Watertown resident starts one-man taxi business, focusing service near airports

After the town’s only cab company shut down at the end of last year, Dale Hannasch of Watertown decided to start his own this summer.

For six years, the 70-year-old worked part time as a Watertown cabbie, driving people around in the evenings and working as a salesman by day.

“I had a lot of experience driving as a salesperson, and it's easy for me to relate with people in the cab, make them feel comfortable,” Hannasch said. “I didn't like the night hours so much but being a driver fit my personality.”

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Hannasch said there were 32 Lyft drivers when it first came out in Watertown, and it originally hurt the cab company he worked at.

“Now, it's hard to find a Lyft or Uber driver here, especially during the daytime,” Hannasch said.

Hannasch’s one-man cab company is called Lake Area Taxi. The semi-retired veteran businessman thought Watertown’s new airport terminal provided the perfect need for his services.

His business is located by the airport so businessmen and women flying in would have easy access. Soon, he was getting calls every day.

“I give a ride at least once a day, sometimes more. In general, I try to be ‘open’ from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.,” Hannasch said. “There might be eight hours of nothing, you know, and then I'll get a call…. So it just seems to work out better this way.”

He said he sometimes waits for calls if a plane is coming in later at night, though.

After a while, he started getting calls to go to Sioux Falls for business people that might have missed their flight, or different reasons such as truck drivers flying in and needing to get to a manufacturing plant near Watertown.

Hannasch also leaves his business cards at the rental shop at the airport and gets a lot of referrals from there.

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“Business has been really good so far, and repeat business is real strong. Once they have a good experience in the cab, they'll call me back,” Hannasch said.

And that’s what he strives for.

“I really feel I’m one of their first impressions of Watertown when they get off that plane. So I try to promote the city in the best way that I can and gain a little knowledge about what they're looking for. If they have certain interests, I can steer them in that direction, and hopefully they enjoy their stay,” he said.

Having grown up in Sisseton and then traveling around for work, Hannasch said he knows the area between Fargo and Sioux Falls really well. One of his goals is to market himself as a tour guide of sorts.

“I think I'd be a good person… to take somebody around and show them the area if they’re interested. You know, there’s so much in South Dakota for people to see that they might not know about,” he said.

From marking and entertainment to cab driving

Before driving a cab, Hannasch had quite the nightlife–at least, he promoted it.

After serving in Vietnam, Hannasch went to college for marketing on the GI bill in Moorhead, Minnesota. He started booking entertainment in the 1980s in Fargo.

In the early 90s, Hannasch moved out west to manage the Riverside Hotel in Laughlin, Nevada, where he met actress Debbie Reynolds and became her public relations director for her new casino in Las Vegas.

Eventually, Hannasch moved back to South Dakota and did a variety of things including managing the VFW Club and the theater in Watertown, as well as selling advertising products.

He brought old-time country and rock stars Johnny Rivers, BJ Thomas and Bobby Vee to town.

But the business of marketing wasn’t always a guarantee, which is why Hannasch decided to supplement it with his work as a cab driver in the first place.

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Hannasch still does a little advertising now in his free time and sometimes even makes sales in the cab. Hannasch also has a passion for playing guitar and will periodically perform at “oldies” shows in town.

“I'm just glad to still be able to work and have a nice part time job, be my own boss and still do what I love,” Hannasch said.

To find out more about Hannasch’s taxi service, visit his website.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Watertown man fills transportation gap with one-man taxi service