All Orange, All In: How Anthony Légaré Built a Kubota-Only Empire in Mont-Tremblant

Some people build businesses; others build identities. For Anthony Légaré, those two things have always been the same, and for the past decade, Kubota has been building right alongside him.

Drive past his yard on Route 117 in Mont-Tremblant and you'll understand immediately. Rows of orange equipment, clean and polished, lined up with the kind of precision that says something about the person behind it all. Kubota machines from the U17 all the way up to the KX080.

"People actually think I'm a Kubota dealer because of how much orange equipment we have," he says with a grin.

But he's something much more interesting than that – a 30-year-old entrepreneur running three businesses out of the Laurentians, and a Kubota customer whose loyalty runs so deep it started before he had anything to show for it. What followed is a story not just of equipment, but of a partnership that grew every time Anthony did.

The Brand That Believed in Him First

Anthony was 18 when he launched his first business – a lawn care company built on ambition and not much else. He knew what equipment he wanted, and he went to a dealer in Sainte-Agathe to get it. They turned him away. Too young, no credit extended.

So, he drove to Kubota in Mirabel. What happened next is something he still talks about more than a decade later.

"That dealer came to my mom's house and sold me a tractor right at the kitchen table," Anthony says. "Kubota trusted me when I was young, when I had nothing, really. They believed in me before I even believed in myself."

He started with a Kubota ZD1011 and didn't look back. Lawn care grew into snow removal. The fleet expanded one orange machine at a time – L6060 loaders, then an L4060, then M Series tractors. Each new piece of equipment a signal that the partnership was working, and that both sides were invested in what came next.

And then, around 2020, everything changed.

When a Setback Becomes the Business Plan

Anthony was building his house at the time and had rented an excavator to handle the groundwork. When he needed just one extra day to finish the job, the rental centre said no. He hung up, picked up the phone again and called Samuel, his Kubota sales rep in Mirabel.

"I said, 'Sam, I need a nice excavator,'" Anthony recalls. Sam came back with two options. Anthony chose a KX040, finished the job and then found himself with a machine sitting in his yard and nowhere to put it.

So, he rented it out. Then the calls kept coming. More contractors, more requests, more demand than one machine could handle. That's when a thought took shape: the rental centre that had turned him away was still out there, still running aging equipment, still saying no to people who needed one more day.

He called them not to complain, but to make an offer. He bought the entire company.

"We acquired the centre, sold off all their old equipment, and replaced everything with Kubota, from A to Z," he says. "Now we have the full range, U17 all the way up to KX080. Every Kubota line at our location."

When Consistency Becomes a Competitive Edge

Running three businesses means Anthony needs his equipment to perform, every time, with no exceptions. The decision to go all-orange wasn't just a preference, it was a strategy.

"When you're building something, it's important to always have the same machinery because you end up knowing your equipment," he says. "When you know your machine, you know exactly where to go. There's trust in that."

For his rental clients, contractors who can't afford downtime, the consistency shows up in ways that matter. The feedback Anthony hears most often: Kubota is easier to operate and outperforms the competition. "The Kubota excavator is really ahead of the competitor's excavator," he's been told, time and again.

"There are other brands that are less expensive," he acknowledges. "But I didn't want to mess with that. It's about the service behind the equipment, and honestly, it just works."

The numbers tell their own story. Two and a half years ago, Location Légaré had three excavators available for rent. Today, there are 14. The snow removal division has grown from 15 clients to 1,200 in four years. The yard on Route 77 that once held a single ZD1011 is now lined with machines in every direction.

"Consistency creates strength," Anthony says. "When your yard is full of orange, it proves you're strong and serious in your approach."

A Sales Rep Who Became Something More

Behind every machine in that yard is a conversation with Samuel. Anthony had a Kubota rep at the time, but when responses weren't coming, he walked into the Mirabel dealership himself. The first person he found was Samuel, fresh out of high school, doing an internship, who helped him on the spot. 

What started as a chance encounter has since become one of the most important business relationships Anthony has and the clearest example of what the Kubota partnership looks like in practice.

"Every three years, I call Sam and say: 'Give me a payout. Is it time to change? Perfect, bring me something new,'" Anthony says. "It's seamless. I give my intentions, and he comes back with a plan."

The relationship has grown well beyond transactions. Samuel calls Anthony about leads. Kubota reps visit the yard. When a client came shopping for a KX080, it was Anthony who delivered the demo machine and helped close the sale. The lines between customer, partner, and advocate have long since blurred.

"It's not just about buying machinery," he says. "There's trust behind it. There's service behind it. It's a partnership. Kubota wants my business to succeed as much as I do."

When Anthony looks at the vision board in his office, he sees nothing but orange. Not because it's the only colour he knows, but because it's the one that's always shown up when it mattered.

Location Légaré is a Mont-Tremblant, Québec-based operation offering equipment rental, lawn care, and snow removal services. Anthony Légaré has been a Kubota customer since 2014.