Supreme Ford leadership giving back ahead of anniversary

Published 12:08 am Saturday, June 11, 2016

LAPLACE — Tony Vitrano said reputation and honesty are key factors for anyone making a major vehicle purchase.

“When you do business with someone dishonestly, that sticks with somebody,” he said.

The recently installed general manger of Supreme Ford of LaPlace said he meets every customer that comes through the dealership’s doors in an effort to establish a trusting relationship.

“They have a pleasurable experience,” he said, “The deal was good enough for them to sign papers on and they send us referrals.”

Vitrano, who took the position in December, said successful dealerships in small communities can’t thrive on sales alone.

“You have to have a backing behind you in the community,” he said. “If you don’t have the community behind you, you aren’t going to succeed. Maybe you will in a big city store like New Orleans that sells 200 to 300 cars, but here in LaPlace, I feel like you have to go in that direction with the community.”

Vitrano, a St. Rose native who lives in Hammond, said community involvement has been a bedrock of the Supreme family, something he has been part for eight years.

Before coming to LaPlace, he was the general sales manger at Supreme Toyota in Hammond.

“Coming from a small community, I’m used to being involved in the community with the schools and more,” he said. “People remember that and they remember to come see you. We’ve worked with Veterans and the Lions Club doing benefits. We’ve done sponsorships with local dance academies and we sponsored banquets for the Sheriff’s Office. We’re trying to get our name out there and help the community.

“I don’t want to just sell you a car, I want to give you a good enough deal where you buy a car from me, you tell your parents, you tell your friends and then you also come back to me later if you need a car.”

Vernon Bailey, Supreme Ford’s assistant manager, has many good things to say about Vitrano and the work the staff is doing at the store.

“He is a great general manager,” Bailey said. “He is a manger that really cares about the dealership. When (Vitrano) first came he really pushed the fact that we needed to put forth effort to work with the community and our customers.”

Bailey has been with Supreme Ford for four years after retiring from the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Being a former Sheriff’s Office employee, Bailey said he was able to introduce Vitrano to Sheriff Mike Tregre, which led to Supreme Ford taking care of Sheriff’s Office vehicles.

“Now we do the Sheriff’s Office’s fleet, we do all of their cars,” Bailey said. “They buy all of their cars here; before they were going out of the parish. I also met with the Parish President last week, and I’m going to met with her purchasing person so we can start doing their fleet, as well.”

Bailey and Vitrano are excited with the dealership’s growth over past six months, adding the future should be even better.

Speaking of the future, staff members at Supreme Ford are gearing up for their four-year anniversary at the end of July.

Staff members said they’re planning plenty of good deals and a few festivities. Vitrano said Supreme Ford is looking into hosting a barbecue, possibly a car wash with local organizations and a snowball stand.