Brothers Rely on Family Values to Create a Better ATM Business

The Matthews brothers (Tim, Burt, Jeff, Spencer and Chris) credit their success and working relationship to the work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit and communication fostered in them by their parents. As a family of eight, with five brothers and three sisters, if the siblings wanted a vacation, toy or treat they had to work to achieve their goal. The brothers took these lessons to heart and used them to create Grant Victor, the parent company to ATMequipment.com, OptConnect, TetraLink and eGlobal.

“At an early age we had to learn how to share and work together,” said Grant Victor Founder & Board Member Burt Matthews. “But what was instilled in us more than anything else was hard work and good communication. That’s the secret to our success.”

Burt and Tim Matthews each owned convenience stores in the mid 1990’s. In 1997 they purchased their first ATM, a Triton 9600. Before long, some of their fellow convenience store owners reached out to them about placing ATMs in their stores as well, so the brothers began selling the machines. Eventually, they sold their stores and formed eGlobal to focus on placing ATMs.

They quickly discovered that one of the biggest challenges for ATM operators was the lack of a one-stop shop for parts, repairs, ATMs, paper and technical support. So, in 2003, they decided to fill that gap – opening ATMequipment.com. There were several factors that made ATMequipment unique. Everything an ATM operator needed could be purchased in one place – online, the company sold to anyone, even without a processing contract and customers could pay via credit card. Within a few years, ATMequipment was the largest ATM distributor in the United States.

The brothers saw yet another opportunity with the introduction of wireless communications for the ATM. There were several solutions available, but they were expensive and generally unreliable. So, in 2010 the Matthews’ launched OptConnect and created their own solution specifically for ATMs.

Throughout this growth, the Matthews family has continued to believe in the importance of family values – both inside and outside the business. The company culture is designed to include six core principles:

• Commitment to each other’s future
• Honesty
• Safety
• Passion for customer service
• An eye for opportunity and innovation with precision
• Getting things done right

“Because we are siblings working together, we always remember that family comes first and strive to keep in mind that 90 employees and their families are counting on us to make the business a success,” said Spencer who serves as president of ATMequipment.com.

“We work hard to respect the fact that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses – working with each other and our employees to leverage individual skills and talents,” said Jeff, CEO of Grant Victor. The Matthews and Grant Victor team strive daily to properly balance the needs of their customers, partners, associates, shareholders, and community.

As an extension of these values, the company has created the foundation “Grant Victor Cares” originally developed to provide help to the people of Africa. Each year the business takes a contingent of employees across the Atlantic to help build housing, equipment and furniture for the betterment of lives in African villages. They have recently expanded their efforts to Mexico and even Puerto Rico to assist with hurricane relief efforts – utilizing much of what they have learned to help provide solar lighting, water filtration systems and more.

Today ATMequipment is one of the top distributors of ATMs for retail placements and with the addition of TetraLink in 2011, they have expanded that title to financial institution placements as well. Grant Victor has been awarded the “Best Place to Work in Utah” award for the past seven years running.

“I have often been told that the easiest way to ruin a family relationship is to work together,” said Tim. Grant Victor Founder & Board Member. “But I did it anyway and I have no regrets.”

Help ATMIA celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ATM and the 20th anniversary of the association by sharing your stories. Contact Sharon Lane, ATMIA Global Director of Member Services, at +001-605-271-7371.