Busy in Bryant

Bryant Truck Repair is just the latest of Darrick Plummer’s growing number of businesses in the region.

Plummer grew up in the southeast corner of Wells County, just a mile from the Jay County line. Since 2001, he has managed Phenix Farms, his family’s grain-farming operation overseeing some 3,000 acres of corn, soybeans and alfalfa. In 2014, Plummer built on lessons learned from hauling Phenix Farms’ own products to create PFI Trucking LLC, a commercial trucking company specializing in moving feed, livestock and oversized loads.

PFI Trucking quickly grew into a fleet of more than 15 trucks, all of which required maintenance.

Soon, the repair shop at the farm wasn’t big enough to handle both the trucking fleet and the farm vehicles. Plummer rented a shop in Pennville to ease the space crunch, but it wasn’t enough.

He wanted a new site, preferably on a highway, where he could open a dedicated truck repair business built on what he and his team had learned from working on the PFI fleet.

In 2022, he “jumped on the opportunity” to buy the former Bryant Combine Parts, a 17,000-square foot building on U.S. 27 in the heart of Bryant. The sale closed in May 2022 and, after months of renovations, Bryant Truck Repair opened in January.

It’s been busy ever since.

Plummer isn’t surprised.

Truck repair businesses are overwhelmed with the demand for services.

“There’s a lot of facilities that are booked up for two, three weeks before they can even look at and diagnose your vehicle,” Plummer said.

That’s in part because of the nature of the trucks themselves.

“New or late-model trucks just aren’t built the way they used to be,” said Plummer. “They require a lot more maintenance and a lot more repair.”

He thinks there’s plenty of work to go around.

Bryant Truck Repair specializes in medium- to heavy-duty vehicles.

“At some point in time, we might expand into automotive, but I think there’s enough need just for the heavy-duty side that that’s what we’re going to stick with and focus on,” Plummer said.

Their emphasis is on engines, drive trains, electrical, diagnostics, HVAC, tires and brakes — anything that keeps the truck going. Plummer hopes to offer alignment services (currently subcontracted out) soon.

“Our scope and our plan is constantly evolving,” he said.

The business has 13,000 to 14,000 square feet of dedicated repair space, plus a showroom, offices, a wash bay/detail shop and a parts storage room. There are eight employees, including four mechanics and four others involved in management, parts sales and office work. Plummer hopes to hire more.

“I’m always looking for … trained, highly experienced mechanics. We’ve gotten busy enough just since we opened up that it would be nice to have one more experienced (person),” he said.

At this point, most of Bryant Truck Repair’s customers are local farmers and small trucking companies. It also has done work for the Town of Bryant, and for fire departments in Bryant, Montpelier and Petroleum. The business offers a discount for repair of emergency vehicles.

“We don’t have a problem working on anybody’s vehicles,” Plummer said.