Content about Occupational safety and health

PEMBROKE, Mass. — Dry cleaners lose customers all the time. There’s a fight and the cleaner knows the customer will never come back.

A wholesale account calls to complain about pricing and announces it will find somewhere else to do business.

A customer is so annoyed that the cleaner didn’t have the order ready as promised that she’ll never be seen again.

Most dry cleaners shrug, and say they’ll do better next time. They also feel they tried their best and nothing more could be done.

This is the wrong approach. The dry cleaner should resolve to make up the lost customer by replacing her with new business. In fact, this should become the dry cleaner’s mantra: I will not let business go without replacing it.

This tactic will stop you from accepting of whatever the market brings, and could propel you forward. It should. This practice could be called “determined progress.”

PHOENIX — Panda Dry Cleaners LLC, in collaboration with Procter & Gamble (P&G), recently opened its first Tide Dry Cleaners stores in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas, and has now opened a second, this one in the Phoenix suburb of Ahwatukee.

The franchise locations are the first of five that Panda Dry Cleaners LLC plans to build this year. Chief executives of Panda Express fast-food restaurants established the company.

“We are very excited to have the opportunity to partner with Panda Dry Cleaners LLC to help us expand and further grow the Tide Dry Cleaners business,” says Jeff Wampler, CEO of Agile Pursuits Franchising, a wholly owned subsidiary of P&G. “Their expertise in real estate and development, coupled with our experience in consumer branding and understanding, will create a win-win opportunity for customers within the drycleaning industry.”

SAN FRANCISCO — The lifestyle changes of consumers (most notably more casual attire), their extremely hectic lifestyles that limit time and/or desire to run errands, and the downward economic pressure in general have all been factors in the search for alternative profit centers to maintain the economic health of the fabricare industry.

I’m going to address some of the alternatives that are contributing to the sales and profit of cleaners. It is important to remember that any and all of them take careful planning and execution to be successful.

DISASTER RESTORATION

Disaster restoration divisions, with their large orders on the positive side, and the uncertainty of demand on the negative side, have been a common and welcome addition to many companies.

Anyone considering entering this business for the first time is advised to thoroughly research the required initial investment, potential challenges of collection, and the extremely aggressive competition in the sales process. If these factors are manageable, a professional team is required to make this business a success.

CHICAGO — It’s not unusual for a retail dry cleaner to also offer a commercial service, and hotel/motel guest dry cleaning is the most common one offered among the operators polled in this month’s AmericanDrycleaner.com Wire survey.

Sixty percent of operators that responded to the anonymous survey provide dry cleaning for hotel/motel guests. Next most popular is uniform/workwear services at 40%, followed closely by “other” at 33.3%. Services listed as “other” included police uniforms, table linen and chef jackets for catering companies, and spa linens.

Roughly 27% of respondents process healthcare linens, 20% clean restaurant/food service linens, and 13.3% process hotel/motel linens and napery.

Forty percent of respondents say they plan to add a commercial service or expand their existing commercial capacity in the next 12 months. The remainder is not planning additions or expansion.

Respondents that offer commercial services say this work accounts for, on average, 4.9% of their gross sales and 4.4% of their profits.

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada — Clean Canada, The Canadian Launderers and Dry Cleaners Exposition, returns this spring with more than 100 exhibitors showing products and services to more than 4,000 laundry and dry cleaning professionals.

The Toronto Congress Centre will play host to the April 13-15 event sponsored by the Canadian Cleaners & Launderers Allied Trades Association. Visit www.cleancanadashow.ca for more information.

GRANDVIEW, Mo. — Pride Cleaners turned the shell of a former ice skating rink into a bright, clean central processing plant that services its 37 stores throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area. It processes around 10,000 pieces a day in season.

After the 22,000-square-foot building was cleaned out, Pride had to bring in new power, gas and water services. Every piece of equipment had to be installed, and offices were built.

The plant was laid out to best fit the workflow needed for drycleaning, laundry and alteration services. Laundry and drycleaning work is separated, and flows from the washing/drycleaning machines through the press area, down to assembly, and out to the trucks in a U-shaped design.

Among Pride’s key pieces of equipment is Fulton boilers, Unipress finishing equipment, Metalprogetti auto-sort systems, Union drycleaning machines, petroleum reclaimers, Kaeser air compressor, and a Kemco hot-water system.

CONCORD, N.C. — A new year brings new opportunities for those prepared to take advantage. You’re no doubt heard the saying, “Foolishness is continuing to do what you have always done and expecting different results.” Make the adjustments in your business model now to capture and keep the customers that will be on the move in the coming year.

The best time to plant an apple tree is 20 years ago, to have apples today. The second best time to plant an apple tree is today, to have apples in the future. If you never get around to planting the apple tree, you will never have apples.

Drycleaning volume may not return to the levels of 10 years ago in the foreseeable future; cleaners are being forced to make do with the lower garment count. The industry is saturated with processing plants that are based on speed and/or price. The niche in the marketplace is reliable stain removal by a knowledgeable operator.

Stain removal is quickly becoming a valuable commodity. Not only does it contribute to the bottom line, it leads to increased customer loyalty.

LAUREL, Md. — The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute recently graduated its 353rd Advanced Drycleaning Course class, consisting of eight students.

The course covered advanced aspects of running a dry cleaning business. Students learned the finer points of cleaning, finishing, stain removal, cleaning wedding gowns, and much more.

DLI has been the premier international trade association for garment care professionals since 1883, representing retail dry cleaning and laundry facilities in the United States and around the world. DLI’s School of Drycleaning Technology has offered education on dry cleaning since 1927.

Visit www.ifi.org for more information on DLI and its classes.

CINCINNATI — The Hub Magazine, a business and marketing publication that showcases innovation and breakthrough ideas, has awarded Tide Dry Cleaners® its 2011 Ultimate Hub Prize. The inaugural edition of the competition celebrates best-in-class excellence and innovation in the retail experience and environment.

Tide Dry Cleaners operates in six retail locations in Kansas City and Greater Cincinnati, and is developing additional outlets across the United States through a network of individual franchisees and entrepreneurs.

“We are both honored and humbled to be awarded the 2011 Ultimate Hub Prize,” says Aaron Eisel, director of marketing, Tide Dry Cleaners. “We feel very strongly about this business and the impact we can deliver for our customers, and are thrilled to see such positive recognition from The Hub Magazine, its subscribers, and its highly distinguished and experienced panel of judges.”

CONCORD, N.C. — If you have been in the industry for less than three years, if you have never received formal training in the “ins and outs” of garment care, if you are dependent on outside salesmen for your information and technical set-up, I urge you to take a minute or two and read this column. It will cover a variety of subjects related to stain removal, and even a little about good, basic dry cleaning that contributes to stain removal.

I have the opportunity to visit a variety of operating plants during a given year and see the ideas of other business people being applied. It breaks my heart to meet someone who has invested their own money plus borrowed money, only to find that volume was much less than they expected. Each and every time, I find someone who failed to research the technical side of cleaning and assumed that buying equipment and leasing space were going to make them rich. Pride goes before destruction.

LAUREL, Md. – The Drycleaning & Laundry Institute’s (DLI) first-ever On the Road course recently brought the basics of drycleaning to Minneapolis, Minn.

Brian Johnson, DLI director of education and analysis, taught seven students the ins and outs of drycleaning, finishing, stain removal and more. E. Weinberg Supply and Best Cleaners provided the instruction environment, and students were able to learn processes and skills with DLI’s customary hands-on approach.

“DLI is planning to do more of these courses in other areas,” says Johnson, “and we’re working with our state affiliates to determine the specifics.”

Some students expressed an interest in learning advanced drycleaning in their home areas as well, he says. “We’re looking into how we can adapt the Advanced Drycleaning Course to the On the Road format.”

The next DLI On the Road course is slated for Nov. 14-18 in West Palm Beach, Fla. New England and Texas are being targeted for potential stops.

CHICAGO — Not so long ago, when you looked up “green” in the dictionary, there was a brief definition about color or pigment. Today, it’s difficult to read or hear the word “green” without also thinking of the environment, of conservation, of sustainability.

When writing about greening a business operation such as a drycleaner, it’s difficult to know where to start. There are so many different ways that a cleaner could boost its environmental profile, and so many different areas that are candidates for green initiatives.

And while going green could involve a decision to invest in new equipment, chemicals or supplies, there are low-cost, common sense changes that can also make a drycleaner more enviro-friendly.

OPPORTUNITIES TO GREEN

Every part of a drycleaning operation can be engineered to be “greener.” As you examine your operation for opportunities, here are just a few things to include on your checklist: