Before there was a business plan, a construction site, or a ribbon cutting for Tanner’s Car Wash, there were people who recognized something extraordinary in a young boy named Tanner.
One of those people was developer Sandy Hoff.
Years before Tanner Stokes designed a car wash, Hoff watched a boy jump off his family’s yacht at Pier B, expertly tie up the boat, help neighboring boaters at the dock, then cruise the harbor in a little dinghy flying a giant American flag.
Hoff turned to Tanner’s mother and quietly made a prediction:
“Someday, I’m going to invest in that kid.”
Carol Valentini saw an entrepreneur when Tanner was just seven years old:
“He convinced everybody walking by to buy lemonade.”
These entrepreneurs took notice of a boy who turned a lemonade stand into a business, a pre-teen who started and marketed Tanner’s Lawn Care. Like many teenagers, Tanner developed a passion for music, but certainly unlike most, he turned that passion into a DJ business that generated more than six figures in revenue.
Filled with curiosity, every business Tanner started was driven by one simple question:
“How can this be done better?”
At a birthday party when Tanner was about 10 years old, his mother, Kristi Stokes, noticed he wasn’t outside playing with the other kids.
“Where’s Tanner?”
It was a brief moment of panic every parent can relate to.
“He was inside talking with the adults.”
Soaking up wisdom from entrepreneurs like a sponge, this child prodigy was surrounded by some of Duluth’s most accomplished business leaders. His mother, CEO of Downtown Duluth (formerly the Greater Downtown Council), introduced him to many of them.
“He was surrounded by entrepreneurs,” Kristi recalled.
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About the Duluth’s Destiny series
Duluth’s Destiny is a three-part storytelling series exploring the entrepreneur, the mentors who shaped them, and the business they’re building for Duluth’s future.
This is the second story in the first installment of the series, highlighting future-minded entrepreneurs who are helping shape the next generation of our community.
The first story “He Can’t Buy a Beer, But He Built A Car Wash” introduced readers to Tanner Stokes, whose dream of building the Northland’s premier express car wash became reality after beginning as a 42-page business plan for a high school class assignment.
Barely 18 years old, Tanner designed every aspect of Tanner’s Express Car Wash, creating what many believe is one of the most innovative tunnel car washes, uniquely designed for the northern Minnesota climate.
This second story focuses on mentorship. Often untold, it’s the story of how entrepreneurs are encouraged, challenged, and shaped by people who recognize their potential long before the rest of the world does.
For Tanner Stokes, three mentors were instrumental in helping a 20-year-old design and build an $8 million car wash: his parents, Dave and Kristi Stokes; Carol Valentini, owner of Valentini’s Italian Restaurant; and Sandy Hoff, prolific real estate developer best known for transforming the abandoned Pier B shipping dock into today’s Pier B Resort and Silos Restaurant.
Here is Tanner Stokes’ story through their eyes.
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MENTORS: Dave and Kristi Stokes, Parents & Entrepreneurs
Parents often wonder when they’ll first glimpse what their child might become.
For Dave and Kristi Stokes, the clues came early.
While the other kids ran outside to play with their friends, Tanner stayed inside talking with people much older than his classmates.
“I’d be like, ‘Go play,'” Kristi said.
“‘Why?’ he’d say. ‘I’m having fun.'”
“He was very good at talking with adults right away and really enjoyed it.”
His dad noticed something, too:
“He’s always been… maybe a decade ahead of his counterparts.”
Instead of trying to change him, Dave and Kristi simply gave Tanner opportunities to explore the way he was wired.
When seven-year-old Tanner announced he wanted a lemonade stand, Kristi raised the bar. Rather than setting up in the driveway, Tanner asked restaurateur Carol Valentini to help him become a vendor at the Downtown Duluth Farmers Market, next to Valentini’s booth. But his mom required him to do what every other business owner had to do.
“You have to fill out the registration form and be accepted.”
Every year, the business grew. He added banners, brownies, coffee, and new products. Before long, Tanner’s Lemonade had become much more than a kid’s summer project.
“He just took it up a notch every year,” Kristi said.
Entrepreneurship wasn’t something Tanner discovered. It was part of his everyday life.
“He was surrounded by entrepreneurs,” Dave said. “He just always kind of watched that.”
Watching soon became doing.
Tanner launched Tanner’s Lawn Care, complete with hats, mugs, and merchandise before the grass had even started growing.
“The superintendent stopped him and said, ‘So are you Tanner? Everybody’s got your hats.'”
The one lesson his parents had to teach him?
“He was selling them for what he paid for them,” Kristi laughed. “You have to mark them up a little to make some money.”
His curiosity was constant.
His father remembers one phrase that seemed to define Tanner growing up.
“My dad used to say, ‘Eyes wide open.’ Tanner hates that phrase now,” Dave laughed, “but it’s so true.”
“Other kids would walk by something very obvious. Tanner would stop and fix it… or ask, ‘Is this supposed to be this way?'”
Long before he designed a car wash specifically for the Northland’s climate, Tanner was already looking at the world differently.
Carol Valentini, Owner, Valentini’s Italian Restaurant
When seven-year-old Tanner Stokes walked into Valentini’s Italian Restaurant with an unusual request, Carol Valentini had no idea she was about to meet one of the youngest entrepreneurs she’d ever mentor.
“I was wondering if I could have a lemonade stand with you at the Downtown Duluth Farmers Market,” Tanner asked.
“He was seven,” Carol recalled. “Cute kid, glasses, cute haircut. I thought, ‘Well… yeah, I guess so. Why not?'”
Together they made five gallons of fresh lemonade, hauled everything downtown, and set up Tanner’s Lemonade next to Valentini’s booth. What caught Carol’s attention wasn’t the lemonade. It was Tanner.
“This kid had a command of public speaking,” she said. “He convinced everybody who walked by to buy lemonade.”
The lemonade stand returned year after year, but Tanner never returned with the same business. First came brownies. Then coffee. Then banners and new products. Every season, he found another way to improve it. Carol smiled as she watched a seven-year-old think like a seasoned business owner.
One spring, while Tanner was in fourth grade, Carol received a phone call that still makes her laugh.
“Mrs. Valentini, I’d like to come down and talk about the Farmers Market with you.”
It was April.
The Downtown Duluth Farmers Market didn’t open until July.
“He came in with this little notebook,” Carol said. “He sat down and started listing everything we should sell.” When she asked what he did with the money he earned, Tanner didn’t hesitate.
“One-third goes in the bank. One-third goes to my mom and dad for a trip. One-third I spend.”
“I thought, ‘Wow!’ The fact that he even figured something like that out…”
A few minutes later, 10-year-old Tanner surprised her again.
“You know, I think maybe it would be better if I just worked for you instead of running my own business.”
Carol hired him.
That decision began a mentoring relationship that has lasted nearly 15 years. From the downtown deli to Valentini’s Italian Restaurant, Tanner learned every aspect of the business. Before long, he was taking orders, serving customers, handling money, solving problems, and earning Carol’s complete trust.
“I mean, he could take over the whole place at that age.”
As a side note, while designing, building, owning, and operating Tanner’s Car Wash, Tanner is still the general manager at Valentini’s. Italian cuisine is every bit as much a passion as clean cars. When asked, “What’s the future for Tanner Stokes?” he smiled and replied, “Car washes and pasta!”
MENTOR: Sanford Hoff – Real Estate Developer and Entrepreneur
For more than four decades, Sandy Hoff has been one of Duluth’s most influential real estate developers and entrepreneurs. His best-known project, Pier B Resort Hotel, transformed the abandoned Pier B shipping dock into one of Duluth’s most successful waterfront redevelopments of the past two decades. A lifetime of evaluating projects, solving problems, and taking calculated risks has taught him one thing: recognize potential early.
For Tanner Stokes, that recognition came long before there was a 42-page business plan written by a high school student.
Hoff first met Tanner through his parents, Dave and Kristi Stokes, who kept their yacht at Pier B. Every time the boat came into the harbor, Tanner was the first one overboard, tying off the lines, helping neighboring boaters, and making sure everything was done right.
“He was always the guy in charge,” Hoff recalled. “Immediately you could tell there was something special about this young man.”
Then there was Tanner’s little dinghy.
He’d motor around the harbor wearing a sailor’s hat with a giant American flag flying behind him. Everyone noticed the kid. Hoff saw something more.
“You could just tell this young man looked at life a little differently. He had a sense of adventure.”
One afternoon, Hoff turned to Kristi and quietly made a prediction.
“I’m going to invest in that young man someday.”
Years passed before that opportunity arrived.
One day, Tanner called and asked if he could stop by Hoff’s office to learn more about real estate. During the conversation, Hoff mentioned he had been exploring the idea of developing a car wash. Before he could explain the concept, Tanner’s eyes lit up.
“I’ve got a whole file on car washes.”
What followed surprised even a seasoned entrepreneur like Hoff. This wasn’t a teenager with an idea. It was notebooks filled with research, dozens of site visits, and a deep understanding of the latest technology in the industry.
“It was clear this wasn’t just a passing thought,” Hoff said. “He had really been thoughtful about the technology, what modern car washes looked like, and how one could be successful in the Duluth market.”
Then Tanner did something few 18-year-olds would even attempt. He identified many of the nation’s leading car wash experts, convinced them to come to Duluth, and assembled them in one conference room. Six executives flew to Duluth aboard a private Falcon jet to meet Tanner Stokes.
After the introductions, several looked around the room.
“Which one of you is Tanner?”
When they realized the articulate voice they’d been speaking with on the phone belonged to a teenager, they were stunned.
By the end of the meeting, no one was talking about Tanner’s age.
They were talking about his ideas.
“They were amazed,” Hoff said. “He designed every ounce of that car wash. Even the order of the equipment and chemicals was better than what they’d seen elsewhere.”
As the project moved from concept to construction, Tanner leaned on Hoff’s decades of experience navigating financing, development, and the inevitable obstacles every entrepreneur faces. Hoff, in turn, watched Tanner attack every challenge with remarkable determination.
“I’ve had partners on almost every project I’ve ever done,” Hoff said. “There’s no one who’s as tenacious. He’s an incredible problem solver. His confidence and knowledge are far beyond his age.”
Looking back, Hoff doesn’t believe he took a chance on Tanner.
He simply fulfilled a prediction he had made years earlier while watching a young boy jump from his family’s yacht onto the dock at Pier B.
“I’m going to invest in that young man someday.”
Entrepreneurs like Tanner Stokes don’t succeed alone.
They are recognized. Encouraged. Challenged. Trusted. And, when the time is right, invested in by people who see their potential long before the rest of us do.
Duluth’s future won’t be built by one generation. It will be built when one generation recognizes and invests in the next.
Congratulations to Tanner Stokes for designing and building Tanner’s Car Wash. And thank you to Dave and Kristi Stokes, Carol Valentini, and Sandy Hoff for helping shape not only a remarkable young entrepreneur, but a brighter future for Duluth.
Tanner is only 20 years old.
Imagine what the next 40 years might bring.
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Coming Next: Duluth’s Destiny – Tanner Stokes, Part 3
In the third and final installment of Duluth’s Destiny, we’ll take readers inside Tanner’s Car Wash to discover why it has become one of the nation’s most innovative tunnel car washes and how one young entrepreneur’s relentless pursuit of asking, “How can this be done better?” is reshaping the customer experience.
