as much as we can in the community is very important. People like to do business with people who care about their community. We should care about these communities and be able to give back, and we are in a position where we can do that.”

Bush helped organize donations through First Book across Oversmith's portfolio of locations this year. In addition to donating books to schools, Bush says she had several charity partners that she felt could benefit from the event. They partnered with Schools on Wheels Massachusetts (SOWMA), an organization in Massachusetts that provides materials to underprivileged kids, as well as with Fleece & Thank You in SE Michigan, an organization that makes fleece blankets for children who are staying in the hospital. 

“They had all these blankets, and they needed a way to deliver them to different hospitals in the area,” said Bush. “Their headquarters is right across the street from one of our locations, so we started doing these deliveries just as a charity. Then, when we started doing the First Book campaign, I thought it’d be great to combine the two and provide children with both blankets and a book to read in the hospital.” 

Bush says they also work with an organization called Vet Life to do charity work for veterans and veteran families in the communities they serve. Through First Book, they were able to donate books to that organization as well. In October, Bush says they are also kicking off their Movers for Military campaign leading up to Veteran’s Day. They will be partnering with different veteran organizations and hosting donation events to collect items for veterans in need.

With so many ways to give back, it is no wonder TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is continuing to catch the attention of passionate and community-driven entrepreneurs across the country. So far this year, the brand celebrated its nine millionth move, opened 11 new locations, and added 70 new trucks onto the road. 

ABOUT TWO MEN AND A TRUCK

Headquartered in Michigan, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is the largest franchised moving company in North America. Currently, there are more than 400 locations and 3,000 trucks operating in 47 U.S. states in addition to Canada, Ireland and the UK. TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has performed more than 9 million moves since its inception in 1985 and has seen consistent growth dating back to December 2009. In 2022, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked TWO MEN AND A TRUCK as one of the top 500 franchises in the U.S. and No. 1 in the moving/junk removal category. Franchise Business Review also named TWO MEN AND A TRUCK a 2022 Top 200 Franchise and a 2021 Top Recession-Proof Franchise. As of August 2021, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK has joined the ServiceMaster brand. ServiceMaster was founded as one of America’s first franchise businesses and does business under eight brands today across 50 states and nine countries that generate more than $3.3B in system-wide sales: ServiceMaster Restore, ServiceMaster Clean, Merry Maids, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, AmeriSpec, Furniture Medic, Aftermath and IndoorScience.

To learn more about franchising with TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®, visit https://franchise.twomenandatruck.com/.