American Drycleaner - September 2020

How to Do More with Less Labor While Increasing Workplace Safety

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drycleaner

Expanding Profit Centers: Take It to the House

Expand your profit centers by cleaning “The House”— household items such as comforters and linens—but that’s just the start. Add route business, along with other services such as cleaning shoes, hats and wedding dresses to discover the full-service garment care pro inside you! We visit Culpepper Cleaners, San Antonio, Texas, and Oceanside Cleaners, Jacksonville, Florida, to see how they’re “taking it to the house.”

10 Latest in Finishing

Finishing is one of the best parts of a drycleaning operation to make a client’s order look its finest. Garment care professionals from Kingbridge Cleaners, New York City, and Mastercraft® Natural Garment Cleaning, Fresno, California, talk about philosophies, training and the power of their people.

(Photo: Culpepper Cleaners)

PRE-INSPECTION

Take a Look Closer to Home

With piece counts running lower than the norm in this pandemic environment, dry cleaners are looking far and wide for opportunities to generate greater revenue. One spot where they may want to look is closer to home.

This month’s cover story, Expanding Profit Centers: Take It to the House, features dry cleaners in Texas and Florida whose businesses rely heavily on cleaning household items like comforters, bedspreads, drapes, cushion covers, upholstery and rugs.

Publisher

Charles Thompson

312-361-1680 cthompson@ATMags.com

Associate Publisher/ National Sales Director

Donald Feinstein 312-361-1682 dfeinstein@ATMags.com

Editorial Director

Bruce Beggs

And apart from cleaning items beyond the usual, the more services a drycleaning business can provide, the better its chances for surviving and, dare I say, thriving in the current climate. Other stories this month feature a look at finishing and its importance to dry cleaners; the return of our Management Strategies and Spotting Tips columns; and more. As the calendar shifts to a new season, I hope your chances to serve and to prosper are renewed as well.

ADC

Distributors Directory Addendum

Due to an editor’s error, the Distributors Directory listings for TLC Tri-State Laundry Companies were inaccurate in the August issue of American Drycleaner The publication apologizes for the error and publishes the correct listings as follows:

TLC Tri-State Laundry Companies

5250 Fulton Industrial Blvd., Ste. B Atlanta, GA 30336

Contact: Keith Quarles Phone: 877-755-3440 keith.quarles@tlctristate.com www.tlctristate.com

Drycleaning, laundry, wetcleaning and finishing equipment; parts and service

TLC Tri-State Laundry Companies

1560 Old Clyattville Rd. Valdosta, GA 31601

Contact: Keith Quarles Phone: 877-755-3440 keith.quarles@tlctristate.com www.tlctristate.com

Drycleaning, laundry, wetcleaning and finishing equipment; parts and service

TLC Tri-State Laundry Companies

5257 Pit Road South Concord, NC 28027

Contact: Keith Quarles Phone: 877-755-3440 keith.quarles@tlctristate.com www.tlctristate.com

Drycleaning, laundry, wetcleaning and finishing equipment; parts and service

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POSTMASTER, Send changes of address and form 3579 to American Drycleaner, Subscription Dept., 440 Quadrangle Drive, Suite E, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. Volume 87, number 6. Editorial, executive and advertising offices are at 650 West Lake Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60661. Charles Thompson, President and Publisher. American Drycleaner is distributed selectively to: qualified dry cleaning plants and distributors in the United States. The publisher reserves the right to reject any advertising for any reason.

© Copyright AMERICAN TRADE MAGAZINES LLC, 2020. Printed in U.S.A. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher or his representative. American Drycleaner does not endorse, recommend or guarantee any article, product, service or information found within. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of American Drycleaner or its staff. While precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the magazine’s contents at time of publication, neither the editors, publishers nor its agents can accept responsibility for damages or injury which may arise therefrom.

American Drycleaner, September 2020

Bruce Beggs 312-361-1683 bbeggs@ATMags.com

Digital Media Director

Nathan Frerichs 312-361-1681 nfrerichs@ATMags.com

Production Manager Mathew Pawlak

Advisory Board

Jan Barlow Mike Bleier John-Claude Hallak Wesley Nelson Kyle Nesbit Mike Nesbit Fred Schwarzmann Beth Shader Vic Williams

Contributing Editors

Dan Miller

Diana Vollmer Martin Young

Office Information

Main: 312-361-1700

Subscriptions

630-739-0900 x100 www.american drycleaner.com

Prepping Clean 2021 Amid Pandemic Uncertainty

Postponement not option if restrictions prevent gathering in June

By Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director

Messe Frankfurt is actively preparing for Clean Show 2021, scheduled for June 10-13 in Atlanta, but if COVID-19 pandemic restrictions prevent activities from taking place onsite as planned, Clean will likely not happen again until 2023, according to organizers.

Show Director Greg Jira updated Textile Care Allied Trades Association members on the show’s status during a recent webinar. TCATA and four other textile care trade associations — Association for Linen Management (ALM), Coin Laundry Association (CLA), Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), and TRSA, the asso ciation for linen, uniform and facility services — sold the Clean Show to Messe Frankfurt in 2018.

Messe retained longtime show manager Riddle & Associates to manage the 2019 event in New Or leans but now has fully taken the reins for Clean 2021 in the Georgia World Congress Center.

The Clean Show is North Amer ica’s largest exposition of laundering, drycleaning and textile care services, supplies and equipment. Clean 2019 attracted more than 11,000 industry professionals and 452 exhibiting companies.

“We know that the global pandemic is wreaking havoc within our industry,” Jira says about preparations for Clean 2021. “We are operating as if there will be an end to all this and that, a year from now in June, we will be in a better place. … We believe it will be a great show but we are fully expecting it to be less square footage (than 2019 in New Orleans).”

Jira says postponing Clean 2021 isn’t an option, with Germany’s Texcare International—also run by Messe Frankfurt—already having been moved to November 2021 from its original June 2020 dates. Many of Clean’s larger exhibitors also traditionally exhibit at Texcare.

“If, by some chance, June isn’t going to work on a na tional health level … or we’re not allowed into the build ing, more than likely, the show will just not happen,” Jira says. “We can’t move it into the next year. We’ll then be too close to 2023. There are so many contracts at play, and obligations, that would be too hard to do.”

Sales Associate Jewell Kowzan says the most common question she receives is what will become of payments for exhibit space if the pandemic worsens, travel restric tions are imposed, etc.“We will be refunding exhibitors should that happen,” she says.

Exhibitors canceling through October 15 will receive a full refund less a $95 administrative fee, while those can celing between October 15 and January 15 will receive a 30% refund.

Clean 2021 exhibit sales opened on June 23 and within a month, 114 contracts for booth space had been submit ted, Kowzan tells American Drycleaner.

Drawing attendees during a pandemic could be a chal lenge, and Jira says Messe Frankfurt has budgeted funds for additional marketing and advertising.

TCATA and the other associations remain involved with Clean and will provide the educational content and industry support that are key to the event’s success.

“We’re committed to building on the incredible legacy that the founding associations, along with Riddle & As sociates, built,” Jira says. “In a word, I think what you can expect is consistency. It is our belief that we do not change what has made the show great, and we leverage Messe Frankfurt’s global resources to help attract repre sentation from other affiliated markets that perhaps had not been reached in the past.”

Companies that exhibited at Clean 2019 have the first crack at reserving space for the 2021 show. Remaining space will open to other interested parties this fall.

Attendee registration for Clean 2021 is scheduled to open in November. ADC

Greg Jira

Latest in Finishing

Two owners talk about philosophies, training and the power of their people

American Drycleaner,

In the finishing department at Kingbridge Cleaners. (Photo: Kingbridge Cleaners)

Finishing is one of the best parts of a drycleaning operation to make a client’s order look its finest. In this article, two garment care professionals from Kingbridge Cleaners, New York City, and Mastercraft Natural Garment Cleaning, Fresno, California, will share their philosophies for doing a top job. Their stories involve training to shoot for perfection, and learning the power of using the phrase “thank you” throughout a business to support and help each other to finish jobs the best they can.

Training in the Kingbridge Cleaners finishing department always starts with a philosophy of production and is heavily rooted in the culture of the New York City business, says CEO Richard Aviles.

“First, each team member understands that ‘Everything comes in through the eye.’ The first thing the customer is going to see is how beautiful and wrinkle-free their piece hangs on our hanger.

“Keeping this mentality in mind drives us toward the perfection of each piece and ensures the garment is always ready to be worn. While we may not be the fastest production facility, we have avoided the need to repress pieces that other finishers would have allowed to pass to inspection.”

Joseph and Victoria Aviles, Richard’s parents, founded Kingbridge Cleaners in 1968. What started as a small franchise in Parlin, New Jersey, named Betty Brite Cleaners grew into an operation that services the greater New York area.

The company’s new corporate headquarters occupies 7,300 square feet in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It has two retail boutiques in Soho, Manhattan, and downtown Brooklyn, and features four pickup and delivery vehicles and six routes. The firm describes itself as a work-family of, until recently, 46 employees.

Richard Aviles reflects on the Kingbridge philosophy of finishing: “Another equally important aspect of our production is the fact that every department has jurisdiction over the last process. If someone in our inspection department feels a piece could have been pressed better and returns it to the finisher — the finisher says, ‘Thank you.’ The thank-you is a genuine one when they understand they have the opportunity to do a better job.”

His entire team works together toward perfection, Aviles says, and realizes that even a slight imperfection can begin to instill doubt in a customer’s mind about Kingbridge’s craft.

His team also understands that it is not just selling a service.

“We are improving how our customers are perceived by others. When our customers feel better and more confident, we feel we’ve moved the needle in the right direction.”

Kingbridge Cleaners has seven employees working in its finishing department: three on utility presses, one laundry shirt presser, one hand-finished shirt presser, and one pants finisher. “We also have a utility presser that doubles on our vertical pressing station. One employee finishes the sweater and household items.”

Equipment and fixtures include three utility pressing stations with accompanying suzy; two toppers with complementary double-leg finishers; a hand-finishing

shirt station that’s made up of a cuff and collar machine and a touch-up board; a double cuff and collar; a doublebuck shirt machine; a large sweater board; a 5-foot linen hothead press; a tunnel box finisher; and a vertical press station used for uniform work and silk conditioning.

In the finishing department, it is important to identify the roles each team member plays, according to Aviles.

“Within our finishing department, each team member is cross-trained on how to perform the function of other finishers’ workstations, but not other departments,” he says. “If for any reason someone can’t come to work, someone can assume the missing employee’s responsibilities for that day.

“While in the past and when the business was smaller, finishers were cross-trained on other departments’ functions. The finishing department and other departments have grown to a size where that’s no longer a priority. However, everyone is responsible for the cleanliness of their workstation. You can’t spend time and effort cleaning something only to bring it into a dirty workstation on an old, dirty finishing pad.”

LET’S ‘DISCO’

Are there any new advances in your finishing department, either in machines, software, or in the way your team members work to finish garments?

Kingbridge’s distribution conveyor, which has been named “Disco,” is a new design of a finger-rail that allows the movement and distribution of pieces throughout the production facility. One of its benefits is its extreme-

ly narrow profile accommodating space requirements of the smallest plants, and its ease of use.

“Another important benefit to mention about the Disco is its ability to evenly distribute work to ‘like finishers,’” Aviles says. “For instance, if you have three utility pressers who have in the past argued over receiving ‘more complicated’ work than their team members, or more volume, the Disco designates which piece goes to which finisher without prioritizing one over another, and has no bias in what’s being distributed.

“Each utility finisher will receive the same amount of work, and over time, the same distribution of item types. The person who is loading the Disco only chooses what department to send the piece to, and the PLC does the rest of the work.”

The owner shared a story of how team members support one another in the business.

“We have a finisher who has worked with us for two decades. He received a black Oscar de la Renta cocktail dress for finishing. Unbeknownst to him, an oversight, the cocktail dress had black leather stitching throughout it. He dressed a suzy with it and when he steamed it, it went from a size 8 to a size 2. Nervous, embarrassed, and beside himself that he had just ruined a perfectly good garment of one of our best customers, he brought it to Victoria.

“Victoria gave him a hug and said, ‘Thank you.’ Victoria thanked him for making the mistake and for not hiding it and letting her know or, worse, blaming someone else. We then contacted the customer’s stylist, purchased the same dress that day, and had it delivered to the customer.

“We all make mistakes once in a while, regardless of experience. We all learned very valuable lessons that day. Not just in the finishing of a garment, but also how to treat others and lead by example.”

Aviles recalls a finisher his parents had employed in their first Manhattan location, 10 Downing Street Cleaners, in the early 1980s. While they always treated the man with the utmost respect and valued him as a professional, other opportunities with better pay became available and he decided to move on.

“He returned to us in 2015 and asked if we had a position for him. When we asked why he wanted to come back after all those years, he responded, ‘I’ve never

At the Kingbridge Cleaners retail boutique in Manhattan, CEO Richard Aviles (center) poses with his wife, Melissa (left), and his mother, company chairman Victoria Aviles. (Photo: Kingbridge Cleaners)

GO GREEN. WET CLEAN

The Poseidon system offers innovative programmability for complete control over every conditional aspect of the wet cleaning, drying and ironing process. Customers are thrilled when even their most delicate garments including tailored wool suits, cashmere sweaters and silks come back with a cleaner smell, better odor removal and an overall superior clean.

“

— Miriam Choi, daughter of Hyeon-Dong & Young-Sook Choi Owners, University Cleaners

worked for another company where I am valued as an equal member of the team. It’s a pleasure to work with a group of people who listen to each other and treat each other as family.’ It warms our heart when he walks through the door each morning.”

Aviles has a couple of tips to pass along to dry cleaners who are thinking of adding personnel and/or new equipment to their finishing department.

Don’t underestimate the amount of time and distraction that goes into the actual logistics and movement of a garment, and how it detracts from a cleaner’s production efficiency.

“In our new facility, we’ve set it up so our finishers never have to take more than a half-step to receive the next piece to be pressed, and a half-step to send it to the next process,” he explains. “The finishing process in many cleaners is the most time-consuming process. Any effort to save time through automation will pay off in dividends.”

Sometimes, without anyone to listen to them, finishers are left to their own devices.

“It’s easy to speak to those employees who do the cleaning and those in assembly and bagging. Finishers are as much of the process as any other department and they deserve to be heard,” says Aviles.

“Being situated along the process between other departments, they see a lot more than we give them credit for

and they often have great suggestions for how to make things better. All you have to do is ask. They will appreciate it.”

CROSS-TRAINING BENEFICIARY

A dry cleaner’s team is so important to its business, and this is especially true in the finishing department. The skill and knowledge of these team members is vital.

“For finishing, my cleaner spotter is also a counter person and trained to do silks as well as pants and laundered shirts,” says Steve Berglund, owner of Mastercraft® Natural Garment Cleaning in Fresno, California. “I’m very lucky to have her.”

His company began as a One Hour Martinizing® franchise in the early 1960s when his father was the franchise representative for central California. The younger Berglund began operating plants in the local area with the Mastercraft® Dry Cleaning name in 1970 and with nine locations and 75 employees; the main plant covered 6,000 square feet.

Eventually, he changed the name to Mastercraft® Natural Garment Cleaning. He currently has seven employees. With sales down 50%, he operates with a cleaner presser who opens and provides counter help as needed in the morning, a silk presser who is on call depending on daily volume, and a counter person who comes in late mornings and closes at the end of the day.

“Everyone is cross-trained except my silk and shirt pressers,” Berglund says about roles. “They don’t wait counter or do assembly.

“For pressing, I installed easy-to-reach hand irons at the silk press, the end of the pants legger, and the steam table.”

About that steam table, it began leaking steam after a while and proved difficult to repair. “I would still recommend (adding) it because it is a nice, wide surface for hand touching with a hand iron next to it.”

Berglund says he hopes that his employees understand how important they are to him and his business.

Circling back to Aviles for some closing comments about finishing, he offers this: “It is of the utmost importance that every station be clean, orderly, with the proper lighting and a happy place for everyone to work.”

Providing customers with the finest quality that one can produce will never go out of style, he says, and will help ensure your business survives for generations to come. ADC

—Tim Burke

Steve Berglund (center), owner of Mastercraft® Natural Garment Cleaning, Fresno, Calif., poses in his plant with team members Heike Ruvalcaba (left) and Angela Barbosa. (Photo: Mastercraft® Natural Garment Cleaning)

Expanding Profit Centers: Take It to the House

Expand your profit centers by cleaning ‘The House’ — household items such as comforters and linens — but that’s just the start. Add route business, along with other services such as cleaning shoes, hats and wedding dresses to discover the full-service garment care pro inside you!

ABOVE: A staffer smiles at Culpepper Cleaners, San Antonio, Texas, a business that’s increased its volume by cleaning household items. Reaching clients has involved the use of apps and emailing and adding routes. Says owner Jess Culpepper, “It is our responsibility to educate our customers as to all the services we offer and to the value of those services.” (Photo:

e as a family consider ourselves very fortunate to have been blessed with the opportunity to operate our business for over 100 years,” says Jess Culpepper, president and general manager of Culpepper Cleaners, founded in 1911 and located in San Antonio, Texas. “Many changes have occurred over the years, and currently the drycleaning profession is experiencing major challenges with declining volume for over a decade nationally. To survive, many of us have found other sources of revenue.”

Culpepper first started working for the business during summer breaks while he was attending high school. He made dry cleaning his career choice in 1978 as the third generation of the Culpepper family to do so.

“We are truly a family-run business; I have my wife, Jo Anne; my sister and brother-in-law, Terri and Mickey Walker; and my son and daughter, Ethan Culpepper and Isabel Culpepper, both representing our fourth generation, all working in the business,” he says.

“W

Culpepper Cleaners)

Culpepper Cleaners operates one plant and two drop stores, employing approximately 75 “talented people,” he adds. Its goal is, and has been for better than a century, to provide the best in customer service and drycleaning and laundry service to the people of San Antonio.

“We have, over the years, added square footage to our store on five separate occasions and it serves as our central plant today,” Culpepper says.

The business has targeted a specific area of service for growth: household items, such as comforters, bedspreads, drapes, sheets, cushion covers and more.

Household items have typically accounted for 3-5% of Culpepper Cleaners’ gross income.

“Our goal is to increase the current volume by 50%,” he states. “We have concentrated on in-store advertising of this service and have shown a steady increase in the household segment of our business. As garment piece counts have trended downward, the household piece count has continued to rise.”

The COVID-19 “stay home” recommendations caused the volume of garments to clean to drop by as much as 70%, but Culpepper’s cleaning of household items actually increased over pre-pandemic numbers during the same period, which he found very encouraging.

“Keeping at least some of these items visible for customers to see in the customer lobby is an easy way to promote this service, as well as hang tags advertising this service on outgoing orders.”

Culpepper says the business has always specialized in the cleaning and preservation of wedding gowns and restoration of vintage garments. It takes longer to grow this part of this business, he says, as it requires achieving a level of experience and expertise in order to build a reputation.

Talking with retailers of wedding gowns and formal wear in your area and explaining your process and level of experience can go a long way in improving sales in that department, he suggests. It’s definitely worth the effort due to the potential profitability of this segment of the business.

COVID-19 SLOWDOWN PROMPTS LAUNCH OF ROUTE SERVICE

Besides household items, expanding profit centers can include many things, such as more ways for customers to connect through apps and emails. Another popular way to add services: routes.

Culpepper says the business has now launched its first route service “since the old days” in hopes of increasing its profitability.

“We had been considering initiating a route service for some time, but the slowdown due to COVID-19 is what really pushed us to make this decision,” he explains.

Culpepper recalls his father, Richard, delivering clothes in the 1950s and ’60s and he would occasionally ride along on the route. The elder Culpepper did this after regular business hours and had maybe 15 or 20 stops along the way.

“I enjoyed it because it allowed me to spend time with my dad,” Culpepper relates, “and away from chores or homework at home. He, however, did not seem to miss the route after he gave it up when he opened another store in 1969. I suppose the growth of the business and 12- to 16-hour days will do that.”

Culpepper recognizes that his business is late to the game, given that routes have grown to be very popular over the last 10 to 15 years.

“To prepare for this, we talked to as many people who are running routes as we could, and read anything we could on the subject as well. One common theme from these resources, which we have taken to heart, is to be

Expanded profit centers at Culpepper Cleaners include cleaning household items like these two col orful prints. (Photo: Culpepper Cleaners)

fully committed to doing this the right way. During the infancy of this undertaking, it has been an ‘all family on deck’ attitude, and has turned out to be a great experience for us all.”

Customers are excited and have been appreciative of Culpepper Cleaners offering free pickup and delivery of their items.

The business started by converting existing customers to its route service, plus it has picked up some new customers just from the delivery van being seen in the neighborhood.

“Our next step is to begin advertising in neighborhoods we feel are aligned demographically with our service,” Culpepper says.

Of course, starting a route service during the slowest period in Culpepper Cleaners’ history has allowed its staff the luxury of learning the process without the normal pressures that team members would typically face day-to-day in the operation.

“If that was not the case, we would have looked for help from a consultant at the outset, but we will soon

seek some professional guidance from a consultant.”

He says it’s too important of an undertaking to not educate everyone on all that goes into operating a successful route.

“Our plan is to grow the route and our experience level at a compatible rate. So far, so good, and better late than never!”

Culpepper puts the opportunities to expand profit centers today in perspective.

“The professional services we offer our customers as an industry changes requires us to make decisions which will allow our businesses to become more profitable and viable in the future.”

The COVID-19 “stay home” recommendations caused the volume of garments to clean to drop by as much as 70%, but Culpepper’s cleaning of household items actually increased over pre-pandemic numbers during the same period, which he found very encouraging.

There are other areas where drycleaning business owners have seen great success, such as the wash-and-fold segment.

“I have long thought that referring to our profession as the ‘dry cleaners’ is a very limiting and confining description of what we actually do,” he opines. “It is our responsibility to educate our customers as to all the services we offer and to the value of those services, least of which is the value of time.”

EVERY EXTRA SERVICE DESERVES ADDED COMMITMENT

Michael P. Harris, owner of Oceanside Cleaners, Jacksonville, Florida, says his business celebrated its 30th anniversary in March with 80 employees.

He remarks that Oceanside is in the people business, not only for its customers but its employees and vendors. It markets to a consumer who is interested in service and quality: “When we take your garment/textile, we take ownership.”

During the Great Recession in 2008, he decided to add an onsite division in which Oceanside would go into homes and businesses to clean drapes, blinds, upholstery and rugs. Harris says it continues to be a very successful service for the business.

Comforters are cleaned, packaged and awaiting route delivery at Culpepper Cleaners. (Photo: Culpepper Cleaners)

At the same time, the dry cleaner began offering a fullservice shoe repair. Shortly thereafter, a wedding dress division was created to handle pre- and post-wedding services. Harris says Oceanside does around 600 dresses per year.

In 2015, Oceanside “dove” into the wash-dry-fold business, and it has grown substantially, according to Harris. Added to the tailoring business that it has always offered, the dry cleaner provides a one-stop shopping experience for garment care.

“We also do a lot of restoration work. For example, a glass of wine spilled on a cashmere sweater, vintage items like all types of households, obviously wedding gowns, christening gowns, shoes, hats. Basically anything that has fabric.”

How you price your services is highly important, he says: “So we do a ton of measuring to find out what it costs to do these services and build in an appropriate profit that will not only cover expenses but put money aside for future equipment purchases, training and marketing.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, his operation has been extremely busy with its athome services, Harris says.

“We offer not only what I mentioned but outdoor cushions. We market them in-store and through email/text, but it amazes me how many customers do not know about them.”

You can expand not only on what you clean but how you bring it into your store.

“Pickup and delivery, pickup and delivery, pickup and delivery — especially now,” emphasizes Harris.

“We’ve concentrated on converting counter to route in light of the current pandemic, which has been really successful, especially to the bottom line. Without the call to deliver, the inventory would still be at our stores and monies would not be collected.”

Oceanside has also expanded its locker system from eight to 32 lockers at its Ponte Vedra location because of increased touchless service with drop-off and pickup.

“If you can offer as many services as possible, it creates a one-stop shopping experience, and if you focus on customer and employee culture, you will make price irrelevant.”

The key is trying to sell more services to current customers, Harris believes.

“We have had great success with calculated promotion plans, which include email through BeCreative, counter handouts, flyers on orders, signs in lobbies, mass texts

A wedding gown being cleaned at Oceanside Cleaners. The Florida company’s wedding division handles all pre- and post-wedding garment cleaning. (Photo: Oceanside Cleaners)

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Oceanside Cleaners takes care of clothing items but also shoes, hats, wedding gowns, and household items such as comforters, bedspreads, drapes, sheets, cushion covers and more. (Photo: Oceanside Cleaners)

“We spend time training our office (staff) on asking (customers) how they heard about the promotion so we can determine which one of these channels works best,” Harris says. “The wash-dry-fold (campaign) was a complete success that affected sales by 30%.”

within our POS, signs on street, website updates, all of these on one topic scheduled at the same time.”

But make sure the customer accounts have all of their email addresses and cellphone numbers or it can hamper your success.

An example of a recent campaign: “We did a washdry-fold promotion that we executed (through) all the previous channels of communication for one month. (Our daughter) Clare schedules all of these ahead of time and keeps track of it on a Google calendar.”

It’s important to measure all promotions in order to determine their value.

“We spend time training our office (staff) on asking (customers) how they heard about the promotion so we can determine which one of these channels works best,” Harris says. “The wash-dry-fold (campaign) was a complete success that affected sales by 30%.

“We’re in the people business, so make sure you have the right people in these positions, especially when you touch the customer, and train, train, train. Nothing is worse than getting a customer to call on one of our services and the CSR doesn’t know anything about it.”

Oceanside Cleaners has daily huddles, weekly manager meetings, and monthly customer service events.

“Our culture is second to none but we work hard at it,” says Harris. “Take care of your employees and they will take care of your customers.”

Be open to handling all of your clients’ needs, and to new avenues of business, too.

Harris says he enjoys taking care of customers and seeing them come in with an alteration before moving over to drop-off drycleaning and then shoe repair.

“The bottom line is we don’t want to say no. You have heard it many times: ‘Yes, now, what’s the question?’

Also, if we start getting a lot of calls on a particular clean ing service, we will start offering it. For example, we have considered pressure washing, and in-home maid service.”

He concludes with a point about the importance of dedication: “I can’t express enough on these profit centers that our staff has to take ownership on what the service is: how much, how long it takes, and basically setting the expectation for the customer so that there are no surprises.”

And by doing it right and expanding services like Oceanside Cleaners and Culpepper Cleaners have, you can take more profits to the house!

—Tim Burke

LAUNDRY

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Win ’n’ Grin: Put Your Marketing to the Test

Testing preferred marketing messages and delivery channels will provide the highest return on your marketing investment by costing you less than untested efforts, and granting you the ability to compare responses to different messages, competing media channels, and various target audiences.

These nine test steps are the beginning of implementing the marketing plan and reaping the rewards.

1. Determine Goal of Campaign(s)

Using your master promotional calendar, determine the primary goal of the next campaign. For example, perhaps your strategic planning sessions have revealed that a high-return goal is to expand profitable household sales. Let’s also assume that in your plant, area rugs are easy for you to process and have potential for greater usage by your existing customers and target prospects.

Vollmer

By the point in the marketing process that you are ready to run test ads, you will have created your strategic planning goals for the company, a marketing budget and a promotional calendar for the year.

So, in this example, your primary campaign goal could be to “double sales of area rugs in the next quarter as

(Image licensed by Ingram Publishing)

Before you launch that killer marketing campaign of yours, make sure it’s going to be a winner, and you’re going to be fully happy. Test it first. And by test, that means try out, track, review and refine.

Diana

compared to last year’s sales.” Note: This goal is spe cific, measurable and time-certain.

2. Determine the Target of Message

Using a combination of your POS data, sales his tory and prior response records, determine which target group(s) can provide the largest sales increases for your promotional campaign investment.

Often, your best return will be by increasing the “share-of-wallet” spent with your company by existing customers. You probably offer many services that most of your active customers don’t currently use, so letting them know what other services you can provide can be a win for them and a win for you.

In the case of the area rugs, you can pick up additional business from customers who have never had you clean their rugs, but you can also get more rug business from customers you have served by reminding them “it’s time” based on their last cleaning date or on the holiday or seasonal cleaning calendar.

There is also a huge potential new-prospect market if you tap into a specific group of consumers who just need to know your capabilities. For example, condo associa tions have been a rich vein of business for rugs in com mon areas, as well as for introductions to the individual

condo-unit owners who see what a great job you did on the lobby rug.

3. Craft Potential Messages

What are the benefits for your customers to using your service? In the example of rugs, a list of benefits might include:

• Convenience: pickup and delivery; fast turnaround; additional service from an already trusted provider; eliminate another chore from their long list.

• Cleaner Healthier Home Environment : remove pet odors/stains; provide a kid-healthy environment; brighter look of clean rug.

• Longer Life of Valuable Investment

• Make a Good Impression: friends; family; business associates.

Ranking the benefits from the customer perspective will lead you to the right message. For example, new parents might be most motivated by a “healthy baby en vironment,” or, for a broader consumer group, if the holi day season is coming soon and guest visits are imminent, the most important message might be “Impress the Boss” or “Pass the Mother-in-Law Test.”

Ensure that your copywriter and graphics designer (in ternal or external) both know all the consumer benefits,

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Workplace Safety

101: Guidelines, Cleanup Time, and Using Good Sense

Brian

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To Buy or to Lease: Compare the Differences

Listen as Joe Hebeka, owner of The Belding Group, talks about both sides of the equation: buying and leasing a garment care property. “It’s all about the cash flow,” Hebeka says, “look at every situation individually.”

Workplace Security 101: What to Do, How to Do It, and Why You Should

Security begins with the garment care location. Alex Yearout, owner of Complete Cleaners, discusses leadership, the power of a smile, having lighting to reassure clients and staff, and using video to solve “the mysteries of missing pieces.”

your business goals and the reasons for them, and as much about your target audience as possible. Include past suc cesses to build upon—such as photos of kids with dogs sitting on a rug—that have been effective. Then let them be creative for each of the intended recipient groups.

4. Review Available Media Channels

With so many possible ways to communicate with target audiences, it is essential to select the most efficient ones to optimize your ad budget.

Your “best customer” profiling will provide insight into the most valued channels for your best customers and like prospects.

All types of media can be effective in certain circum stances, and a combination of mutually supportive media is usually best for a successful campaign.

For example, if your customers are young profession als, newspaper or TV will probably not be effective. If your target is traditional, mature homeowners, both can be effective. Since so much advertising has abandoned these two traditional media options, and they can be minutely geo-targeted, rates are much more affordable than you might think.

Conversely, electronic communication can be highly cost-effective if the message is valuable and can break through the noise and clutter of the internet. Direct snail mail can also be valuable with a very targeted list and an impressive message.

All promotional campaigns should reinforce your overall branding image and be reinforced with your logo, packag ing, van, store, signage and hangtag graphics. All media should be identifiable as yours at just a quick glance.

5. Test Each Message for Each Target

Priortize the edited messages, and prioritize the media channels. Next, match the message(s) to the probable media and run small tests through:

•Social media sites placement (track each separately)

•Email blast – selected list

•SMS blast – selected list

•Your blog and/or newsletter

•Newspaper route drop

• Ad in middle of nightly news on a local cable channel

•Snail mail to select homes

•Hang tags to select customers

•Slides on in-store TV

•Static signs in-store and out

•Bus benches

•Billboards

•Bus signs

•Van message

•CSR “Did you know …?” suggestions

•Other creative media channels

6. Track Results

Ensure that your tests can be tracked and measured for success. The success measurement can be numbers of responses, such as calls, emails, texts, landing page visits, clicks, click-throughs, QR codes, coupons, and more; number of inquiries; appointments set; orders (by number and dollar value); total category sales; and sales trend change.

After the short test period, compare the results and document them by success level.

7. Refine the Message(s)

The test is a chance to learn about responses but also to get feedback about tweaks that can improve the ef fort. The results may show that the message was good but could have been better. Don’t abandon it if all that is needed is a clarifying refinement.

8. Roll Out Full Market Campaign

Once any enhancing refinements have been made, place the campaign for the full rollout in the formats and channels that proved to be most effective.

9. Review, Refine and Document

As with all your initiatives, promotional efforts should be reviewed during and at the end of the effort and rated for success. Hard data about results should be recorded as well as relevant observations, recommended refine ments, and historical and anecdotal notes for use in fu ture planning.

For example, if a test was successful but the full mar ket rollout campaign ran during a weather emergency, the results might not be valid, so it might be worthy of another run. Conversely, if you ran an exceptionally successful ad on the Weather Channel during a “storm watch” period, don’t expect the same success in the future if there is no reason for consumers to tune in as often as they would during a storm watch.

Remember: Marketing is an art that can always be enhanced with scientific analysis, tracking and refine ment! ADC

Diana Vollmer is a managing director and senior con sultant for Ascend Consulting Group, which assists dry cleaners and launderers in maximizing profitability, enter prise value and customer allegiance. For assistance plan ning and analyzing your marketing efforts, contact her at dianavollmer@ascendconsultinggroup.net, 415-577-6544.

Partner, Luetzow Industries

Tell us where you were born, grew up, and reside today.

“Born and raised in Brookfield, Wisconsin. It’s a great area, and I still live here.”

Hobbies (that you’ll admit to)?

“Spending as much time with my wife, son and daughter as possible. I do back-country snow skiing, Ironman Triathlons. The latter have taken a back seat to the former.”

What gets you excited at work?

“Manufacturing poly to specifications that allow my customers to operate the most efficiently. Who doesn’t like running 15-30% more efficient?”

Lastly, tell us a secret (keep it clean) nobody knows about you.

“I don’t enjoy watching football. To many, this is heresy in Wisconsin.”

ADC

(We’re looking for future Off the Cuff subjects. Want to throw your hat in the ring, or know someone else in the industry who does? E-mail news@atmags.com.)

Ryan Luetzow holds son Connor while boating, summer 2019. (Photo courtesy Ryan Luetzow)

Become the Destination

Surviving these last several months can be viewed as a badge of pride, because the piece count disappeared overnight. But what does the future hold?

If the consumer has been doing garments at home and income is now diverted to obligations, we are going to have to give customers a strong reason to use our service.

As you reestablish your identity in the marketplace, consider an attitude of being a destination, rather than one of the many.

High-quality cleaning is the product of effort, based upon superior knowledge of garment characteristics. Your working knowledge of textiles must exceed that of the customer’s. That is what makes you a professional.

Your equipment is the tools of the industry, and how you use those tools is what sets you apart. Many times, the stain can be removed by having knowledge and putting forth the effort that your competitor is unable, or

unwilling, to give the customer.

Start by assessing the cleaner/spotter’s work area. Lighting in the area should, at minimum, approximate “daylight.” The fixture over the board should be parallel to, and about 4 feet above, the working surface. Using anti-fatigue matting will pay dividends in added stamina and comfort in the work area.

As the number of immersion choices has increased, the definition of “solvent-soluble” has differed from plant to plant. There is a variation in chemical content, leading to a trade-off of stain aggressiveness and textile friendliness in the machine.

Typically, solvent-soluble stains will be light oils and food grease that contacted the item at room temperature. Chemically soluble stains—paint, nail polish, makeup— will require some pre-treatment before immersion to ensure adequate removal in the machine. Water-soluble stains require some form of water for removal.

Some water-soluble stains can be removed with just neutral synthetic detergent and steam. If the staining material came from a plant, it is more effective to use

Looking toward recovery and reestablishing your business

Martin Young

an acid-based “tannin” product. If the staining mate rial came from an animal, it is more effective to use an alkaline-based “protein” product.

The most effective way to deal with an insoluble stain like carbon or graphite is to use a dry-side, oily type paint remover that will lubricate the material while ap plying mechanical action with the brush or bone.

Take this time to make an inspection of your dryclean ing machine. Pay close attention to the flow of solvent and air through the system. Start with adequate solvent in the base tank, because when the solvent level is too low, some particulate matter can mix with the solvent and clog your filtration. Under normal circumstances, these larger pieces will lay on the bottom until they are cleaned out by hand.

Test the solvent flow to be sure that the wheel fills to capacity in about 1 minute. If it takes longer than 1½ minutes to fill the wheel, you have a problem that should be corrected. Poor solvent turnover will lead to streaks, swales, and even redeposition.

Take the time to follow the outside air taken in by the ma chine. Most machines have several filters, including initial air intake, before the heating coil, and before the cooling coil.

Poor air circulation will result in inadequate and un even drying, leaving swales and a chemical smell in the items. If the programmed drying time isn’t getting the

job done, you have a problem that should be corrected.

It is easy to become complacent with the customer service area. Look closely at anything that is mounted in your windows. Replace decals that are faded, worn or out of date. Many times, you will find that posters have faded with time and need to be replaced.

Over time, your workflow may have changed when it comes to inspection, assembly and bagging. You can try out any changes while volume is returning to normal, without the “burden” of the normal workload.

Use this time. Don’t waste it. There will soon come a time when the garment care industry will find its new reality. It may or may not resemble what we had before. Wishing for yesterday will do no good. Make adjust ments that you have considered from time to time now.

Remain flexible in the coming months by paying close attention to new trends in customer attitudes. Don’t just survive—seize the moment and prosper. ADC

Martin L. Young Jr. has been an industry consultant and trainer for 20-plus years, and a member of various stakeholder groups on environmental issues. He grew up in his parents’ plant in Concord, N.C., Young Cleaners, which he operates today. Phone: 704-786-3011, email: mayoung@ctc.net.

Colmac adds Weimer, Doppenberg to its production staff

Colmac Industries reports it recently hired Heather Weimer and Matt Dopperberg to join its production staff.

“Heather comes from our sister company, Colmac Coil, and has been with the Colmac family since 2007,” says Dan Melvin, production manager. “She brings high-quality welding and brazing skills as well as good, natural mechanical abilities and understanding of refrigeration plumbing.”

“Matt has been an HVAC technician for several years and brings good electromechanical skills and an understanding of refrigeration,” says Dan Melvin, Colmac’s production manager. “He is a skilled hand at manufacturing, install, and troubleshooting heat pumps.”

Privately held Colmac Industries is the cornerstone of Colmac’s 200,000-square-foot corporate office, manufacturing, and research and development campus located in Washington state. Colmac produces garment-finishing equipment, automated soil-sorting and -counting equipment, and heat pump water heaters for commercial and industrial applications.

Briercheck joins Seitz NA as national director of marketing, development

Alexander Seitz, president of Seitz — The Fresher Compa ny (North America) and parent company Seitz GmbH, has welcomed Frank Briercheck to the company as its national director of marketing and development. Briercheck brings nearly 30 years of industry experience to his new post.

Briercheck owned and operated a drycleaning business, including dry stores, routes, restoration and formal

wear rental, in north-central Florida from 1991 to 2006 before accepting a position as director of marketing for the former Phenix Supply. He was later promoted to director of sales and marketing, a position he held for nearly 12 years, including time following Phenix’s acquisition by FabriClean Supply.

For the last three years, Briercheck has worked as a sales rep for Laundry Pro of Florida, building coin laundries, selling on-premise laundry equipment, and in sales/training of wetcleaning systems for Poseidon Textile Care in the U.S. Southeast.

As director of marketing and development for Seitz, Briercheck is tasked with the growth of solvent products, wet cleaning, and new markets in North America.

“We are excited about this opportunity and the knowledge Frank brings to the table,” says Kurt Wickiser, vice president of Seitz North America.

“I am proud of our industry and hope to be part of the direction it will evolve into,” Briercheck says. “Like it or not, dry cleaning changed in the 1970s with the polyester. It changed in the late 2000s with both the economic crash of 2009 and casual wear, and it will absolutely change post-COVID-19.”

He believes the industry will need to do things much dif ferently in this era and for the next generation of customers.

“I see the evolution of ‘Easy-Fast Laundry’ as the new frontier and we will be there with our customers all the way.”

‘The Jeffersons’ actor appears in campaign to support dry cleaners

With the COVID-19 pandemic having drastically slowed, or even shuttered, many businesses, including dry cleaners, Cleaner’s Supply recently launched a “Support Your Local Dry Cleaner” social media campaign.

Marla Gibbs, who portrayed wisecracking housekeeper Florence Johnston on the 1970s CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, is featured in the campaign. The show ran for 11 seasons and featured Sherman Hemsley as a New York City drycleaning business owner.

“A beloved character to so many, (Marla) helps bring

Doppenberg

Weimer

Briercheck

greater awareness about supporting your local dry cleaners,” Cleaner’s Supply says. “These posts have been widely shared on social media by dry cleaners and consumers alike.”

The series of engaging images and videos, posted over multiple social media platforms, is intended to bring visibility to often overlooked dryclean ing and laundry small businesses.

Many dry cleaners and laundries have been in the same family for generations, the supplier says. By in forming customers that most remained open as essential businesses, often with free pickup and delivery service or quick and safe store drop-off, Cleaner’s Supply says the campaign has “generated valuable traction and feedback for these local businesses.”

Gibb’s post plus others can be found on the Cleaner’s Supply Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ cleanersupply.

Industry vet Vollmer now heads Ascend Consulting Group

Ascend Consulting Group reports that Diana Vollmer has joined its San Francisco firm as managing director and senior consultant.

Vollmer will assist clients to maximize their profitabil ity, enterprise value and customer allegiance, with the im mediate objective to help businesses thrive in the current and post-COVID-19 environment.

Her expertise spans strategic business development, coaching, management, consumer research, fi nancial analysis, sales and marketing.

As a consultant, CEO peer-group leader, executive, business owner and individual contributor, she has success designing, managing, organizing and motivating teams to meet organizational and financial goals locally, nationally and globally, the firm says.

Her combination of experience in financial services, re tailing and commercial real estate provides a full-spectrum vantage point from which to view business, it adds.

Vollmer has an MBA in International Finance, and Stanford University-Advanced Management Certification. She is a columnist for American Drycleaner and an instructor for CINET.

www.americandrycleaner.com

Arizona Lapels owner helps med center with free mask cleaning

The impact of the COVID-19 crisis has hit many small businesses hard, says drycleaning franchisor Lapels, including Lapels Dry Cleaning of Yuma, Arizona, owned by Melody Dunn.

Yet her response has been to help out those on the front lines, cleaning masks for nurses from the Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) for free, it notes.

Dunn, a Yuma native who opened her drycleaning plant and store in late 2019, jumped at the chance to assist.

“One of the many reasons I bought a Lapels Dry Cleaning franchise was to come back to my hometown and be a part of the local community,” says Dunn, a former country music singer and broadcast reporter.

In addition to cleaning masks from Yuma Regional Medical Center, Lapels Dry Cleaning of Yuma has offered to clean nurses’ scrubs at a discounted rate, Lapels adds. With its free pickup and delivery service, the discounted rate makes it even more convenient.

“We’re extremely grateful to Melody and the staff at Lapels Dry Cleaning of Yuma for offering these services,” says Machele Headington, vice president marketing and communications at Yuma Regional Medical Center.

Zengeler Cleaners donates face masks

Zengeler Cleaners reports that, in the month of June, it donated face masks to Lake County Haven of Libertyville, Illinois, a social-service agency dedicated to meeting the needs of homeless women and children, using education, employment, and life-skills training to help people move from homelessness to independence.

“More and more local residents have turned to not-forprofit organizations for short-term assistance during this unusual time of need,” says Tom Zengeler, president of Zengeler Cleaners.

Zengeler Cleaners also donated masks to the Libertyville Food Pantry, an affiliate of the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Additional donations were planned for similar organizations in the Northbrook and Deerfield areas, the firm adds.

Zengeler Cleaners’ face-mask donation program is conducted in cooperation with Image Apparel Solutions of Wheeling, Ill.

Gibbs

Vollmer

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WRINKLE IN TIME

Lucky 13th

“Victory comes high,” says the blurb on the September 1945 cover of American Drycleaner. And it goes on to relate that a victory bond drive to help pay for the WWII allied efforts starts October 29, 1945. It concludes: “They finished their job — let’s finish ours.”

10 YEARS AGO. The service sector grew slightly in July, according to an Institute for Supply Management index. The index rose to 54.3 in July, from 53.8 and marking the seventh month of expansion. About 80% of U.S. employment is in the service sector’s hospitals, restaurants, airlines, dry cleaners and banks; an index level above 50 indicates growth.

35 YEARS AGO. “Be all that you can be,” writes Carter Thurk in his September 1985 column: “There was a time when a number of advertising themes centered around the catchphrase ‘No One Does It Better.’ There was a song of the same name, and it appeared in many types of advertising. Now the trend seems to be ‘Be the Best You Can Be’ or ‘Best We Can Be.’ You hear it on any number of commercials. And not to be left out, one of the Armed Services, the Army, uses the tagline, “Be all that you can be.”

50 YEARS AGO. Peddling More Than Ice Cream? The Good Humor people have devised a way to keep

their ice cream trucks on the road year-round. The company will remove the refrigeration units and Good Humor signs from their trucks during the off-season from September through March and lease them to other business firms. … Gift Glut Grows. Gift-giving to stimulate business is growing by leaps and bounds, but many feel it’s getting out of hand. Among items offered: golf clubs, radios and watches. A furniture store in Ohio had been giving away a free pony with any single purchase of $129 or more, but it stopped. A company spokesperson said: “The kids want ponies, the parents sure don’t!”

75 YEARS AGO. Lucky 13th. Friday the 13th was a lucky day for a man and his family of Belding, Mich. On that day, not long ago, he was discharged from the Army after 2½ years in the infantry and a year in Europe. He was taken out of the line because of trench foot, about the time Von Rundstedt broke through. He came home with five combat stars, a Presidential Citation, an Expert Infantry Combat Badge, and, after arriving in the States, received the Purple Heart. He had worked with his father in their plant and was well-versed in dry cleaning before he went to work for Uncle Sam.

ADC —Tim Burke

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