The family-owned Jucy Group is continuing to ride the tourism boom with a burgeoning accommodation and rental vehicle businesses aimed primarily at backpacker millennials but increasingly appealing to an older demographic.
Launched in 2001 by brothers Tim (chief Jucifier) and Dan Alpe (chief operating officer), who each hold a 35% stake, Jucy has built an initial fleet of 35 rental cars to more than 3800 cars, campervans, and motorhomes in New Zealand, Australia and the US.
Their Venice, California-based father Chris, who founded Maui Campervans that later became part of listed Tourism Holdings, holds the remaining 30% stake in Jucy and the chairmanship.
He is a private equity investor with directorships in a variety of businesses, including I-Cap Equity Partners, Auckland Bridge Adventures, Canterbury and Rodney Wayne Group.
The budget accommodation operation, Jucy Snooze, this year opened its third hotel, a 276-bed, five-storey property in Queenstown that, like its Christchurch Airport counterpart, offers regular rooms or pod-style bunks that can be rented by the hour or by night.
These were made by the group’s own Jucy By Design manufacturing division, which also produces its distinctive green and purple campervans in Auckland and Los Angeles.
The group also includes Jucy Cruize, which has two boats operating at Milford Sound and a half share in low-cost Lucky Rentals, founded by Chris Whiteside and Nathan Brand, which rents cars and campervans out of Auckland and Christchurch and campervans only out of Perth, Cairns, and Sydney.
It’s not all about making money – the group has a Jucy Give initiative where customers can donate $1.20 a day on top of their hire to offset their carbon footprint, which the company passes on to the Million Metres scheme providing resources to local communities to clean up their waterways through riparian planting. Staff can also donate a day to a cause of their choice.
Tim Alpe also has a 12.5% stake in and is a director of Llireva Holdings, a share club largely involving some old school mates including fellow Rich Lister Peter Huljich.