CHICAGO — It’s one thing to handle drop-off work but taking on commercial accounts may require a different approach entirely.
What must you consider? How do you identify potential accounts? How does taking on such work impact equipment, space and staff? How do you balance doing commercial work with serving walk-in customers?
American Coin-Op reached out to some manufacturer reps and distributor reps this month, as well as some store owners, to ask them for their analysis of what it takes for the average self-service laundry to “go commercial.”
Q: How might serving commercial accounts impact a store’s equipment (mix, of machines, etc.)?
Christopher Brick, regional sales manager, Maytag Commercial Laundry: If the possibility of one day adding commercial accounts is considered when designing a store, it is recommended to add three to four additional multi-load machines to meet the needs of both store and commercial customers during peak times. If the layout of the store allows, it is best to place the larger multi-load machines near the attendants’ work area so they can more easily process commercial account linens. An additional consideration is counter space; ample space is a must.
John Olsen, vice president, Vended Laundry Products, Laundrylux: It’s important that a Laundromat have enough machines to handle the commercial account business without interfering with the core self-service business. Larger high-spin, soft-mount, front-load washers and dryers designated for attendant use only are typically needed in order to accommodate the increased commercial business.
Tony Regan, senior vice president Global Sales, American Dryer Corp.: It all depends on how much and the effect it has on the numbers of cycles (or additional cycles) each machine will get. One should look at the effect it has on their core customers. If people are waiting, it might mean a need to add more machines (if possible). Commercial accounts normally mean a need for larger equipment to handle the higher volume of laundry.
Tom Weisheipl, regional sales manager, Speed Queen: When you first size a store for equipment, you want the proper mix and number of machines to handle peak periods of the walk-in vended business to reflect the demographics of the trade area. However, if you are going to add commercial accounts, you will want to make sure you have some larger capacities, such as 60-pounders, 80-pounders and maybe a 100-pound machine to handle the larger loads. If the store is simply full of top-load washers, you may want to think twice about adding commercial accounts.
Q: Should a laundry process commercial work while walk-in customers are present or should it treat commercial work as a separate “division” to be processed during off-hours?
Olsen: Ideally, the commercial work should be processed during off-peak hours. Many Laundromat owners start off utilizing their daytime attendant, then as the commercial business takes on additional accounts, they hire separate staff to process commercial accounts during off-peak hours.
Regan: This depends on the size of the laundry vs. the volume of commercial work. The key is not to affect the day-to-day walk-in customers, since that is the foundation of the vended laundry. While the commercial work is usually highly efficient and can be profitable if done correctly, it normally subsidizes the main self-service business.
Weisheipl: I think most laundries do the commercial work while walk-in customers are present and that is absolutely fine, as long as you are not affecting their ability to use machines they want to use. Walk-in business is the bread-and-butter for a vended laundry. In most situations, the commercial account work is done during the week when the walk-in business is slowest. There are some laundries that have put in a couple of larger OPL machines along with matching dryers in a back room to handle the commercial and drop-off laundry. There are others that process the commercial work only after hours. The decision on how you handle it should be based on how it affects your walk-in business.
Brick: Attendants need to ensure that walk-in customers’ needs are being met, the cleanliness of the store is not sacrificed as a result of the commercial linens being processed, and that patrons have plenty of folding stations available for use. If these conditions can be met, there is typically little issue with commercial work being completed during typical “store hours.”
New Wave Laundry Services, Sterling Heights, Mich.
Mike “Stucky” Szczotka, president of Eagle Star Equipment, a full-line distributor offering laundry and drycleaning sales and service, got into the coin-op business himself by opening the card-based New Wave Laundromat about a dozen years ago.
“The reason I opened the store was because I wanted to really understand the self-service industry,” says Szczotka, who also owns retail and commercial drycleaning operations. “If, in fact, I was going to sell them, I wanted to make sure I was speaking reality.”
When the store didn’t produce the level of revenue he was expecting, and he understood that the average Laundromat’s four turns per day uses only a small percentage of its true capabilities, he began looking at commercial work.
He sent his youngest son, and working partner, Darin out to drum up business. After “trying lots of different businesses,” they found that plastic surgeons, massage therapists and party rental firms were the “best candidates.”
New Wave Laundry Services operates from the 3,498-square-foot New Wave Laundromat, but markets its services under its own logo and tagline. It processes roughly 3,000 pounds of commercial work weekly; Szczotka says walk-in business comes in just under 50% of total volume, commercial accounts is around 40%, and ancillary services 10%.
Some equipment—a 76-inch flatwork ironer and a 55-pound washer for high-temperature laundering—is used specifically for commercial work, Szczotka says. Other equipment includes a multitude of washers (three 75-pounders, 10 50-pounders, 14 30-pounders and 10 20-pounders) and dryers (six 75-pounders and 16 30-pound stacks) available for either walk-in or commercial. All of the equipment is made by Continental Girbau. Szczotka also pointed out the store’s three Hamilton Engineering water heaters and the Card Concepts card system.
The store is attended; there are five employees besides his son. The New Wave Laundry Services van covers pickup and delivery routes six days a week. “(My son) was a partner from day one, but he was pretty much chained to that building when it was open. Once we got the commercial business coming in, we now had the revenue to actually hire people and create a business.”
Turnaround times vary depending on quantity and need, Szczotka says. For example, one account is served six days a week with next-day turnaround.
Commercial work is processed “in concert with our walk-in customers” Monday through Friday, because there’s little very daytime activity in the store then, he explains. “We’re utilizing the equipment that I’ve already made a very large capital investment in to turn during the week, starting when we open at 8 o’clock in the morning to probably around 3 in the afternoon. It never restricts anybody from using any size of machine they want.”
Touching further on the walk-in/commercial balance, Szczotka proclaims, “I think that we could pretty much almost double what we’re putting through without disrupting any of my walk-in business.”
Check back Thursday for Part 3!
Miss Part 1? You can read it HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Bruce Beggs at [email protected].