July 29, 2024 • 9 mins
Watch Carol and Tim LIVE every day on YouTube: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF.
Vojin Popovic, CEO of Piece of Cake Moving & Storage, discusses modernizing the customer experience and workplace culture of the moving company industry.
Hosts: Tim Stenovec and Emily Graffeo. Producer: Paul Brennan.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Well, I knew this morning that our next guest was
coming on the program, so I did a little bit
of an experiment, and it's anecdotal. Emily, on my way
in to the office, how many of his trucks would
I see between Brooklyn and Midtown? So I rode my
bike so I was above ground. So full disclosure, I
was above ground the whole time. I saw eight pink
Piece of Cake Moving in Storage trucks.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
They're everywhere.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
They're all over the city, seeing more than the Amazon trucks.
I mean, I do see them everywhere. They're hard to miss.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, they're hard to make.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
They are huge and bright pink.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Virgin Voyo Popovich is the founder and CEO of Piece
of Cake Moving in Storage. He joins us now from
New York. Voyo, good to have you on the program.
Full disclosure, didn't know you were coming on the show
until this morning. I did use Piece of Cake Moving
in our most recent move, so I want to make
sure I get that out there. You started this company
with just a truck. Now you've got hundreds of them.
(01:05):
You do one hundred million dollars a year in revenue.
Give us your story because it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Thank you, Thank you for having me. It's an honor.
Thank you for the nice introduction, and thank you for
trusting us with your move them my story. So I
moved to United States at the age of twenty. My
first job was in McDonald's. After a few months, I
changed the changed the job. I picked up moving, primarily
for the reasons that I wanted to work longer hours
(01:34):
and pretty much, you needed to make more money, and
to be honest, there was nothing else for me to
do just being moved to United States, but to work.
As soon as I started doing moving, pretty much, I
fell in love with the job. I love that it's active,
and I love that you move people's apartments. You actually
get to meet a lot of people, and you get
(01:56):
to see all these different lifestyles in New York City.
I mean, it was truly a dream. Quickly, in a
matter of a few years, I kind of climbed up
the ladder.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
So I was. I started as a helper, then I
was a driver, a crew leader.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Then I did sales, an office job in a moving
company for a little while, and somewhere along the line,
pretty much I figured and kind of noticed that the
industry was very outdated, everything from operational life aspect to
(02:34):
customer service, to how we send emails, to how we
schedule the jobs, to how we finish the jobs, to
how we do the jobs. So I always wanted to
have a business, and that was kind of a perfect
opportunity for me. So at the age of twenty four
in twenty eighteen, I launched a Piece of Cake by
purchasing one truck for twenty dollars and seven years on,
(02:59):
now we have over three hundred trucks, we employ about
eight hundred people, and we move one hundred families here.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
So we just showed some video for our YouTube audience
a truck that set a Piece of Cake truck that
says making you smile. And I have to be honest, moving,
especially in New York City, has got to be one
of the the worst the worst thing ever, So how
do you run this company and make people smile? Essentially?
(03:33):
How do you make it a seamless experience for your
customers when they obviously go into this with just such
a negative connotation of what the day of a move
is going to look like.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, so we hear that a lot. By the way,
moving is the worst, and I agree, even when I
move myself having a move and have a moving company,
it's actually still sucks alone.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
So pro Lanch we focus.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
On It sounds simple, but we do focus on customer journey,
on customer experience, and we just do whatever we can
to make that they are a little less stressful, to
make it enjoyable.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
So whatever we can.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
For example, in our training guide for our movers, we
have a line that says we are providing a Michelin
Star restaurant customer experience, so very much, that's what we
live by.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
We are movers, and typically.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
People would expect, okay, mowers will come, they'll say good morning,
and they'll just move things. What we try to do
is just add a little human touch to that, our
crew leaders and our movers. It's very important, like communication
is one of the most important things in this job,
so we put an emphasis on that. And from the
(04:52):
moment you call, from a moment you get in touch,
you'll get a sign a human being. So pretty much
one of our agents who will be with you throughout
the whole journey. So you always have someone a live
person who you can talk to, email to a text
two and pretty much we get all your questions answered.
And what also we do to make it a little.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
More say, enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So we call that internally, we call that matchmaking customer.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
And moving crew.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So what we would do is so during conversation, during
scheduling a move, pretty much our agent would know to
where in life in that where in life is that
person that is moving our client? Okay, so they would
not say customers getting divorced, a couple, is splitting up,
customers a widow, things like that, and then they would
(05:44):
leave a note for our operation team and then we
would kind of try and matchmake the customer and a
moving crew and.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Your best to provide the best moving experience they ever had.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Voyle, I'm wondering about employees. Where you get employees and
if they're full time employees versus not necessarily gig workers,
but like how they're compensated, if they're just working for tips.
How do you get your employees Because I've talked I've
talked to a lot of piece of cake moving company
employees because whenever I see them on our block. I
go to see if it's the same crew that did
(06:17):
our place. It's not ever the same crew. That's how
many employees there are, but there are so many of
them are from Montenegro. Talk to us about that process.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yes, absolutely, so it's same as you grow your business,
right as you as you grow your customer channel. That's
how we see also our.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Movers.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Right, so what we have to do is we have
to make sure that their work experience a Piece of
Cake is the best work experience they ever had.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
So and when we do.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
That, and when we did that, pretty much we never
had an issue with hiring people or finding people. We
never advertised, so pretty much it's all board them out,
it's all referral. There is a lot of moving companies
in the city. It's very competitive, and so before the
summer we would receive tons of applications from from from movers,
(07:13):
from people who pretty much have three, four, five, ten
years of experience and they would actually want to join
Piece of Cakes. So and you know, that makes process
for our HR much easier because we actually get applicants
and we we don't ever advertise.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So are they pretty much out? Are they full time
employees or are they hourly? How does that work?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Some of them are full full time employees, some of
them are we call that partner operator or contractors.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
So we have a mix.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
How do you how do you make it the best job? Ever?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
When it's it's moving, which is really physically demanding. I mean,
I think the crew that was with us, they were
with us from like ten am to two am, you know,
barely taking breaks.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It was it literally backbreaking work.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, so I mean, if you talk to your crew,
I'm sure, I'm sure they said they loved it.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So so pretty much, I mean, job is a job
if you do it right the way we see it,
it's it's a lot of our guys are in sports,
or they play sport in high school, or they play
sports semi professionally. So most of them, if you ask
them what's number one thing that you love about your job,
they will say being active. It lets me be at
(08:29):
it's so exciting. It's every day I meet a new person.
So that's one aspect of it of the job. The
other aspect is energy between us, energy within the companies.
So pretty much, I'm proud that I would say all
all of our employees all of our stuff. They take
ownership in this and they will represent the company the
(08:51):
way I would represent it even better.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
We only have a little bit of time, but we're bloomberg.
We got to ask about the business. One hundred million
dollars a year in revenue at this point, what's the plan?
Are you going to IPO or are you going to sell?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
Very briefly, not planning to selling.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We're also not discussing IPO. What we're planning to do
is to grow the company to five hundred million dollars
revenue in the next ten years. And we will do
that by using the formula that we use so far,
making customers happy, and also by investing in our people,
growing our people, and by investing in technology.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Voyo Popovich, founder and CEO of Piece of Cake, Moving
in storage, joining us from New York.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Those pink trucks, you can't miss them. They're everywhere, Yeah
they are.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
This is an example of taking a company in an
industry that people associate with a bad thing. Using a
good name and a fun color works for me. Make
it a positive experience.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Still though moving no one likes it.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Oh gosh,
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and
Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Well, I knew this morning that our next guest was
coming on the program, so I did a little bit
of an experiment, and it's anecdotal. Emily, on my way
in to the office, how many of his trucks would
I see between Brooklyn and Midtown? So I rode my
bike so I was above ground. So full disclosure, I
was above ground the whole time. I saw eight pink
Piece of Cake Moving in Storage trucks.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
They're everywhere.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
They're all over the city, seeing more than the Amazon trucks.
I mean, I do see them everywhere. They're hard to miss.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah, they're hard to make.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
They are huge and bright pink.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Virgin Voyo Popovich is the founder and CEO of Piece
of Cake Moving in Storage. He joins us now from
New York. Voyo, good to have you on the program.
Full disclosure, didn't know you were coming on the show
until this morning. I did use Piece of Cake Moving
in our most recent move, so I want to make
sure I get that out there. You started this company
with just a truck. Now you've got hundreds of them.
(01:05):
You do one hundred million dollars a year in revenue.
Give us your story because it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Thank you, Thank you for having me. It's an honor.
Thank you for the nice introduction, and thank you for
trusting us with your move them my story. So I
moved to United States at the age of twenty. My
first job was in McDonald's. After a few months, I
changed the changed the job. I picked up moving, primarily
for the reasons that I wanted to work longer hours
(01:34):
and pretty much, you needed to make more money, and
to be honest, there was nothing else for me to
do just being moved to United States, but to work.
As soon as I started doing moving, pretty much, I
fell in love with the job. I love that it's active,
and I love that you move people's apartments. You actually
get to meet a lot of people, and you get
(01:56):
to see all these different lifestyles in New York City.
I mean, it was truly a dream. Quickly, in a
matter of a few years, I kind of climbed up
the ladder.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
So I was. I started as a helper, then I
was a driver, a crew leader.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Then I did sales, an office job in a moving
company for a little while, and somewhere along the line,
pretty much I figured and kind of noticed that the
industry was very outdated, everything from operational life aspect to
(02:34):
customer service, to how we send emails, to how we
schedule the jobs, to how we finish the jobs, to
how we do the jobs. So I always wanted to
have a business, and that was kind of a perfect
opportunity for me. So at the age of twenty four
in twenty eighteen, I launched a Piece of Cake by
purchasing one truck for twenty dollars and seven years on,
(02:59):
now we have over three hundred trucks, we employ about
eight hundred people, and we move one hundred families here.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
So we just showed some video for our YouTube audience
a truck that set a Piece of Cake truck that
says making you smile. And I have to be honest, moving,
especially in New York City, has got to be one
of the the worst the worst thing ever, So how
do you run this company and make people smile? Essentially?
(03:33):
How do you make it a seamless experience for your
customers when they obviously go into this with just such
a negative connotation of what the day of a move
is going to look like.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Yes, so we hear that a lot. By the way,
moving is the worst, and I agree, even when I
move myself having a move and have a moving company,
it's actually still sucks alone.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
So pro Lanch we focus.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
On It sounds simple, but we do focus on customer journey,
on customer experience, and we just do whatever we can
to make that they are a little less stressful, to
make it enjoyable.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
So whatever we can.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
For example, in our training guide for our movers, we
have a line that says we are providing a Michelin
Star restaurant customer experience, so very much, that's what we
live by.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
We are movers, and typically.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
People would expect, okay, mowers will come, they'll say good morning,
and they'll just move things. What we try to do
is just add a little human touch to that, our
crew leaders and our movers. It's very important, like communication
is one of the most important things in this job,
so we put an emphasis on that. And from the
(04:52):
moment you call, from a moment you get in touch,
you'll get a sign a human being. So pretty much
one of our agents who will be with you throughout
the whole journey. So you always have someone a live
person who you can talk to, email to a text
two and pretty much we get all your questions answered.
And what also we do to make it a little.
Speaker 5 (05:13):
More say, enjoyable.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So we call that internally, we call that matchmaking customer.
Speaker 5 (05:21):
And moving crew.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
So what we would do is so during conversation, during
scheduling a move, pretty much our agent would know to
where in life in that where in life is that
person that is moving our client? Okay, so they would
not say customers getting divorced, a couple, is splitting up,
customers a widow, things like that, and then they would
(05:44):
leave a note for our operation team and then we
would kind of try and matchmake the customer and a
moving crew and.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Your best to provide the best moving experience they ever had.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Voyle, I'm wondering about employees. Where you get employees and
if they're full time employees versus not necessarily gig workers,
but like how they're compensated, if they're just working for tips.
How do you get your employees Because I've talked I've
talked to a lot of piece of cake moving company
employees because whenever I see them on our block. I
go to see if it's the same crew that did
(06:17):
our place. It's not ever the same crew. That's how
many employees there are, but there are so many of
them are from Montenegro. Talk to us about that process.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yes, absolutely, so it's same as you grow your business,
right as you as you grow your customer channel. That's
how we see also our.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Movers.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Right, so what we have to do is we have
to make sure that their work experience a Piece of
Cake is the best work experience they ever had.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
So and when we do.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
That, and when we did that, pretty much we never
had an issue with hiring people or finding people. We
never advertised, so pretty much it's all board them out,
it's all referral. There is a lot of moving companies
in the city. It's very competitive, and so before the
summer we would receive tons of applications from from from movers,
(07:13):
from people who pretty much have three, four, five, ten
years of experience and they would actually want to join
Piece of Cakes. So and you know, that makes process
for our HR much easier because we actually get applicants
and we we don't ever advertise.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So are they pretty much out? Are they full time
employees or are they hourly? How does that work?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Some of them are full full time employees, some of
them are we call that partner operator or contractors.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
So we have a mix.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
How do you how do you make it the best job? Ever?
Speaker 3 (07:47):
When it's it's moving, which is really physically demanding. I mean,
I think the crew that was with us, they were
with us from like ten am to two am, you know,
barely taking breaks.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It was it literally backbreaking work.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, so I mean, if you talk to your crew,
I'm sure, I'm sure they said they loved it.
Speaker 5 (08:06):
I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
So so pretty much, I mean, job is a job
if you do it right the way we see it,
it's it's a lot of our guys are in sports,
or they play sport in high school, or they play
sports semi professionally. So most of them, if you ask
them what's number one thing that you love about your job,
they will say being active. It lets me be at
(08:29):
it's so exciting. It's every day I meet a new person.
So that's one aspect of it of the job. The
other aspect is energy between us, energy within the companies.
So pretty much, I'm proud that I would say all
all of our employees all of our stuff. They take
ownership in this and they will represent the company the
(08:51):
way I would represent it even better.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
We only have a little bit of time, but we're bloomberg.
We got to ask about the business. One hundred million
dollars a year in revenue at this point, what's the plan?
Are you going to IPO or are you going to sell?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
Very briefly, not planning to selling.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
We're also not discussing IPO. What we're planning to do
is to grow the company to five hundred million dollars
revenue in the next ten years. And we will do
that by using the formula that we use so far,
making customers happy, and also by investing in our people,
growing our people, and by investing in technology.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Voyo Popovich, founder and CEO of Piece of Cake, Moving
in storage, joining us from New York.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Those pink trucks, you can't miss them. They're everywhere, Yeah
they are.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
This is an example of taking a company in an
industry that people associate with a bad thing. Using a
good name and a fun color works for me. Make
it a positive experience.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Still though moving no one likes it.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Oh gosh,
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Tim Stenovec
Carol Massar
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