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.”
The associated app is extremely helpful for Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Brewer says.
Big Wash Laundromat offers new customer incentives of $15 when a customer uses the app and signs up for the rewards program. Depending on wash and dry purchases, customers receive points that are then converted to rewards of wash and dry credits that start at $5 and scale up to $50.
“We know who our top spenders are and give them extra rewards to their account as a thank-you,” he says.
The app also helps Big Wash Laundromat reengage with customers who haven’t been back for a while and encourages repeat visitors, according to Brewer.
For instance, it just connected with 40 of those customers, and about 25% did come back in when it gave them a $15-$20 rewards credit. That’s an impressive percentage when you add in that many of the customers emailed back that they had since moved or had just been traveling through.
It’s also considering awarding rewards members additional credits if they do their wash on Wednesdays, the laundry’s slowest business day, instead of its always-busy Sundays, says Brewer.
Education is key, he adds, with employees and signage encouraging patrons to participate in the rewards program. Big Wash also offers rewards credits to those who give referrals.
Overall, Huebsch technology has helped the business grow immensely, Brewer says.
Staff logs in daily to check if all machines are operating efficiently or if maintenance needs to be done. If a customer calls in saying they are getting an error message, staff can also remotely start the equipment — and give the customer a rewards credit for his or her inconvenience.
Since the local population is heavily Hispanic, Big Wash’s attendants all speak Spanish. And since it’s using Touch technology in the West Valley City laundromat, every other machine is defaulted to Spanish, too.
To make a price change, all that workers must do is log into the Huebsch portal on a computer. Otherwise, they use the app to monitor just about everything else.
“We like that there are so many options on Huebsch’s Touch technology,” Brewer says. “Many customers love that they can make custom cycles.” Big Wash is also considering adding automated chemical injection, he adds.
But for Brewer, the app offers Big Wash Laundromat convenience.
“The customer relations side of it has been awesome,” he says. “At times, we’ll be walking through the store and we’ll see customers and say, ‘Let me start this machine for you. Thanks for being a customer.’ And I can do that just by pulling out my phone and giving them a free wash.”
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