Content about Laundry

SALISBURY, Md. — By successfully serving small commercial accounts from one of his two coin-operated laundries, Mitch Wyatt nurtured a reputation that today has him handling the laundry needs of major hospitality, healthcare and food and beverage clients. Recently, to meet increasing production needs, Wyatt moved his commercial business into a newly constructed industrial laundry facility here.

The Quality Linen Services building turns out 1,700 laundry pounds per hour, using minimal labor, water and energy — giving Wyatt the opportunity to draw new clients and boost profits.

DEVELOPING COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS FROM COIN LAUNDRY

“I serviced five hotels, two assisted-living facilities, one university, and two restaurants out of one washer at my coin laundry,” says Wyatt. “We used a 55-pound-capacity Continental E-Series Washer that would maintain a temperature of 140 degrees and stay at that temp. I was getting stuff so clean, my clients were amazed.”

Once cleaned, tablecloths, linens and napkins were pressed and finished using a Continental Flatwork Ironer. Wyatt’s staff then folded, stacked and delivered the items to clients.

PRODUCTION NEEDS SURGE

All went smoothly until Wyatt secured a five-year contract with a local hospital. “I knew I needed significant industrial equipment to fulfill growing production requirements,” he says.

So, he sought help from Operations Manager Doug Colonna, who holds 15 years of industrial laundry experience; Deke Sheller of Fowler Equipment, a laundry equipment distributor in Baltimore; and Joel Jorgensen, vice president of laundry equipment manufacturer Continental Girbau.

The 10,000-square-foot industrial facility required careful planning, a partnership of experts, and a mix of highly efficient industrial laundry equipment engineered for bolstered productivity, according to Wyatt.

DEVELOPING AN INDUSTRIAL LAUNDRY FROM SCRATCH

“We worked with the engineer constructing Quality Linen’s building and all elements of laundry design, construction and utilities,” says Jorgensen of the project. “We went on to define specific laundry production needs, the equipment mix, and solidified financing over an eight-month period.”

In the end, the new building featured a Girbau Industrial Continuous Batch Washing system capable of processing 13,600 pounds in an eight-hour shift.

The facility’s powerhouse is its seven-module Girbau Industrial TBS-50 Eco-Tunnel with four-stage water reclamation, water filtration and drain-water heat recovery. Complementing equipment includes a Girbau Industrial ICP3 Incline Loading Conveyor, SPR-50 Press, Dual-cake Delivery Shuttle, three ST-100 Dryers, a PSN 80 single-roll gas thermal ironer, FT-LITE Folder, AP LITE Stacker and an FT-MAXI triple-sort dry goods folder.

Two Continental Girbau CG-120 Dryers, and two Continental E-Series washer-extractors (55 pounds and 90 pounds, respectively) round out the lineup.

CONTINUOUS BATCH WASHING

The system not only boosts laundry productivity to 95,200 pounds per week using a single shift, according to Wyatt, it takes just one employee to operate and manage, is stingy on water, and produces high-quality results.

Key to Wyatt’s equipment decision was his need to properly manage and process laundry for a variety of accounts. “Unlike most of our competitors, we provide rental service, as well as service for clients with customer-owned goods,” he says. “We required equipment programmable by customer, so items would be properly cleaned according to each client’s unique needs.”

Check back Thursday for the conclusion!

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Continental Girbau Inc. recently partnered with RJ Kool Co., a full-service laundry distributor headquartered in Kansas City, Mo. As a result, RJ Kool now provides Continental products to vended laundries throughout Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois.

“We were looking for a top-level manufacturer that shared our same values and commitment to quality,” says RJ Kool’s Tiffanni Sanstra, marketing coordinator. “Continental products have filled some voids for us in the vended market. We are blown away with the quality of these products.”

Established in 1961, RJ Kool provides a full gamut of products and services tailored to the vended, on-premise, dry cleaning and industrial laundry markets. The customer-focused company offers large parts and service departments, as well as equipment rental and financing solutions.

Partnering with RJ Kool further strengthens Continental’s professional distributor network, according to Joel Jorgensen, Continental vice president.

“Without a doubt, RJ Kool is a top-tier distributorship sharing the same customer-focused values as Continental. They deliver much more than just product sales, they provide customers with real laundry solutions and support before and after the sale.”

WILLISTON, N.D. — A four-hour drive northwest from Bismarck, N.D., will lead motorists to the city of Williston, where a modern-day gold rush has incited oil miners to flock to the area to mine for natural gas trapped beneath the state’s water table in the Williston Basin.

While the oil business has brought a financial boom to the Williston area, a new necessity has emerged, roused by the influx of workers and their families: “greaser” laundry facilities.

In the past year, The Minnesota Chemical Co.’s Terry Anderson has had a hand in answering the area’s laundry needs by designing and building two laundries: one in neighboring Watford City (population 1,759) and the other in Tioga (population 1,230), each about an hour’s drive from Williston.

DESIGNATED MACHINES

For greaser laundries, it’s important that certain machines are designated specifically for greaser use, according to Anderson. “You can’t have somebody do their greaser laundry, and then somebody comes [after them] and puts their white sheets, towels and regular clothes in, because greaser laundry machines can never get all of [the grease cleaned].”

At his Suds Laundry in Watford City, N.D., Robert Trupe has designated two machines for his attendants to process commercial accounts, and six for self-service, specifically for greaser laundry.

“In the wash/dry/fold area, we just have two of them that we put big, yellow labels marked ‘Greasers’ so the attendants know which machines to use for greasers,” says Trupe. “And then we put the same type of signs out on the self-service side for the customers.”

Considering the blend of mud, oil and grease that covers workers’ uniforms and garments, what cleaning procedures are needed? Many of the garments face a variety of washes, Anderson explains, that are adjusted at different settings than traditional laundry loads.

“What you need to have [is] a pre-wash and a wash where you can inject detergents,” says Anderson. “Normal clothes can have a wash-dry-spin in about 24 to 30 minutes. These, you might set the water levels a little higher, and then extend that wash cycle longer.”

“The greaser machines are programmed for longer wash cycles [or] additional rinses, so they all have two washes and two rinses,” says Trupe of his store, adding that those machines use water at 140 F.

Despite all this, there are times when garments have to be re-washed because of the condition they are in, he adds. “Once in a while, if you get a really heavy load, some of the oil is pretty tough to get out because it’s thoroughly saturated with this heavy grease that they use in the oil fields.”

Employees at Charles Barton’s Clean Jean’s Express Laundry in Tioga, N.D., have had to re-wash garments as well, despite the pre-soak and different washes that they use to process garments. “We do our best to run several types of cycles through them, depending upon what the grease is. Sometimes we have to extend the wash cycle, sometimes we have to soften the water. Sometimes we have to use more soap than what you ordinarily would use, sometimes we use a different mixture than what we’d ordinarily use.”

Barton’s chemistry background as a consultant for pharmaceutical companies comes in handy at times, but he also learns from his employees which combinations of industrial detergents work best. “We’re refining the process,” he says.

Trupe has also used trial and error in finding which detergents to use at his store. “Finding the right mix of chemicals [is] a little bit of trial and error until you get all of your machines [and] cycles set up. It’s taken us a few months to get it down [but] we have help from Minnesota Chemical and some other vendors that were able to help us get the right mix of chemicals.”

As a safety precaution, Trupe requires his employees to wear rubber gloves and face shields while handling the strong detergents.

EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE

Equipment in greaser laundries endures a heavy toll, what with the concoction of grease and industrial-strength detergents on top of hot temperature settings and numerous cycles run daily.

“If you don’t clean them, it’s not good on the equipment [and] certainly it won’t last as long,” says Barton. “We take quite a bit of pride in regards to our equipment, so we clean it on a routine basis.”

In addition to wiping and cleaning machines multiple times throughout the day, Barton also practices running a no-load cycle to ensure that washers are thoroughly cleaned. “Oftentimes we’ll have to run a special concoction […] through the washers to make sure that they’re all clean. And we also clean the [dryer] filters on an everyday basis.”

For its part, Minnesota Chemical sends out technicians to service machines on a regular basis, Anderson says. And to ensure that store owners know how to properly take care of their machines, the company hosts educational sessions on maintenance standards.

“We have these service schools [where] we talk about the things [owners] need to do [for] preventative maintenance to make sure [the machines] are cleaned out and make sure everything is working,” says Anderson.

Besides the maintenance requirements, greaser laundries face another challenge: the lingering odor of grease in dryers.

Trupe says that using certain chemicals helps reduce the smell. “There are a couple of different chemicals that we use depending on the application. There are deodorizers, but then there are other chemicals that we can add that [are] additional cleaning agents that have a nicer smell.”

INVESTMENT AND EXPANSION

Regardless of the special needs that their facilities present each day, Trupe and Barton both say it was worth moving into the area.

“We’ve been hearing a lot of good things,” says Barton. “We certainly wouldn’t be at the level that we are in, particularly with our wash-and-fold business, if we didn’t provide high-quality service.”

In addition to growing Clean Jean’s wash/dry/fold service, Barton is in the process of opening an Internet cafe and gourmet coffee shop at the front end of his facility.

Trupe says opening Suds Laundry has “definitely been a good investment.” Though he’s considered looking at neighboring towns for other business opportunities, he says he would first like to establish his Laundromat before pursuing other ventures.

“We don’t want to expand until we get our systems and processes nailed down in this facility,” he says. “Once we make sure that this thing can run completely smooth, then we can take the systems and processes [and] plug them into the next business.”

WILLISTON, N.D. — A four-hour drive northwest from Bismarck, N.D., will lead motorists to the city of Williston, where a modern-day gold rush has incited oil miners to flock to the area to mine for natural gas trapped beneath the state’s water table in the Williston Basin.

Oil is mined through a process known as hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—which involves drilling a mixture of water, sand and additives into a reservoir, ultimately creating a passageway for miners to procure the previously trapped natural gas, says energy services company Halliburton.

Oil production and takeaway capacity in the Williston area has steadily increased over the years, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration reporting last April that 600,000 barrels of crude oil were being produced per day.

While the oil business has brought a financial boom to the Williston area, a new necessity has emerged, roused by the influx of workers and their families: “greaser” laundry facilities.

“You have people all over living in man camps [or] living in RV parks that don’t have laundry [facilities],” says Terry Anderson, a coin laundry equipment salesman for The Minnesota Chemical Co., a distributor headquartered in St. Paul, Minn.

In the past year, Anderson has had a hand in answering the area’s laundry needs by designing and building two laundries: one in neighboring Watford City (population 1,759) and the other in Tioga (population 1,230), each about an hour’s drive from Williston.

CLEAN JEAN’S EXPRESS LAUNDRY

Owner Charles Barton consulted with Anderson to build his facility, Clean Jean’s Express Laundry, in Tioga. His family has been in the area since the late 1930s. In addition to owning Clean Jean’s, he has also set up an RV park to cater to workers from the oil fields.

“I have 31 spaces since putting that in three years ago,” says Barton, who’s seen about a half-dozen more parks built within a three-mile radius and believes more are on the way.

Clean Jean’s, which opened in August 2012, is an attended coin laundry located three blocks up Tioga’s Main Street, and sits at the far end of Barton’s RV park. A portion of the facility, encompassing 1,760 square feet, was originally a Quonset hut built in 1956 for a cement plant. Barton’s family took ownership of the building in 1976, and in the construction process ended up adding another 480 square feet at the front of the facility.

His store offers Speed Queen industrial equipment, including 15 front-load washers with capacities of 20, 30, 40 and 60 pounds, as well as 28 dryers with capacities of 30, 45 and 55 pounds.

Like many coin laundry stores, Barton’s has taken advantage of the added service of wash/dry/fold.

“We started off primarily with self-serve and then there [was] a need for [wash/dry/fold],” says Barton, who began offering wash/dry/fold service in October. “We started off with 10 customers the first month, and we’re well past 200 customers now.”

But what sets his facility apart from others, he believes, is the fact that he accepts greaser laundry—garments that oil workers wear in the oil fields—which he explains is “just about impossible to get cleaned.”

“You can’t just throw it in the washer and go through the same motions that one does for non-greaser clothes,” he says.

Barton’s facility sees mostly uniforms and coveralls that have “heavy oil on them,” he adds.

SUDS LAUNDRY

Robert Trupe processes similar greaser garments at his store in Watford City.

“You’ll get anything from gloves to their jeans or shirts [or] coveralls,” Trupe says. “Other companies that do have uniforms [will] bring in their uniforms. It’s really any of the exterior clothes that these guys are getting muddy.”

Trupe also consulted with Anderson in building Suds Laundry, a 3,600-square-foot Laundromat he opened last September on Watford City’s Main Street. His store, which employs six attendants and a full-time manager, also offers added services such as shower stalls, mailboxes and a Wi-Fi lounge area, in addition to wash/dry/fold.

“We took the approach that we needed to be more than a Laundromat,” says Trupe. “We see it as kind of taking the pain away from laundry, because it’s a little more [of a] relaxing atmosphere.”

Like Barton, Trupe invested in Speed Queen equipment—washer-extractors ranging in capacity from 20 to 80 pounds, and dryers up to 75 pounds in capacity.

Check back Thursday to learn how these two stores tailor operations to serve these special needs!

RALEIGH, N.C. — The yellows, blues, greens and shades of red at Calvary Laundromat in Raleigh are decorator-designed to create an inviting atmosphere, says owner David Makepeace.

“It’s very vibrant,” says Makepeace, and makes customers feel more energetic. “It’s not depressing beige or white walls.”

But the intangible atmosphere, the one that customers find welcoming, is created by his staff, he says. Or, as one teen folding clothes with her mother put it recently, her family comes because “We know people here.”

“The people here” are full-time attendant Lizeth Brito and three members of a family that share work hours: mother Valentina Hernandez and daughters Oneyda Blanchard and Mirian Martinez. All are bilingual and can converse with Hispanic customers who make up a large part of the customer base.

“Valentina and I have worked together forever,” says Makepeace, 47. They are both veterans of the large, multi-site Medlin-Davis Cleaners operation in Raleigh, and he turned to her when he started Calvary four years ago.

Did she know of anyone who could help him? he recalls asking. “She said, ‘Yes, me.’”

Makepeace says he’s “extremely” happy with sales at the 3,000-square-foot laundry, located in a small shopping center in the midst of large apartment complexes. “The success of it depends on the people you hire,” he says. “I have wonderful attendants.”

He names several other contributing factors, including the technological sophistication of its 30 front loaders and 28 dryers. (They include one 80-pound washer, charging $7.75; three 60-pound, $6; six 40-pound, $4; five 30-pound, $3.75, and 15 20-pound, $2.50. Every dryer—two 75-pound models, 24 45-pound, and two 35-pound—runs six minutes for 25 cents.)

They all accept Presidential dollar coins, which Makepeace says are so popular among customers as a novelty that they keep them instead of using them. “I have to replace them all the time.”

The advantage of dollar coins, he says, is the flexibility they provide customers using the coin changer. Without it, anybody putting a large bill in the changer “would have to use two hands” to hold the resulting quarters, he says. “It’s much more manageable.”

Charlotte’s T & L Equipment Sales, which provided the equipment, programmed all the washers so that the seventh wash is free. That’s been a big hit and a factor in keeping customers coming back, Makepeace says. “The first thing they do is go look at all the machines and see if any of them are free.”

Another plus is the bright color scheme, he says. A decorator friend of Lee Makepeace, David’s wife and business partner, chose the overall design. “We started with the floor (multi-colored tile) and worked our way up the (yellow) walls,” David Makepeace says.

Lee and her dad, Riley Pleasant of Raleigh, painted squares within squares in contrasting colors to break up the long expanse. Even a neighbor contributed to the décor, bringing forth a large piece of art. Purchased at a yard sale for $15, it echoes the colors in the laundry and hangs over the entrance desk.

In the front of the store, a kids’ corner offers lots of windows, a wall-mounted TV showing cartoons, and walls that, for a few feet up, are actually blackboards. Children are encouraged to dig into a bucket of chalk and draw on them.

Makepeace noticed similar blackboard walls for children in a jewelry store and thought it was a clever idea.

“Parents are focused on sorting the clothes and getting them in the washers. If we can distract the kids for at least 15 minutes, the parents will appreciate that,” he thought.

For the adults, there are two large-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi.

Believing firmly that hands-on ownership makes for success, he visits the store three times a week, as well as other times when he’s called upon to repair equipment.

When he and his wife were planning the store, he personally canvassed the apartment communities near the site, which is on a connector road between two major traffic arteries. He discovered that most residents are Hispanic families.

He returned to personally put flyers for the new laundry under windshields at the apartments. He also mailed 1,500.

Check back Thursday for the conclusion!

CHICAGO — How do you think your self-service laundry business compared to others in the industry last year? Did you have a good year or a bad year in 2012? How does your pricing compare to others?

American Coin-Op’s annual State of the Industry survey offers you the opportunity to compare your operation to others in the industry. It focuses on 2012/2013 business conditions, pricing, equipment, common problems, turns per day, and utilities cost.

In instances where respondents were asked about 2012 business results, they were given the opportunity to state their results were up, down or unchanged. This is a departure from surveys compiled in 2011 and earlier, when they were asked only if their business results were up or down. Keep this in mind as you are making comparisons to previous years’ polls.

The survey is an unscientific electronic poll of American Coin-Op readers who operate stores. Some percentages may not equal 100% due to rounding.

WASHER PRICES

American Coin-Op asked respondents about their current washer prices, and if they increased prices this year or planned on doing so by the end of the year.

More than 85% of respondents offer top loaders. The price range for a top-load wash is $1 to $4. The most expensive top-load wash was 50 cents more that last year’s top price.

Here are the most popular top-load prices, followed by the percentage of respondents using them:

1. $2 (30.9%)
2. $1.75 (16.5%)
3. $2.25 and $2.50 (14.4% - tie)

There really isn’t much change in top-loader prices from a year ago. The $2 price remains the most popular, followed by $1.75. The only difference reported in this equipment type is in third place, where $1.50 and $2.25 were tied in last year’s survey.

An extremely small share of operators continue to charge $3 or more for a top-load wash. This is the third straight year that there have been multiple prices topping $3 reported in the survey.

The most popular prices for some of the small front loaders are:

• 18 pounds: $2
• 20 pounds: $2.50
• 25 pounds: $3

The lowest price reported in the above grouping is $1.25 (18-pound washer) and the highest is $6 (25-pound washer). Overall, the most popular small-front-loader prices reported in this year’s survey are comparable to last year’s.

The price range for a 30-pound wash is $2 to $6.50. Here are the most popular 30-pound prices, along with the percentages of respondents using them:

1. $3.50 (25%)
2. $3 (19.1%)
3. $3.75 (11.8%)

There was a tie between $3.50 and $3.75 for the most popular price for a 35-pound wash. Next in order are $4.50 and $3. The price range for a 35-pound wash is $2 to $5.50.

The most popular price for a 40-pound wash is $4, but $4.50 and $4.25 aren’t far behind. The most popular 50-pound wash price is $5, followed by $5.50 and $6. There was a three-way tie for the most popular price for a 55-pound wash: $5, $5.50 and $7.

The most popular price for a 60-pound wash is $6, unchanged from last year’s survey. The price range for an 80-pound wash is $5.75 to $13.50, with $8 and $8.25 tying as the most popular price.

Other prices reported were $9.75 and $15.25 for a 90-washer, $9.50 for a 100-pound washer and $14.99 for 125 pounds.

The operators to our survey vary year to year, so prices tend to vary. But the survey consistently has shown that operators offer a wide variety of front loaders (prices for 15 different capacities were logged in this year’s survey) with a broad price range.

Roughly 44% of respondents have raised or plan to raise washer prices this year, and 26.9% are undecided. The remaining 29.4% have not raised prices nor intend to do so.

DRYER PRICES

Raising dryer prices is something that operators have tended to shy away from, choosing instead to focus on washer price hikes. But it’s worth noting that some operators indicated that they have shortened cycle times in the past year. While customers in those stores aren’t paying a higher price, they are getting less drying per cycle.

Here are the most popular dryer prices, followed by the percentage of respondents using them:

1. 25 cents/5 minutes (19.1%)
2. 25 cents/7 minutes (18.3%)
3. 25 cents/6 minutes (13.9%)
4. 25 cents/8 minutes and 25 cents/10 minutes (10.4% - tie)

The No. 3 price from last year’s survey has jumped to No. 1 in this year’s. Seven minutes of drying time returned to the No. 2 slot after being bumped to No. 4 last year, while eight minutes of drying time fell from No. 2 last year to No. 4 this year, where it shared the spot with 10 minutes of drying time.

The 25-for-10 price, which was once an industry staple, picked up a couple of percentage points on last year’s result but still remains well down the list.

Once again, there was a wide variety of dryer prices reported. The most expensive (and longest) cycle was $1.75 for 35 minutes.

Roughly 18% of respondents have raised or plan to raise dryer prices this year, and 20.2% are undecided. The remaining 62.2% have not raised prices nor intend to do so.

PAYMENT TECHNOLOGY

More than 83% of respondents operate coin-only stores, 7.6% operate card-only stores, and 9.2% have operations that offer both payment types.

ATTENDED OR UNATTENDED?

Nearly 48% of respondents say their stores are fully attended. Roughly 29% say their stores are partially attended, and the remaining 23.1% say their stores are unattended.

DROP-OFF SERVICE PRICING

Drop-off-service pricing ranges from 70 cents to $3 per pound. Here are the most popular drop-off-service prices (per pound), followed by the percentage of respondents using them:

1. $1 (36%)
2. $1.25 (16%)
3. $1.10 (9.3%)

The drop-off-service prices remain similar to 2012 prices, and there is a wide variety of prices charged for the service. There were 20 different prices charged per pound in the responses to our survey.

Two-thirds of the respondents offer drop-off service, which is identical to last year’s survey.

Check back on Wednesday for the conclusion: Equipment Purchasing Trends, Turns Per Day, Common Management Problems, and more

KENNER, La. — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s tax reform proposal includes a broadening of the state’s sales tax base, including eliminating the exemption for self-service laundry, and the Coin Laundry Association (CLA) will be hosting a free public meeting here later this week to bring Louisiana laundry owners up to speed on this critical issue.

Like most states, Louisiana currently exempts coin laundries from collecting sales tax, CLA says. Gov. Jindal’s budget proposal centers around broadening the sales tax base to include scores of industries and services that are presently exempt (while raising the base rate from 4.0% to 5.88%).

The end result could mean that all Louisiana laundry owners would remit more than 5.88% of gross sales to the state each year going forward without being able to directly collect this tax from customers on a daily basis, CLA says. The association estimates it could cost the average laundry owner at least $5,000 to $10,000 per store annually.

The proposal is expected to be included in bills to be considered by the Louisiana legislature when its session begins next Monday.

The CLA will host the luncheon meeting beginning at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Hilton New Orleans Airport. There is no cost to attend the event, but the CLA is requesting attendees to RSVP by calling 800-570-5629 or to e-mail.

ATLANTA — If all of the exhibits and educational sessions aren’t enough to draw you to New Orleans for the Clean Show this summer, how about an Internet sensation?

The show’s management announced Friday that 11-year old Jonathan Carollo, whose drumming performance on a washing machine went viral, will be performing at the June 20-22 event in New Orleans.

First posted to YouTube last September, Carollo’s Whirled Beat video has amassed nearly 1.8 million views and has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, USA Today and The Huffington Post.

Carollo’s father, Dan, posted the video for family and friends on Facebook but then uploaded it to YouTube after several people encouraged him to share his son’s talent with the world.

The boy routinely drums on objects around his family’s Washington state home and decided that the top loader, with its large steel drum, was the perfect-sounding instrument when he grew bored playing his drum kit.

“We are extremely delighted to have such a talented person play at the show … especially when it’s on an appliance that most of our exhibitors and attendees work with on a daily basis,” says John Riddle, president of Riddle & Associates, the Clean Show’s management company. “It certainly will give them a new way to look at their washing machines.”  

CHICAGO — They say you have to take the bad with the good. And so it is that American Coin-Op asked readers to list the best and the worst things about their store in this month’s Wire survey.

POPULAR WASHERS

Thirty-three percent of respondents say a 40- to 50-pound front loader is their store’s most popular washer, followed by a 27- to 35-pound front loader (30%) and an 18- to 25-pound front loader (23.3%). Equal shares (6.7%) chose a 55- to 60-pound front loader and a 70-pound-plus front loader as most popular. No one who took the unscientific survey said a top loader was their store’s most popular washer.

SLOWEST DAY, BEST SEASON

Wednesday is the slowest business day (38.7%), edging out Tuesday (29%) and Thursday (25.8%). Summer is the best revenue-generating season (35.5%), followed by winter (32.3%), spring (22.6%), and fall (9.7%).

QUENCH THAT THIRST

Soft drinks, by far, are the best-selling food/drink item at laundries. Roughly 52% of respondents say soft drinks are the No. 1 seller, followed by snack chips (19.4%) and water (6.5%). Approximately 13% of respondents say they don’t offer vended items in their laundry.

BUT IT’S GOTTA BE DONE

Doing repair/maintenance work (32.3%) is the least favorite task for owners, followed by “solving customer problems” (25.8%), collecting (12.9%) and cleaning (12.9%). Only 9.7% selected “supervising employees” as being least favorite.

A CUSTOMER DID WHAT?

Respondents were asked to name the worst thing a customer had done to or at their laundry. Answers were varied, and some were downright disturbing. Incidents of theft (money, a toilet seat) and vandalism (poured beverages on floor, ripped off washer door) were most common. Following are examples of the rest:

• “(Customer) brought in laundry with dozens of roaches in it. When I walked in, the bugs were crawling everywhere in plain sight: all over the washers, in and out of her laundry basket, etc. I told her not to ever bring her laundry back here. My attendant and I spent hours killing roaches and, of course, I also had an emergency exterminator visit.”
• “One blew ours up a few years before we bought it. He was washing greasers (oil field clothes) and he poured some gasoline into the washer with the clothes. It was a gentle explosion, though. It didn’t seriously injure any of the customers.”
• “Take clothes off and wash them.”
• “Butchered a manta ray on one of our tables, then put (it) into one of our dryers, turned it on high, then left.”
• “Had a bowel movement in the middle of the store because the restroom was busy. Then used others’ clothes to clean himself.”
• “Washed old, rubber-backed carpets, clogging the washers drain and flooding the store.”

While the Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.

Subscribers to Wire e-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take the industry survey anonymously online each month. All self-service laundry owners and operators are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — WASH Multifamily Laundry Systems, which provides laundry facilities management services, has acquired Coinamatic Canada, that country’s largest provider of multifamily laundry services. This transaction makes WASH the second largest route laundry company and the only multinational laundry company in North America, it reports.

“Coinamatic brings experience in the Canadian market, key technology and commercial distribution channels complementary to our current business lines,” says Adam Coffey, WASH president/CEO. “This acquisition is an important step in executing our overall growth strategy to expand our machine base, revenue streams and geographic focus.”

Coinamatic will become a wholly owned subsidiary of WASH Laundry but maintain the Coinamatic brand name in the Canadian market.

With Coinamatic’s approximately 100,000 installed washers and dryers throughout Canada, WASH’s installed base climbs to more than 400,000 machines with an estimated combined revenue of $425 million. Coinamatic Canada also runs a commercial laundry division and a division that manages parking facilities.

“We, at Coinmatic, are very excited about the new opportunities that becoming a part of WASH Laundry provides,” says Sean Smith, president/CEO of Coinamatic. “We look forward to leveraging our two companies’ synergies in dedication to customer service and operational efficiency.”

SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. — Van Merrill recently joined Continental Girbau West (CG West) as its vice president of vended laundry development and sales, the company reports.

Merrill, who hails from North Tustin, Calif., has 27 years of experience in vended laundry ownership, development, management, marketing and sales, and has particular expertise in lease negotiations, CG West says.

“Van is a talented developer of profitable vended laundries,” says Mike Floyd, president of Continental Girbau Inc. (of which CG West is a subsidiary). “We’ll look to him to provide expertise, management and guidance. He excels at finding vended laundry locations and developing those laundries to their fullest profit potential.”

Merrill most recently provided consulting services to coin laundry investors. Prior to that, he co-owned Sparklean Laundry Systems, a Continental distributorship, for eight years. Since launching his career, Merrill has developed more than 100 vended laundries, CG West says. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Miami.

“I’m really excited to work with the CG West team,” he says. “I feel Continental is by far and away the best laundry equipment manufacturer, with the best people, in the industry. I enjoy helping people realize their dreams of owning their own businesses.”

CG West serves the California vended, on-premise and industrial laundry markets by providing equipment, parts, financing, service, warranty and training.

CHICAGO — Ralph Wagner, who owns Wash ’n Dry Laundry Services in Morris, Ill., has been working in the coin laundry business for 14 years. His store an hour southwest of Chicago occupies 2,000 square feet and features Maytag equipment totaling 33 washers and 26 dryers.

Up until last June, his business was strictly a self-service laundry. But since then, his sales have risen 25%. Why? Wagner attributes it to an extra service he started last summer, one that many laundries may already offer: wash/dry/fold.

Getting into wash/dry/fold was something he and his wife had always wanted to try. Wash ’n Dry competes with a couple other Laundromats in the market of about 25,000 residents, but the economy and the lack of actual wash/dry/fold service in the vicinity pushed Wagner to pursue it.

“We feel right now, with the economy coming back, that [it was] a good time to start it,” he says. “In our area, we only had one other Laundromat that offered the service.”

Wagner reached out to Kevin Meyer, president of distributor Dolphin Laundry Service, Bensenville, Ill., to help him get started. “It’s a tough thing to get going, but it’s gone pretty well,” Wagner says. “A 25% increase in our revenue is pretty good.”

Chris Brick, regional sales manager for equipment manufacturer American Dryer Corp., explains that up to 80% of attended coin laundries in the United States offer some form of wash/dry/fold service. “Wash/dry/fold brings a different customer base to a lot of laundries.”

“Household washers [or] small equipment within apartment buildings can have trouble handling comforters,” says Meyer, “so it solves a need for prospective customers.”

Considering the convenience such an added service offers to customers, it’s no wonder that many coin laundries have decided to cash in.

Dick Ruel, national sales manager at equipment manufacturer Maytag Commercial Laundry, attests to the profit potential. “If it were not for wash/dry/fold services, some laundries would not turn a profit.”

How much does such a service contribute to a store’s total gross revenue? Gary Gauthier, national sales manager for equipment manufacturer Milnor Laundry Systems, says it varies from store to store, while Meyer cites a range of less than 5% to up to 30%.

Considering how many laundries offer this service, what considerations must one take to truly profit from wash/dry/fold? Brick says the key to mastering the service starts with organization.

HIRING AND INSURANCE

With policies in place and any equipment issues resolved, the next consideration is employing an attendant.

Hiring an attendant should ultimately pay for itself, according to Brick.

“To me, the better way to look at it is you would want a minimum of 50% of whatever their labor cost is to attend [their] laundry, they should try to generate in wash/dry/fold,” he says. “If you look at a guy that’s spending $60,000 a year in labor, to me he needs to generate at least 50% in wash/dry/fold revenue [or] $30,000.”

To keep labor costs down, Wagner, his wife, and, on occasions, his son and daughter pitch in to process the store’s wash/dry/fold service. While his store only has one part-time employee that helps with the service, he plans on hiring a full-time attendant.

“We’d like to have one full-time employee hired by the end of the year,” he says. “Hopefully we have enough accounts established [so] that we can maintain [it] and make it profitable.”

What qualities should a store owner look for in a candidate? Brick suggests seeking the right combination of experience and personality. Look for a person who has “a good personality, and someone that is going to communicate positively with your customer base [and] make them feel welcome [but] doesn’t mind washing, drying and folding clothes.”

Protecting your business against damage claims is another important issue to address, and that’s where insurance coverage comes into play. “With residential laundry, the standard insurance policy should suffice,” Meyer explains. But if a store wants to get into commercial accounts, “Owners should consult their broker to ensure the proper amount of liability insurance is in place.”

Besides the possibility of lost or damaged garments, there is another potential liability: “left items,” or items that customers forget they had brought in for laundering. Preventing these occurrences all goes back to an owner’s policies and procedures, and establishing a reliable tagging system, Brick says.

“When [a] customer comes in and they sign that ticket, some [stores] will take that ticket with a magnet and when that load goes into the wash, that magnet is stuck with that ticket on the wash,” Brick says. “When the load moves to the dry … the ticket never leaves the load.”

PRICING AND TURNAROUND

Charging by the pound is “the way to go now,” says Brick.

In his experience, Ruel has seen pricing range between 65 cents to $1.50 per pound. Brick says that some stores have a $5-10 minimum.

Meyer and Gauthier agree on the per-pound trend, but add that some laundries charge separately for bulky items such as comforters.

“Our recommendation is always determine your costs to process, and what the desired profit and price [is] accordingly,” says Meyer.

For Gauthier, transparency is key when it comes to pricing. “It’s important to make sure that a store’s rates and policies are clearly published and easy to understand.”

As for turnaround time, Brick explains that most fully attended laundries offer same-day service for garments brought in before noon. If a load is received later than that, many stores will have it done the next day.

But as with any business, rewarding loyalty is a top priority. If a regular customer brings something in and requests same-day service, “absolutely you provide that service for the regular customer,” he says.

“You try to go above and beyond to keep that business.”

Check back Wednesday for Part 3!