Over the past 83 years, trucking company Groendyke Transport has outgrown its original transportation terminal many times over, but it never outgrew Enid.
Groendyke is now the largest privately owned tank truck firm in the country, operating 29 terminals in 11 states with a fleet of about a thousand trucks that cover 77 million miles every year. The company also has an unparalleled reputation for performance and safety, earning countless awards from industry organizations, regulatory agencies, insurance carriers and business partners.
“We hold ourselves to a very high standard. We consider safety a core value rather than a priority, because priorities change, but values do not,” says company president Greg Hodgen.
Key to the company’s success is a rigorous training program that includes bringing every new employee — hundreds a year — to Enid to tour the corporate headquarters and meet with top executives. Annual company meetings are often held at Enid’s state-of-the-art convention center, which provides 50,000 square feet of versatile meeting spaces, dedicated staff, great food and exceptional audiovisual capabilities. “It always gets rave reviews,” Hodgen says.
While Enid provides a safe, welcoming atmosphere, it also offers everything the company needs to blend the most advanced trucks, equipped with the latest safety features, with sophisticated, individualized driver and employee training. With two corporate aircraft housed at Enid’s Woodring Regional Airport, company executives can travel to any terminal and be home the same day.
“Having Enid as our home base allows us to be very accessible to our employees,” Hodgen says. “The people who come to work at our company recognize and value the sense of community we cultivate here. Enid is part of that. If we were bringing people to a big city like Dallas, it just wouldn’t have the same flavor.”
Hodgen’s 25 years living and working in Enid has been satisfying as well.
“When I moved from Ft. Collins, Colorado, to Enid straight out of college, it was a little bit of a culture shock,” he admits. “But it didn’t take me long to appreciate the slower pace and the friendliness of the people. My wife and I have also been impressed by the quality of the educational options here. Both of our sons were able to attend Oklahoma Bible Academy, which is an absolute gem of a school.”