Up to now, JM Family Enterprises has operated five automotive businesses, including Southeast Toyota Distributors, which it describes as the world’s largest independent distributor of Toyota vehicles. The company is also involved in financial services and owns a Lexus dealership.

On Monday, the company announced its first acquisition outside of automotive.

JM Family has acquired Home Franchise Concepts, a franchising system in the home improvement goods and services space. HFC is the parent of the Budget Blinds, Tailored Living, Concrete Craft and AdvantaClean brands.

Those businesses join JM Family’s existing businesses in the automotive space: Southeast Toyota Distributors, F&I product provider JM&A Group; financial services companies Southeast Toyota Finance and DataScan; and JM Lexus.

JM Family Enterprises president and chief executive officer Brent Burns said in a news release that his company was attracted to HFC because of its “similar core values.” Among those values are a “customer-centric philosophy” that uses proven business models, expert training, and the latest products, technology, marketing and other resources to enable the success of business owners.  

“As a franchise leader in the multi-billion-dollar home improvement space, Home Franchise Concepts represents an ideal fit for our company, enabling JM Family to use our 50 years of experience with the franchise model to amplify HFC’s already established brands,” Burns said.

JM Family said HFC’s four brands consistently lead their categories, with a presence in almost 1,700 franchise territories in the United States, Canada and Mexico. JM Family acquired HFC from a private equity fund sponsored by Trilantic North America, a PE firm that invested in the business in 2015 to gain growth opportunities.

HFC was established in 1993, with home products and services such as motorized, automated offerings including the new Budget Blinds Smart Home Collection, with personalized, in-home customer service delivered by local franchisees.

More detail on the family of brands: JM Family says Budget Blinds is the largest retailer of custom window coverings in North America.  Tailored Living featuring PremierGarage is the largest franchise system in North America that provides whole-home organization products and services, according to the company. JM Family describes Concrete Craft as the only decorative concrete franchise system backed by a large international company. And AdvantaClean is a national provider of “professional services for a healthy home.”

“At HFC, it all comes down to caring for our franchisees and the customers they serve, something at which JM Family has excelled for 50 years,” said HFC chief executive officer Shirin Behzadi. “From this perspective, an alliance with JM Family makes tremendous sense. JM Family is a long-term partner committed to growing its business and customer base through the latest products and services. JM Family comes with new resources and thinking that can ‘turbo-charge’ HFC brands.”

Behzadi added, “HFC has the solid foundation necessary to become the place for homeowners to go to for their home improvement and enhancement needs. Our partnership with JM Family will help us achieve this vision.”

Jim Moran founded JM Family in 1968, and the company said Moran believed “associates are our most important asset.” HFC also operates with that associates-first philosophy, Burns said. “That similarity and many other parallels between JM Family and HFC — most notably culture and giving back — made the decision to move forward a clear one.”