Cal Phillips, Bryan Wachs, JT Westcott
QuikrStuff Team Grows to Nearly 20 in just Five Years
QuikrStuff was born in January 2020 when the original three came together.
Cal Phillips brought the product and a waiting list. Inventor of the original Quik Rack, he exited that company in 2015 and went back to his garage in Wisconsin with 15 years of feedback to tinker and create his latest and greatest bike rack, the Quik Rack Mach2.
Cal said, “I want this rack to be made in America.”
Bryan Wachs brought the business experience and internet marketing skills. Bryan, a resident of Grand Junction, Colorado and champion of economic development in Western Colorado, said, “This rack will be made in Grand Junction or we’re not doing this.”
JT Westcott brought the established machine and fabrication shop and decades of experience. He said, “Yes, we can make this rack right here in Grand Junction.”
JT’s employees started manufacturing the parts and QuikrStuff immediately hired four assemblers. The first 100 racks were built and shipped.
Since then, we’ve faced challenges like Covid-19, the supply chain debacle, production limitations, and eventually the acquisition of new factory space, additional machines, and a ramp up in production. Through all that, the original CEO–Bryan Wachs–and the original COO–JT Westcott–stayed true to their vision to create the best damn bike rack and ensure that it would always be made in the USA.
JT’s bike rack machinists are now on QuikrStuff’s payroll. To meet growing demand, the machines operate well into the night and a second shift is there to man them.
Along the way, we acquired customer service folks, a person dedicated to marketing, accounting and payroll help, a purchaser, and our own designer/engineer, creating even more jobs. Bryan Wachs (you might remember how committed he is to economic development) mentored dozens of Colorado Mesa University students, several of whom serve as interns for the company.
Our survival and growth wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication and hard work of our team, whose names we proudly acknowledge: Bryan, JT, Wade, Jonathan, Zane, Kyle, Alexander, Kevin, Duke, Brody, Chuck, Eric, Joshua, Randee, Nick, Tina, Angie, Tray, Samantha.
Note that Cal is not listed. Of course we are forever grateful to him for his ingenious invention and for licensing it to QuikrStuff. Cal is now in retirement land.
And, while not on QuikrStuff’s payroll, innumerable jobs (many local) are supported by our company–aluminum extrusion, welding, anodizing, powder coating, creative, marketing, payroll, tech support, shipping.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our customers who support us with their purchases and our vendors who support us with premium materials and services. We get tremendous support from both, and that’s who really keeps us going and growing. While making bike racks is pretty cool, providing jobs on the Western Slope of Colorado and beyond is even more gratifying.
The team behind the Quik Rack Mach2
