When His Family’s Laundry Chain Needed a POS System for Its Drop-Off Business, Brian Henderson Created One – Now He’s Built a Company Around That Solution
It is a common scenario: an entrepreneurial individual solves a desperate need for his or her day job, realizes that the solution could assist many others in the same situation, and creates a business to help the most people in the best and fastest way possible. And that is how Wash-Dry-Fold POS was formed.
The company’s founder is Brian Henderson and his “day job” is serving as the operations manager for his family’s chain of three laundromats, Liberty Laundry, which are located in and around Tulsa in northeast Oklahoma.
“I’ve always helped with the business since its founding in 2005, but took on a more active role in developing the business starting in 2010 after graduating college,” Henderson explained. “During the past six years, I’ve helped grow Liberty Laundry from one store with a team of six people to three laundromats and currently manage a team of 26 people. Our stores are some of the top-performing laundries in the country.”
The growth of the company forced the Hendersons to learn quickly. They basically had to reinvent their systems and procedures each time they opened a new location, due to the increased complexity of accounting, communication and team management. One system of many that Brian developed was Liberty Laundry’s computerized point-of-sale system for creating tickets for drop-off laundry service. The search for a system that was “just right” for the unique needs of the business was long and difficult.
“We had been processing drop-off laundry services using three-ply carbon copy paper tickets and an old-fashioned cash register for several years by that point, and so needed to find a computer system that allowed us to follow the same procedures we already knew were requisite for a drop-off laundry system,” Henderson noted. “I thoroughly tested more than two dozen systems and spent thousands of dollars on software for the drycleaning, retail and restaurant industries that were not a good fit and ultimately failed, before finally discovering and developing one solution that outperformed all others in its flexibility, affordability and reliability. It proved to be a far better fit for laundromats than anything else I had ever seen. We then implemented the system and refined its use over the course of several years.”
Brian and his father, John Henderson, who is the owner of Liberty Laundry, are frequent contributors to the Coin Laundry Association, through its educational events and publications, as well as active participants in the online forums hosted on the CLA website.
“I was often asked for recommendations from fellow laundromat owners for a good POS system for a wash-dry-fold, drop-off laundry service,” Brian said. “However, my problem was that, although I felt my current setup was the best possible one for laundromats offering WDF services, it was too complicated for ‘non-tech’ laundry owners and too time-consuming for busy operators to set up all on their own.”
Therefore, after having enough fellow store owners tell him that they’d pay him to help them set up their own systems, Henderson realized that creating a business around this product would be the best way for him to get this system into the hands of other laundry owners.
This past February, he created a website (washdryfoldpos.com) and started taking orders.
“I am extremely grateful for the input from those first few customers and the questions asked by the hundred or so fellow laundromat owners I have personally spoken with on the phone in the past year,” Henderson said. “Their questions, difficulties and stumbling blocks have allowed me to systematically address each step and improve the overall experience of getting up and running with their new POS system.”
Henderson formed an LLC, which he name Wash-Dry-Fold POS. Next, he found a reputable partner for the hardware – a company called POS-X, which offers a five-year warranty featuring overnight replacement of hardware and accidental damage protection – and then created a workflow for order taking, system customization and end-user training.
Later, he brought Ian Gollahon on board to assist with customer service and marketing due to the increasing rate of quote requests and product inquiries.
“They were starting to grow beyond what I could successfully handle on my own, while still managing my family’s chain of laundromats,” Henderson explained. “Ian brings 15 years of business development experience to the table and actually has a business degree, as opposed to my bachelor’s of science in chemistry and self-taught experience in growing Liberty Laundry.”
What’s next for Wash-Dry-Fold POS?
The company has shipped systems far and wide across the nation – from Miami, Fla., to Fairbanks, Alaska. Henderson has sold systems to those who are just now entering the laundromat arena and to those who have been in business for decades. Through this experience, he said he’s observed two main trends with the product’s end users, and the difference usually hinges on whether they’ve been in business a while or are just starting out.
The first trend is one of the absolute beginner, or someone who is adding wash-dry-fold services to an existing self-service laundromat and is earnestly searching out “best practices” in the laundry industry to make the most of their investment to help their business grow and thrive. For those owners, purchasing a POS system gives them access to the company’s experience in the laundry industry.
“We plan to develop something like a “Wash-Dry-Fold Business in a Box” for them,” Henderson said. “It goes beyond providing only the POS system, which is really only just one – albeit large – piece of the puzzle. This will be more of a knowledge-based type of product and would cover frequently requested information and templates regarding standard operating procedures, policy and procedure manuals, training videos, folding and packaging techniques, marketing techniques, effective problem resolution processes and more.”
Essentially, according to Henderson, it would allow someone to open with a professional, refined wash-dry-fold service on Day One of their new business, rather than “practicing” on their drop-off customers for years before perfecting their procedures.
The second trend is of seasoned laundry owners who are updating their systems to better reflect changes in technology and, in turn, to better serve their customers. These owners already have their own way of pricing orders and processing laundry, and it’s not Wash-Dry-Fold POS’ intention to force them to change any of that.
“We simply want to help computerize what they are already doing and give them the tools to help reinforce their processes with their team and make store management easier and less time-consuming,” Henderson explained. “This is where our software really shines. It is very flexible in what it can do and is the best option for the one-to-three-store owner who is switching from manual paper-based ticketing systems. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach in pricing menu design and function, we are able to customize it to fit a store’s current setup.”
Henderson recently shared with PlanetLaundry his thoughts on the future of the wash-dry-fold business, as well as the laundromat industry in general:
What is the most pronounced trend you’re currently seeing in the industry?
Full-service laundromats offering ancillary services such as wash-dry-fold or drycleaning are on the rise. The 2016 CLA Coin Laundry Industry Survey shows that laundromats reporting as “self-service only” are at their lowest levels ever at 66 percent and that the median annual laundromat income is also at its highest at $160,000. It is our belief that these two numbers are strongly related.
Through discussions over the phone and in person with over 100 laundromat owners across the country in the past year since founding Wash-Dry-Fold POS and through several years of experience with my family’s chain of laundromats, I have discovered that operating fully attended laundromats with the conviction that you are operating a customer-service-based company first and foremost that happens to make money by doing laundry will lead to a company that outperforms industry standards on the scale of 3:1 and even 4:1.
What are you most excited about as we head into 2017?
Clean Show 2017 in Las Vegas, of course! We’ve already received reservation confirmation of our booth space (#3376) and look forward to meeting more of our fellow laundromat owners. We are excited for the opportunity to show in person why we feel our system is the best choice for modern laundromat owners who want to step into the 21st century with their systems to improve store income, improve loss prevention and better serve their customers. I’m also a total laundry nerd, so going to the Clean Show to see all of the new technologies and equipment is like Christmas morning!
What are you most concerned about, from a business standpoint?
We are most concerned about the common misconception that going with a low-or-no-cost solution for a POS system for a wash-dry-fold operation will be all that’s required to meet a laundromat’s needs. Although it’s true that for a small business there has never been a better time with more excellent options available to computerize the cash register with a modern point-of-sale system, experience will quickly prove that many or most of the web-based or tablet-based POS systems are utterly insufficient to get the most out of your WDF service business and reinforce your operations. We have had several customers who switched from one of these systems because, although they were using a computerized POS, they were still having to fill out carbon-copy tickets for every order and weren’t able to save notes about customer preferences. Additionally, they still needed to assemble and type up multiple commercial account statements each month. There is no reason to have to do this work if your POS system can do it for you.
Where do you see the vended laundry industry headed?
I find myself to be in lockstep with CLA President Brian Wallace in his industry analysis, in which he observes a trend toward stores offering bigger machines, multiple payment systems and a shift toward ancillary services – primarily WDF – to maximize revenue. I had the opportunity to see him give a presentation at the Southwest Drycleaner’s Association meeting in Ft. Worth last April and was nodding my head and saying, “Yeah!” to each point he made, because it matched what we have seen in this industry.
What’s the biggest reason for laundromat owners to be optimistic?
The drycleaning industry continues to decline while the shift to washable wrinkle-free fabric and casual dress at work and formal gatherings continues to rise. Self-service laundries as well as those offering drop-off or delivery laundry services will continue to see an increase in business, assuming they are taking steps today to remain competitive regarding operational systems, pricing and marketing.
What are the keys to successful laundry ownership today?
When designing a laundromat or developing your business, focus on providing to customers what they cannot get at home or an apartment laundry room. Think bigger, quicker, easier and more pleasant.
Become excellent at recruiting new team members, training them thoroughly, maintaining their work performance and developing systems to reliably recover from any service mishaps. To this point, I highly recommend reading and taking to heart the lessons taught in the book “Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization,” by Leonardo Inghilleri and Micah Solomon. It’s an easy read, immediately accessible and timeless in its advice. It helped me develop systems and procedures we still use every day at Liberty Laundry that greatly simplify my task of managing the company and has helped us gain a reputation for excellent customer service.
Looking to the future, where do you see the greatest opportunity for self-service laundry owners, with regard to their wash-dry-fold operations?
Business begets more business. The more people your store serves, the more interconnected you are; the better you serve your customers, the more your service leads to gaining additional customers and commercial accounts, which are referred to you by satisfied customers. “Do you remember me and do you know what I like?” are far more important questions to answer than “How much does your service cost?” Becoming skilled in offering a perfect product, delivered on time, from people who care, with an effective problem resolution process – because any of those three steps are likely to suffer mishaps somewhere along the line – are vital in growing a thriving and profitable wash-dry-fold operation.
