West Orange Gas Station Owner’s Secret To Success? Honesty.

WEST ORANGE, NJ — For many business owners, success is measured in a simple metric: profit. But for West Orange High School alum Derrick Weng, there’s another important way to know that he’s making a difference… respect and trust.

Weng, a class of 2006 alumnus who owns and operates the Exxon gas station on Prospect Avenue, said he knows that “trust” is a valuable commodity that only comes with a life of integrity.

School administrators at his old alma mater vouched for the mechanic’s honesty, telling Patch about a client who recently brought her car to his shop after getting another estimate for a $1,700 computer module repair. However, Weng – who took the module apart himself – soon found the true culprit… a 25-cent circuit board.

Weng began his journey towards business ownership with humble roots, working at the Codey Arena ice rink and at a gas station in Parsippany. In a bit of irony – or perhaps destiny – he also spent time at the Prospect Avenue gas station he’d eventually purchase from Exxon years later.

After graduation, Weng briefly tried to continue his education at a local tech school and the Rutgers University School of Engineering, but soon realized it was not for him, West Orange school administrators said.

“I was mechanically inclined and wanted to work with my hands,” Weng recalled. “Doing math and taking courses was not what I wanted to be doing.”

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The budding entrepreneur returned to his former place of employment in Parsippany. Eventually, the owner put him in charge of a station and convenience store in Sterling for a year until he was laid off.

And that was when Weng was forced to spread his wings.

“I was so nervous the first time I was on my own,” Weng said. “But after six months or so I realized I was fine.”

The WOHS graduate got his big break in 2011 when a longtime family friend George Boyadzhyan – the previous owner of the Prospect Exxon – announced plans to retire. Taking the plunge, Weng and his parents took their savings and invested it in the shop. It was a gamble that paid off, largely due to the mechanic’s unparalleled work ethic, school administrators said.

Just a year later, Weng was able to pay his parents back and reach another financial landmark, purchasing the property the station was located on from Exxon.

Weng’s work ethic didn’t materialize from out of the blue. His mother owns her own successful business, World Transport Inc., where his brother, Sean, another WOHS graduate works.

“My mother told me that the key to her success was honesty and integrity… and that’s how I run my business,” Weng said.

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Photo: West Orange Schools