Originally posted – Oct 06, 2014
Many laundry owners looking to add commercial work to their service menu often fail to consider a fairly simple and yet quite lucrative type of account – company uniforms.
Yes, it’s true that the large commercial cleaners have been specializing in uniforms for years, and they can provide a number of unique services – including uniform rental – that the average self-service laundry owner simply cannot.
However, this doesn’t mean it’s an area that’s completely off limits to laundromat owners. There is definitely a market for the type of service today’s coin laundries can bring the uniform laundering business – and it can be a fairly profitable market, too.
After all, as a small-business owner, you have the ability to provide your uniform clients with a simpler, much less sophisticated service than the large commercial companies. And that flexibility and personal touch are exactly what many clients desire.
What types of uniform accounts fit the coin laundry model?
Personally, I have some small restaurant accounts, where we launder their kitchen uniforms. I have one particular restaurant where the kitchen staff – keeping with the theme of the eatery – wears mechanics’ clothing. For instance, they will wear Dickies-type work shirts that are custom-designed for the restaurant. That type of business is an ideal candidate for a commercial account.
I’ve also done quite a bit of uniform work for security companies. These companies typically have a lot of uniforms, and they require their employees to clean those uniforms while in their possession. However, these types of companies also experience heavy turnover in staff – so, when the ex-employees turn in their uniforms, those garments need to be cleaned.
As a result, about once a month, we’ll clean all of the uniforms that have been turned in by former employees.
Companies that provide seasonal garments, such as winter coats, also present an opportunity for laundry owners. At my store, we often will clean seasonable items before the client places these garments in storage.
In general, businesses that own their own uniforms, which the employees launder, are great opportunities to break into the uniform cleaning sector. After all, someone needs to wash these items when they’re not being cleaned by the employees.
Other examples of businesses to target include mechanics shops, machine shops and smaller fast-food restaurants where employee uniforms are turned in on a regular basis.
Cleaning the Uniforms
Once you’ve landed an account, the next step is doing the work.
In most cases, identifying the type of uniform and understanding the end use will help you figure out the cleaning process. And, of course, there are plenty of cleaning methods available to you.
For instance, one of the challenges we faced were cleaning some of the security guard uniforms, which featured 100 percent polyester suit jackets. These suits technically didn’t need to be pressed and didn’t particularly have to be drycleaned. So, for these garments, we purchased a wetcleaning solution and programmed our machines for that specific wetcleaning process. It’s very simple, and you can get the instructions from your chemical supplier.
In a nutshell, you run a very short wash cycle – only a few minutes. Basically, you’re just removing any soil and body odor; it’s not a heavy stain-removing process. You’re merely cleaning and refreshing the garment.
You want to wash polyester suits with low washer agitation and a low water level. Also, run very small loads – significantly “under-load” your frontloader washer.
Keep the extraction light because you want some of the chemicals left on the garment, as these chemicals will activate in the dryer at about 120 degrees and actually release a lot of the wrinkles in the dryer. Again, as with the washer, “under-load” your dryer.
Remove the garments after about 10 minutes in the dryer, and hang them immediately. Because they are 100 percent polyester, they should be virtually dry. These finished items may not be as nice looking as a professionally steamed-down garment, but they are certainly suitable for this type of commercial customer.
The other laundering challenges might be restaurant uniforms and heavily soiled mechanics’ garments. Depending on the stains, some of these items might need to be treated more aggressively.
In these cases, you may need to soak the garments overnight, perhaps utilize a high pH solution or attack stains with some other more intrusive method. Then again, these types of garments are more durable and can withstand that type of cleaning process.
Above all, you, as a laundry owner, certainly have the ability to deliver the types of cleaning processes these commercial customers require.
Pricing Your Service
When setting your prices, view your service as professional garment care – so try to price yourself somewhere between the typical $2/$3 to $6/$7 per piece drycleaning prices and your own wash-dry-fold prices of probably $1 to $1.20 per pound (which is less than $1 per garment).
You want to be competitive against the professional cleaners; however, you still should be able to come in at a respectable price of $1.20 to $1.30 per piece. And, with suit jackets, where you’re doing extra work and using extra chemicals, perhaps consider charging in the neighborhood of $3 per garment.
Landing Commercial Accounts
When marketing to a potential commercial account, number one, pick up the phone and let them know who you are – eventually, you’ll get to the right person.
Number two, always start with companies where you have a potential “in.” If there is some way to develop a personal connection, you’ll always be more likely to get their ear and figure out their laundry needs.
Often, the biggest obstacle with selling to any business is that you, the salesperson, have a preconceived idea as to what you think a potential account’s laundry needs are. Unfortunately, most of the time their needs aren’t what you think they are.
Therefore, being able to listen and figure out their true laundry needs is probably the best tool you can have. Providing them with suggestions or ideas that seem open-ended to them is a good way to approach a prospective customer – because you never know what they’re going to require.
You may meet with a fast-food restaurant looking for their uniform business – but walk out with the manager’s drycleaning or a banner they need cleaned or mops from their backroom. You just never know.
Don’t presume to understand what their issues are – but just know that there are plenty of these small commercial customers out there that have laundry needs, which your business certainly can fulfill.
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