Clintar Owner Spotlight: Jim Maloney

We’re thrilled to feature Jim Maloney in our latest Clintar Owner Spotlight video!
With an impressive 27-year journey, Jim takes us from his food business roots to leading a successful Clintar franchise in the Kitchener region.

Discover how Jim’s passion for running his own business professionally, developing a strong team, and maintaining long-term customer relationships have contributed to his success. Plus, learn about the future plans for his franchise, including growth and becoming the employer of choice in the area.

Watch now and get inspired by Jim’s dedication to the Clintar family.

Please introduce yourself and the market/ territory you serve

My name’s Jim Maloney. I’ve been with Clintar since 1996, I guess, into the 27th year now, serving the Waterloo region, Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge.

How did you end up at Clintar?

Well, my family had a small predominantly lawn care company that my father and brother were running, and I did a little bit of grass cutting at that time. Kind of enjoyed it. And then it was sold before I could really get my hands on it.

And then eventually I was in the food business selling yogurt, believe it or not. And through a series of promotions, I kind of recognized that I didn’t want to work the corporate world. I had a friend who was a business partner, owned the Clintar franchise in London, and I always kind of tried to go and help him out and really enjoyed that whole thought.

When the time came to make a really career choice. I just decided, well, might as well give this a whirl and see how it goes.

What is the most satisfying part of being a Clintar business owner?

The most satisfying part would be really that you run your own business. You’re part of a bigger team, bigger group. We have a group of peers that you can talk to and rely on. But for me, it’s the challenge of running your own business, but you’re running it professionally. It’s not like you started as Jim’s Landscape or something. The other part of it now, as we progress, is the development of people and maintaining long-term customers.

You can’t do it alone. What can you tell us about the people you work with?

We’re fortunate that we have a very core, long-standing group of people. This is my 27th year, my most tenured person has been with us for 22 years. I have a lot of between 15, 18 year employees. So Dan Smiley, Chris Hubert, Robin Rigo, a lot of really key staff that have grown with us and they really run the business. They really help me run the business and allow us to grow and develop people. So it’s been a pleasure working with them and hopefully we keep it going.

Tell us about the future plans of your Clintar franchise

Future of the business is bright. Recently, our son, Zack, has joined the business, bought into the business. He’s my business partner. He’s interested in growing the business, which is great. He challenges me to do what he thinks I’m best at. And it’s an interesting dynamic of watching it transition where I never thought a couple years ago that’d happen.

We’re looking to grow. We’re looking to grow probably more, not through the roof, but consistent, steady, targeted sort of growth, and really continue to develop people and try to make us not only the provider of the service where you work, where you shop, where you live, but the employer.

We want to be the employer of choice in our market.