Meet Drew Johnston | Weekend Vans Managing Partner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Drew Johnston and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Drew, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Honestly the business started as a hobby. We enjoyed camping and evolved from tents to a VW camper van. As the family grew up it became more about reliability and safety. We couldn’t find what we were looking for in the van market that worked for our family and our budget. Building our own van was the only option. Once we built it people came up asking if it was for sale. After selling one we kept getting contacted by more families that also liked our design and our budget friendly pricing. It turned from making our family happy to how many other people can we share the stoke with. It was very organic and we just decided with friends and family that we had a great idea and wanted to share it with as many people as we could.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Our business started on our belief of wanting to share the excitement we have about being able to explore the US with our families. We love to travel and see new places and being able to share those experiences with our kids/friends creates memories for a lifetime. We started in a driveway and have grown to a 6k sq ft facility. We have overcome supply chain issues by constantly thinking ahead. Having a plan and keeping what we can control in order has enabled us to weather numerous issues that pop up weekly. We have stayed ethically priced, focused on creating a great customer experience and grown at a pace we can support comfortably.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Living here has so many opportunities to experience great things. From the touristy things like Legoland, the flower fields, strawberry picking, the outlets or walking downtown. We pretty much live at the beach and that is where we spend most of our free time. Carlsbad campgrounds is one of the best camping spots on the California coast and their camp store always has a great concert going! Grab a burrito at Lola’s and on Saturdays they have also have concert going on across the street.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Friends and family have been the biggest support! We started this business with 3 friends and have only grown due to the support and involvement of our families. Our wives did not want to be a part of this in the beginning and have now taken over to be the driving force behind our success. As we have grown more family has become involved and the constant support from all of our friend whenever we have an event can not be thanked enough.

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