How a Startup Can Soar Into the Lucrative World Of Franchising With the Right Market

Goucher and Zeitler founded RealClean Aircraft Detailing 20 years ago and found themselves a profitable niche by providing services that none of their competitors do.

Lucas Goucher and Dustin Zeitler, founders of RealClean Aircraft Detailing, have used their entrepreneurial acumen to carve out a niche for themselves in the unique industry of aircraft detailing. The pair has successfully grown their business from the ground up to the point of offering franchise opportunities across the country by offering a service that strategically fills a vital — and lucrative — gap in the market.

The brand was established 20 years ago by Zeitler, who is incredibly experienced in all things aviation, having been both a commercial pilot and an aircraft mechanic. Although the pair has had some competition throughout the years, a recent consolidation of many of their competitors has allowed them to continue offering specialized services practically uncontended.

“We’ve had a lot of successes over the last years and then some consolidation in our industry occurred. There were a lot of buyouts of a lot of our competition by a big player in the industry, which left the void of more specialized white glove service-focused detailing,” Goucher explained.

The void created a surge in demand, expanding the Chicago-based brand’s client base, as the “big player in the industry” that bought out the brand did not offer the same premium customer-service experience, nor did it offer some of the specific specialized services.

“Our phone started ringing, and it wasn’t just in the Greater Midwest here where we service with our corporate location. Dustin was hopping on a plane, going to all these different states and looking at these opportunities,” said Goucher. “We realized it would be really hard with all of this geographic territory between us and some of these locations that require our services.”

The solution? Franchises.

The brand officially started offering franchise opportunities in January of 2024 and is already on the path of securing its first franchise sale.

Specialized Services

The specialized services RealClean Aircraft Detailing offers include window polishing, interior work on leather, and paint revitalization. Many of the white-glove services offered by the brand prioritize a quick-turnaround so the owner-operators of the plane can get back to flying.

“Previous to paint revitalization services, when aircraft paint started looking dull and dingy, aircrafts would be on the ground for a month to several months, sometimes even half a year, just to get the aircraft repainted,” said Zeitler. “We can revitalize that old paint and make it look brand new. We put a protective coating on it, and that aircraft can be back up in the air within a day or a week, depending on the size of the aircraft. It’s services like this that we provide that others don’t that save our owner-operators money and time.”

Most of the brand’s clientele is made up of corporations that own an aircraft or a fleet of aircrafts, as well as high-net-worth individuals who privately own aircrafts. Having an affluent customer base and dealing with high-cost planes, without having a need for a brick-and-mortar shop, leads to big returns on investment.

Plans For the Future

While Zeitler and Goucher have been approached with buyout offers in the past, it seems likely they could be approached again in the future. However, the pair recognize they’ve got something special on their hands that is likely to continue rapidly growing, especially as they have distinguished themselves from other aviation detailing companies by offering high-end services that other brands don’t.

So, would they be tempted by a buyout offer in the future? When the demand is so high and the opportunities so great, Zeitler and Goucher can’t imagine letting go of the brand they’ve built.

“We have no plans to sell our business. We want to really grow this franchise, really grow this brand and see our baby spread its wings a little bit,” said Zeitler.