Mr Jeff, an international laundry service franchise, has signed an agreement with Clean Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in growth-stage laundry companies, to help grow the franchise’s expansion within the U.S.
Clean Ventures is managed by industry leaders who have collectively built hundreds of laundromats across the country, including Peter Stern, senior vice president of Clean Rite Centers, a laundry service chain that has developed more than 200 locations across North America.
Mr Jeff franchises are currently available in more than 30 countries and feature a 48-hour, pickup-and-delivery, mobile app-based service.
Through the agreement – which includes an investment by Clean Ventures and a partnership with Clean Rite stores – Mr Jeff can take advantage of Clean Rite’s established customer base by operating inside select Clean Rite laundromats. Conversely, Clean Rite will benefit from Mr Jeff’s business model and marketing expertise to expand its customer services and revenue streams.
The partnership leverages Mr Jeff’s proprietary technology to manage its stores – Jeff Suite and Jeff Drivers – along with Clean Rite’s existing technology platform, through Cents, to manage the self-service side of the business.
The partnership will kick off this summer with a pilot test of Mr Jeff operating within three Clean Rite stores in New York – two in Brooklyn and one in Queens – and one in Columbus, Ohio.
“The Mr Jeff brand and company as a whole is incredibly innovative and efficient,” said Peter Stern, also managing director of Clean Ventures. “The fragmented laundry industry here in the United States lacks that innovation and the tech side of the business. Through this agreement, which will include integration with our Cents platform, Mr Jeff can provide technology insight, reservation systems, membership models, and customer data and acquisitions never before seen in the laundry sector.”
The news of this agreement follows Mr Jeff’s announcement in April that it was introducing its “Business in a Box” franchise opportunity, connecting the offline and online worlds to qualified entrepreneurs in 13 select states. The decision came after raising $43 million in funding and growing across the globe with 2,000 sold stores in Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
“The U.S. market is incredibly important to us,” said Eloi Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Mr Jeff. “The agreement with Clean Ventures is not only one of capital investment, but also a collaboration in helping Mr Jeff enter, grow and navigate through the U.S. market. They will be an invaluable asset to assist with real estate development and help us make the appropriate connections through their network of operators and premier vendor relationships. Plus, we will be able to offer franchisees in select states the opportunity to operate within the existing real estate of Clean Rite, benefitting from the foot traffic of one of the most established laundromat chains in the country.”
Stern said Clean Ventures is looking to move quickly, devoting aggressive amounts of resources into the pilot locations to get them up and running.
“We believe in the model and are already preparing for success,” he explained. “The concept has already been presented to prominent laundromat operators around the country who are eager to add Mr Jeff hubs to their own locations.”
