THE BEGINNING OF THE ROAD
Family-owned Holt Tire — the predecessor to present-day CFI Tire — was the brainchild of Iowa entrepreneur Leonard Holt. Leonard built the business believing their customers deserved a better tire. At the time, most American farmers relied on steel wheels to support their work in the fields, but steel was heavy, and many struggled to purchase the expensive wheels. So, with his friend and business associate Harvey Firestone, Leonard introduced rubber AG tires to help customers get better results. The rest, as they say, is history.
NEW FACILITY
The original Holt Tire Service premises were getting too small for the business, so in 1994, a new 14,500 square-foot facility on two acres was purchased at 2601 Dixon Street in Des Moines, Iowa.
GRAND OPENING
CFI Tire Service opens its doors under the ownership and management of Ben Berardi and sons, cousins, and longtime partners of the Holt family business. CFI's primary focus was to serve the commercial, agricultural, and industrial segments of the retail tire market in central Iowa.
MAKING ROOM
CFI Tire adds an adjoining one-acre parcel with a 4,000-square-foot building to house the growing industrial division and truck suspension shop.
NEW SITE ON EAST WALNUT
CFI Tire purchases 2041 East Walnut Street, an eight-acre site with a 34,000-square-foot building, to increase storage capacity for the rapidly expanding agricultural division.
REMANUFACTURING SHOP
CFI Tire adds a wheel remanufacturing shop to the facility on East Walnut Street.
COMMERCIAL TRUCK TIRES
CFI Tire begins to retread commercial truck tires at the East Walnut facility.
EAST WALNUT EXPANSION
CFI Tire expands the East Walnut facility in Des Moines to include OTR tire and ag track undercarriage wheel retreading.
INDOOR STORAGE FACILITY
CFI Tire purchases a 230,000 sq. ft. indoor storage facility on 13 acres at 1701 East Euclid in Des Moines.
GOING WEST
CFI Tire expands to the west coast by merging with MaconWorth Ltd., a tire company owned by Leonard Holt's grandchildren. This provided access to a full line of turf, ATV, and trailer tires.
GOING WEST
CFI Tire expands to the west coast by merging with MaconWorth Ltd., a tire company owned by Leonard Holt's grandchildren. This provided access to a full line of turf, ATV, and trailer tires.
NEW BRAND
In early 2021, we officially rebranded the dealer channel of our brand as AXON. This new brand brought a new focus, both internally and externally, on how we could continue to support our equipment dealer channels. This channel now operates out of two warehouse locations with seven sales offices throughout the US, and AXON serves over 1,000 dealer groups each year in the U.S. and Canada.
RETAIL REFRESH
The bedrock of our organization has been our retail service channel. In early 2022, we launched a new and improved look and feel to the organization, which included a facelift to many aspects of our Dixon service location.
A FAMILY OF COMPANIES
We publicly launched our corporate brand: CFI Solutions, A family of companies. In the nearly 100 years since our company was founded, the world has changed. Thousands of other tire companies have popped up, and the word “quality” is overused and under-delivered. But here at CFI Solutions, our family values remain the same. We still deliver superior service with honesty and integrity. With nearly a century’s worth of knowledge and a staff that treats you like family, we promise to keep you moving.
