Aloha Laundry Life Connects On-Demand Laundry Services with Top-Quality Laundromats
Founded in 2020, Aloha Laundry Life is a virtual laundromat platform designed to connect on-demand laundry services with laundromats. In essence, the company provides an online marketplace developed to help entrepreneurs and small-business owners generate revenue. Powered by a decentralized platform that allows independent operators to offer laundry services and create a sustainable income.
Through the Aloha platform, laundromats are able to provide pickup-and-delivery services without the effort and expense of adding employees or a fleet of company vehicles.
“We believe customers are ready for on-demand laundry services,” said Aloha Laundry Life CEO Daniel Ellis. “And there are micro-entrepreneurs ready to provide laundry services to their local markets in a sustainable model.”
Ellis, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Detroit, spent more than five years in purchasing with Toyota North America. He also has worked as a technology and small-business consultant, as well as serving in the Michigan Air National Guard.
He pointed out that one of the factors that sets Aloha Laundry Life apart from similar on-demand businesses is its relationship with long-time laundromat operator Colleen Unema of Brio Laundry in Bellingham, Wash. Unema – a 10-year veteran of the laundromat industry and the creator of Brio Laundry University, which is a new online laundry education program – serves as Aloha’s “laundry coach.” In fact, the entire Aloha team is trained on the Brio Laundry University platform.
“Aloha Laundry Life’s model is a ‘virtual laundromat,” Unema explained. “It’s set up so that self-starters can create their own businesses based on route laundry and processing those garments at a select laundromats in their areas. Meanwhile, the laundromat owners, like me, will receive turns on their machines without having to take in additional laundry. And local customers now have access to pickup and delivery on days we don’t go out, or within ZIP codes we may not serve.
“My current role with Aloha is to train the new business owners – which are referred to as ‘market developers’ – to properly process laundry using an established production model.”
In addition, Aloha provides one-on-one coaching on how to succeed in the laundry industry – from how to provide excellent service to how to create a profitable micro-business.
Technology also is key for Aloha Laundry Life – with hyper-local service and pricing, and the company’s customer and driver apps.
And all of the client laundry is done at professional, top-quality laundry businesses.
“We work only with vetted laundromats to process all of the laundry,” Ellis said. “We never take laundry to our homes to wash.”
With locations already in Austin, Texas; Dallas-Fort Worth; Bellingham, Wash.; Alexandria, La.; Mesa, Ariz.; and New York City, Aloha Laundry Life continues to open markets nationwide.
In fact, the company recently introduced Jerry Laine of Woodside, N.Y., as one of its new market developers, serving laundry customers in Queens.
As an Aloha market developer, Laine will build routes and manage the schedule of local drivers and operators. All residential and commercial customer interactions, sales, and orders are done through the company app.
In turn, Laine will provide Aloha laundry service through his brick-and-mortar laundromat, Woodside Laundry, which has served the local community for nine years, but has been under new management for the last two years. Laine, whose laundry boasts a five-star rating on Google My Business, also will collaborate with other laundromats and drycleaning operations to expand Aloha’s online laundry pickup-and-delivery platform in Queens.
As an Aloha market developer, Laine said he looks forward to “the support to make the brand a household name in the region.”
Born in Haiti and currently residing in Long Island, Laine has managed small businesses for a number of years, and owning a few of them as well, including Woodside Laundry.
“I own a laundromat, so my interests are well in line with Aloha Laundry Life,” noted Laine, who learned about Aloha online and joined the company this past April. “Both entities want to be successful, and by working together, we can make that happen.”
CheRon Robinson, a real estate investor and insurance agent, is another Aloha market developer, based in Las Vegas.
“My goal as an owner is to make Aloha Laundry a household name,” Robinson said. “We desire for our customers to have easy access to tap on a link, and within hours, we will provide a concierge laundry service. We will have a marketplace for laundromats and drycleaners to attract more business using our virtual platform. Helping a mom or dad or a young college student become their own entrepreneur and create their own virtual laundry company is what I consider success.”
CEO Daniel Ellis recently shared his thoughts on the future of his company and the laundromat business with PlanetLaundry:
What is the most pronounced trend you’re currently seeing in your segment of the industry?
It’s clear that pickup and delivery is coming to the laundry industry, and many laundromats are not ready from a technical, logistical, customer success and skilled laundering standpoint.
What are you most excited about for 2023?
The training we do at Aloha Laundry Life. We expect to train 30 to 50 people next year in laundry and the laundry business – and how to be profitable doing it.
What are you most concerned about as we face the new year?
No doubt, partnerships with laundromats and their owners can be challenging, so we are doing our best to share the clear value of receiving additional turns on their washers and dryers.
Where do you see your niche of the laundromat industry headed?
We believe that laundromats are a staple of many communities. Therefore, we want to partner with them. Our niche is about utilizing existing laundromats with excess capacity to help meet the growing demand for laundry pickup-and-delivery services.
What’s the biggest reason for laundromat owners to be optimistic in 2023?
Laundry is a very personal experience that has extremely loyal customers. As a result, if you are able to meet the customers’ expectations of providing amazing customer service, creating a simple and painless process for placing orders, and consistently delivering clean laundry, the sky is the limit!
What are the keys to successful laundromat ownership today?
It’s clear that the key is giving customers more time back to focus on what they truly care about. Nobody wants to spend one or two hours doing laundry, and then four or five days folding it. Let’s make it easy for our customers, as if they are ordering food or scheduling a simple appointment.
