Discover how Jeff Kok, Director of FP&A at Quick Quack Car Wash, is transforming revenue forecasting through the power of connected planning and intelligent data integration. In this video, he shares how their team leverages Anaplan and PlanIQ to build dynamic, data-driven forecasting models that adapt quickly to changing business conditions.
A key factor behind their improved accuracy is the integration of third-party data, particularly weather-related inputs such as temperature, wind speed, and precipitation. Since weather plays a crucial role in customer demand for car wash services, incorporating this external data has significantly enhanced the reliability of their forecasts.
This integration is enabled by Wormhole, a powerful data integration utility developed by Polestar Analytics, which seamlessly connects external data sources like AccuWeather into their planning ecosystem. With real-time data flowing directly into Anaplan, the team can make faster, more informed decisions and proactively adjust their strategies.
Watch this video to learn how combining AI-powered planning tools with external data sources can elevate forecasting accuracy, improve operational efficiency, and drive better business outcomes in a competitive market.
In the retail sector, revenue forecasting typically focuses on factors like daily footfall, store location, demographics, and population. But for a company in the car wash industry, it is crucial to integrate weather data to understand how customers behave and when they will come in for a car wash. That’s exactly what we did for our customer, Quick Quack Car Wash.
Meet Jeff, a lead in FP&A for QCW, explaining the problem statement:
“You can imagine we’re a car wash business, and it probably isn’t too much of a challenge to realize that weather affects how often people go to the car wash, and whether they go at all. If you have a lot of rain, really hot weather, or very windy conditions—and of course, extreme events like hurricanes or tornadoes—people don’t go to the car wash. At the same time, we’re always trying to forecast our car wash volume for a number of reasons.”
They set out to use weather data to enhance two key areas: financial forecasting, helping them anticipate monthly revenue, and operational planning, ensuring store managers could schedule and prepare resources effectively.
They had been using Anaplan since 2022 and were looking for a solution to this problem. That’s when Anaplan introduced them to Polestar Analytics. Together, they implemented PlanIQ from Anaplan—an advanced forecasting platform that integrates weather data from AccuWeather as a critical variable for predicting demand.
The first step was to integrate this third-party data into Anaplan. For this, Polestar Analytics used its proprietary tool called Wormhole.
“Including a tool called Wormhole, which is proprietary to Polestar Analytics, it allows you to seamlessly connect with outside data sources such as weather data, which we get from another company. It also enables us to connect with our own ERPs and other systems.”
Selecting the right weather data points to integrate became the next crucial step. We chose the data points that had the greatest impact on demand, both positive and negative.
To execute this, we incorporated localized weather data from weather stations near each of Quick Quack’s 200+ stores into Anaplan. The system was designed to continuously update every hour, providing a real-time 90-day forecast tailored to the specific conditions of each location.
We then trained the platform to automatically recommend the most suitable forecasting model for each store. This level of precision enabled store managers to optimize staffing and inventory, while the finance team gained the confidence to accurately predict monthly revenue, ensuring operational efficiency and financial reliability.
“Polestar Analytics came on board with a lot of knowledge about PlanIQ, as well as statistical methods, artificial intelligence, and machine learning—which is what PlanIQ takes advantage of. We didn’t have that expertise, so we were really grateful to partner with a team like Polestar Analytics that had deep knowledge of the product, along with data scientists on staff. Their guidance was invaluable. In fact, Polestar Analytics was the one that built out our PlanIQ setup.”
With this precise and dynamic forecasting system now in place, Quick Quack Car Wash has transformed its approach to planning and resource management. This partnership reflects our dedication to creating solutions that truly support our clients’ evolving needs.
As QCW continues to grow and face new challenges, we remain committed to exploring next steps together—integrating more data sources and refining strategies to ensure their continued success.