SALT LAKE CITY — As a Huebsch distributor, Zach Brewer, general manager of Rhino Laundry & Dry Cleaning, knew there was no better way to promote the brand than having his own laundromat.
So when a customer was about to retire in 2020, Brewer decided to purchase the run-down store. Financing the acquisition through Alliance Laundry Systems LLC, he renovated the West Valley City, Utah, facility (Rhino is based here in Salt Lake City), bought new Huebsch equipment and rebranded the laundromat Big Wash Laundromat and Dry Cleaning.
The first location was so successful that in March 2025, he added a second location about 15 minutes away in Kearns.
Brewer immediately realized the Huebsch Command™ cloud-based management platform did all the company promised. It helps one run a smarter laundry business by easily accepting mobile payments, controlling machines and managing operations from anywhere.
“It was easier to show our distributor customers that we believed in the business and the equipment because we were doing it ourselves,” says Brewer, a 21-year industry veteran. “Instead of getting the most inexpensive equipment that everyone else was pushing, we wanted it to be the newest, the greatest, the best technology, and be able to control the machines remotely.”
Huebsch Command allows Brewer to easily see which day is busiest (Sunday) and what size of machines is most popular (100-pound capacity), he explains.
“We have 20- to 100-pound machines, and discovered that the only time the 80-pound washers were used was when the 100-pound ones were already in use,” says Brewer, who started in the laundromat business as an installer and technician. “People’s perception was that bigger meant it will clean better.”
Now Big Wash works to educate its customers that the size of the washer doesn’t matter, and that customers could save money by using smaller machines when they only are washing 40-60 pounds of clothing. Employees and signage do the bulk of education, in an effort to keep all of its equipment in use.
Huebsch Command data also showed Brewer that people prefer to pay for dryer time per quarter, rather than spending $2.50 on a full dry.
“So we changed all the dryers to time per quarter, even though people now are actually spending more than $2.50,” he says.
However, Big Wash did get some pushback from people who didn’t want to download an app to pay to do their laundry.
“So we put credit card readers onto our West Valley City store. It’s been six months and it’s been interesting to see that about half of the customers are using the credit card system, compared to the 8% who previously paid through the app.”
However, app usage also increased in that time and is now about 13%, he says. At Big Wash’s Kearns store, about 75% of customers pay using the app. Brewer isn’t sure why there is such a difference since the two stores are so close in proximity.
However, he is optimistic that a new scan-to-pay option will serve as a better option for those customers who don’t want to download an app. People simply scan to pay as a guest through Huebsch Command, similar to how they would pay at a restaurant. However, it’s too early to have data regarding its success, he says.
Check back Thursday for the conclusion
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].
