TRIARC Tank builds on 90 years of history while charting new growth

As a major builder of propane tanks and other pressure vessels for the North American market, TRIARC Tank is also building bridges that connect a rich history to its next chapter of growth.

Dallas Tank, Trinity Industries and Arcosa are among the notable brands that have helped shape the TRIARC Tank of today. The name “TRIARC” recognizes the role that both Trinity and Arcosa played in the company’s evolution.

“We celebrated our 90th anniversary in 2023,” says Jared Wallace, senior vice president and general manager of TRIARC Tank. “We embraced the founding in 1933 and continue to, especially since the original business was tanks. So we embrace that history with the name paying homage to the two previous brands.”

Wallace, who started his career as an engineering intern with Trinity in 2008, set out to meld the company’s past and present as it looked to the future. He filled a whiteboard with potential names before “TRIARC Tank” prevailed in 2022.

“Just for that exact reason – to help build that bridge, build that narrative right around who we are, but it is something distinctly different,” he says of the current iteration of the company. “It’s finally a tank-focused brand and company, and we’re able to reinvest in ourselves and move forward. So, while we embrace our history, we’re working hard to build a brand awareness around our new name.”

▶ Tank business lineage

Wallace stepped into the GM role for the United States and Canada in 2018 just as Trinity, a multibillion-dollar diversified industrial conglomerate, was spinning off its propane tank business into Arcosa. Trinity had decided to focus solely on its rail car business and separate from its founding product. Four years later, Arcosa sought to grow its aggregates-related business, also carving out the tank business into what would become TRIARC Tank.

The formation of TRIARC Tank, a privately held tank-focused company “with investors who want to see us succeed,” Wallace says, gave the tank business a fresh start.

Working under TRIARC Corp., TRIARC Tank serves the U.S. and Canadian markets, while its TATSA brand serves the Mexican, Latin American and other international markets.

“Now that you’re a standalone tank business, you’re getting all the attention. There’s that progression of focusing in on the company,” Wallace says of TRIARC. “I’ve seen positive results because now we’re able to do what we need to do from a CapEx perspective. Our ability to focus and drive the results that we need is huge for us.”

While TRIARC Tank’s portfolio encompasses commodities across the energy and agricultural industries, LPGs serve as the core business, Wallace says, as the company maintains a presence throughout the United States and Mexico.

With a corporate headquarters in Dallas, distribution centers in San Antonio and California, and boom hubs spread across the United States, TRIARC Tank can easily reach its domestic customers. Product is trucked from the distribution centers to the boom hubs, where it leaves on specialized trucks for customer locations. South of the border, TRIARC has corporate offices in Mexico City and production facilities in Monclova and Huehuetoca, where it manufactures all of its products, including tank heads, from North American steel sources.

“We’ve been making tanks in that location since the 1970s,” Wallace says.

TRIARC Tank’s many tank sizes make it unique in the propane industry. It builds vertical tanks and aboveground and underground horizontal tanks from 57 gallons to 120,000 gallons, including bobtail and transport barrels and full transport trailers. The company even builds and installs spherical storage vessels – which can hold 1.5 million water gallons – for the Mexican market.

“From a cylinder to a sphere, we’re making it – and then a lot of other commodities along the way,” says Wallace, noting how The Home Depot is TATSA’s top customer in Mexico for small tanks and grill cylinders.

TRIARC Tank is also growing on the mobile equipment side. Earlier this year, it unveiled its MC331 semi-trailer solution for the U.S. market, allowing propane retailers to transport up to 11,600 nominal water gallons. It also offers an 18,000-water-gallon portable bulk storage unit called a Porta Pac.

Other product enhancements from TRIARC include: the overfill protection device as standard on all underground tanks; the SureSense digital gauge as optional on all tanks; and quenched and tempered steel bobtail barrels.

Wallace touts advancements and additional equipment at the Monclova and Huehuetoca facilities, increasing their ability to respond quickly to changes in demand. Investments include updated decoilers, laser tables and paint lines.

“The biggest change that I’ve seen from 2008 to now is really the embracing of more modern technology,” he adds.

▶ Leadership and the future

Just as TRIARC Tank has established its own identity in the propane industry, its leaders have worked to do the same. That means having a presence on various boards and committees.

Wallace serves on the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) board of directors and chairs its manufacturers section. TRIARC is also involved with the NPGA’s Technology, Standards & Safety Committee, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the National Fire Protection Association, among others.

“These are the ones actually writing the rules for our product, and we’re a voting member of nearly all of them,” he says. “This is where we’re able to help push forward the industry and make sure that there are rational thoughts around how to make tanks, where to install them and how to make sure [we are all] being safe.”

Wallace says discussions around equipment safety are important to him – whether defending TRIARC’s own safety culture or speaking about industrywide safety. He hopes industry members view tanks and other equipment as more than a cost of doing business; those investments help ensure a safe industry.

“If we want propane to be around for another 90 years, it has to be incredibly safe,” he says.

For TRIARC Tank to move forward, Wallace says, it must leverage its history, knowledge of the industry and innovations. He expects the core LPG business to grow at a modest rate and for its other commodities to become a larger percent share of its revenue and profit. TRIARC is also opening a tank refurbishing shop this year in San Antonio, boosting its product and service offerings, and additional company growth could come by way of acquisition, he adds.

“We’ll continue to push forward in the industry, bring safety and other innovations to make it easier for marketers to get the value proposition,” Wallace says. “For people who are trying to grow and for people who are wanting a long-standing asset, we’re there to provide them with that.”

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