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45 APRIL 2014 m ETRO m AGAZINE > ness, and hope to continue to adapt their tour products and roll with the challeng- es in a business they still enjoy after more than three decades. "When we began this business it was very all-consuming. Looking back, what has been interesting is it has and contin- ues to transcend my goals. We are enjoy- ing seeing all these business dreams come to fruition and thrive," Lorna says. "We keep doing more in the travel indus- try. [It has] never been boring [or] the same from one year to the next." Canadian was fortunate enough to have understanding bankers who bought into the idea and helped with renovations, funding and the other businesses they created within it. Another stroke of luck happened be- fore the operation started building the new facility: an 81,000-square-foot facto- ry right next door to their new land pur- chase closed. Great Canadian bought the factory. T e larger space enabled the carrier to merge with an auto repair business and provide parking and a fueling system to sell fuel on site, which provides another source of revenue. Since the operator's mechanics are licensed to repair motor- coaches and trucks, Larry decided to di- versify into truck repair. T e operator also of ers truck detailing and works with local truck dealers to clean their new trucks and do collision, body and paint work for a variety of vehicles. "T ese businesses are starting to gain some traction now," Larry says. "[It] takes a little longer than one would expect but we have been able to make this work. If there is any message here for other oper- ators it's that diversif cation in your busi- ness is a good thing. I had a vision [that] all kinds of other businesses that would develop here and have synergies with re- lated businesses." NEXT STEPS Moving forward, Lorna and Larry are grooming management staf to take care of the day-to-day responsibilities as they assume a bigger picture view of the busi- OPERATOR OF THE YEAR CONTINUES FROM PAGE 41 METRO Publisher Frank Di Giacomo presented METRO Magazine's Operator of the Year Award to Larry Hundt and Lorna Hundt, at the 2014 UMA Expo at Travel Exchange in Los Angeles in February. M E T R O 0 4 1 4 _ O P E R T O R . i n d d 4 5 METRO0414_OPERTOR.indd 45 3 / 1 7 / 1 4 5 : 5 6 P M 3/17/14 5:56 PM