American Coin-Op - February 2020

Emergency/recovery plans can make all the difference when fire, flood or other catastrophe strikes

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CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2020 VOLUME 61 ISSUE 2

COVER STORY

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS Emergency/recovery plans can make all the difference when fire, flood or other catastrophe strikes. Plus, take a look at two stores rocked by disaster.

8

(Cover image: © depositphotos/Olga Bonitas)

INSIDE

COLUMNS

12 CONDUCTING COLLECTIONS

Taking precautions while collecting and handling monies will make it more difficult for any criminal opportunist looking to take advantage of the situation. A trio of store owners share their collection protocols and offer advice to better ensure your safety while performing the task.

18 GOIN’ WITH COHEN: PICKING UP

& RAMPING UP

Laurance Cohen visits Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Queen City Laundry chain of Dave Menz. Menz, General Manager Marlene Adams and a team of pros don’t wait for clothes to come in — they go get ’em, averaging 400 weekly pickups by a three-truck fleet traversing nine routes.

22 POINTERS FROM PAULIE B: TEMPERATURE CONTROL AND CUSTOMER COMFORT Retired multi-store owner Paul Russo thinks many Laundromats around the country have not yet realized they need to keep their inside temps comfortable, especially during winter and summer. He talks makeup air, heat pumps, HVAC, split units and more in support of customer comfort.

18

A CLOSER LOOK

DEPARTMENTS 4 VIEWPOINT 6 INDUSTRY SURVEY 26 PRODUCT NEWS

2

27 CALENDAR 30 CLASSIFIEDS 31 AD INDEX

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Dave Menz (left) and Marlene Adams spearheaded an expansion from selfservice laundry into drop-off and pickup and delivery.

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VIEWPOINT

Charles Thompson, Publisher E-mail: cthompson@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1680

Donald Feinstein, Associate Publisher/ National Sales Director E-mail: dfeinstein@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1682

PLAN FOR WORST, HOPE FOR BEST

Bruce Beggs

In one case, the catastrophe was a tornado in a state that rarely sees such things.

In another, the rain fell. And fell. And fell. Then the roof did.

This month’s cover story, Disaster Preparedness (starting on page 8), addresses why having emergency and recovery plans in place can make all the difference when fire, flood or other catastrophe strikes.

And part of that planning should certainly include securing the proper insurance and understanding what that coverage will provide in the event of business interruption and the need to rebuild.

Montana’s Lake Elmo Coin-Op was felled by a Father’s Day tornado in 2010 but rose from the rubble a year later, reborn as Spin Fresh Laundry.

California’s Clean Coin Launderland saw its 2019 open along with its roof, collapsed under the weight of an historic rainstorm.

That store is being rebuilt as you read this and is poised to reopen soon.

Are you prepared for the unexpected? How about the expected?

Now is the time to revisit your emergency plan—or to start putting yours together—so when a dryer fire fills your store with smoke, an inattentive driver accidentally jumps the curb and runs through your front window, or any one of a thousand other whatifs become reality, you’ll know how to take that first step toward recovery.

The other main feature this month is Conducting Collections, starting on page 12. Collecting a store’s income can make the owner vulnerable to attack, so we examine precautions you can take to thwart any would-be robber with an eye on your prize.

This issue’s buzzwords are preparation and vigilance. Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Be safe, everyone!

Bruce Beggs Editorial Director

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Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director E-mail: bbeggs@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1683 Roger Napiwocki, Production Manager Nathan Frerichs, Digital Media Director E-mail: nfrerichs@ATMags.com Phone: 312-361-1681

ADVISORY BOARD Jaimie Johnson Tony Regan Michael Schantz Andy Wray

Douglas Pratt Sharon Sager Luke Williford

OFFICE INFORMATION Main: 312-361-1700

SUBSCRIPTIONS 630-739-0900 x100 www.AmericanCoinOp.com

American Coin-Op (ISSN 0092-2811) is published monthly. Subscription prices, payment in advance: U.S., 1 year $46.00; 2 years $92.00.

Foreign, 1 year $109.00; 2 years $218.00.

Single copies $9.00 for U.S., $18.00 for all other countries. Published by American Trade Magazines LLC, 650 West Lake Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60661. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER, Send changes of address and form 3579 to American Coin-Op, Subscription Dept., 440 Quadrangle Drive, Suite E, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. Volume 61, number 2. Editorial, executive and advertising offices are at 650 West Lake Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60661. Charles Thompson, President and Publisher. American Coin-Op is distributed selectively to owners, operators and managers of chain and individually owned coin-operated laundry establishments 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 Coin-Op 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 Coin-Op 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.

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INDUSTRY SURVEY

MIND YOUR SURROUNDINGS WHEN COLLECTING: OWNERS

To read other Your Views survey stories, visit www.americancoinop.com 6

AMERICAN COIN-OP FEBRUARY 2020

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A majority of self-service laundry owners who were polled conduct collections two or three times a week (49.0%) while nearly onethird of respondents collect almost every day (29.4%), according to the results of the latest Your Views survey by American Coin-Op. Other store owners choose to collect once a week (19.6%) while the remainder collect “whenever [they] get around to it” (2.0%).

Laundromat owners can become vulnerable to robbery or attack while collecting their store’s income so it makes sense that taking precautions is commonplace among the respondents.

Roughly 73% say they “collect during daytime and/or business hours,” 58.8% “handle and transport cash discreetly” and 43.1% make a point to “vary [their] collection schedule.”

Other precautions being taken include carrying a weapon (29.4%), having another person accompany them to assist (23.5%) and varying their driving route to/from their bank or home (9.8%).

Respondents further indicate that being aware of your surroundings while collecting may be your most important precaution: • “While I do collect almost every day, it is one or two rows only so no one sees a bunch of coins at one time. If someone looks funny to me, I skip collecting for that day.”

• “I always take careful note of the parking lot and people in and around my store. If it appears unsafe, I do not collect at that time.”

• “Be aware of your surroundings when collecting and don’t carry on a conversation with anyone while doing it. Bad guys can try to distract you ... while they or someone else robs you.”

The types of payment methods a self-service laundry accepts can influence its collection protocols. Virtually every store owner who took the survey—92.2%—accepts quarters. Other payment methods accepted by respondents include debit/credit card (31.4%), dollar coins (23.5%), mobile such as Apple Pay or Google Pay (21.6%), store loyalty card (13.7%), tokens (5.9%) or “other” (2.0%).

And it’s fairly commonplace for store owners to gather information or data while making collections. Those who utilize networked equipment or payment systems frequently collect performance data from those sources, sometimes even dialing in remotely to do so.

Other store owners handle the practice manually, counting revenue by machine types and determining the number of turns per day per machine. This information is logged using a computer or even written by hand in a notebook or ledger.

American Coin-Op’s Your Views survey presents an unscientific snapshot of the trade audience’s viewpoints at a particular moment.

Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Subscribers to American Coin-Op e-mails are invited to participate anonymously in the industry survey. The entire audience is encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define owner/operator opinions and industry trends. ACO www.americancoinop.com

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Emergency/recovery plans can make all the difference when fire, flood or other catastrophe strikes

by Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director

(Image: © Depositphotos/Olga Bonitas)

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“Look at the risks that you can see within your business and within your environment. From a natural disaster standpoint, different things are happening in California versus the Midwest versus the Southeast.

You don’t want to address all those issues, you just want to address the things that have potential to impact your business.”

But beyond that, you have to prepare should an event elsewhere cause problems that indirectly impact you, such as a supplier being unable to get a product to you or the shop you rely on to repair your equipment being unable to service your needs.

“The first step is really just thinking about what those risks are and then bulleting all of them out,” Steiner says. “The next step is thinking about things that [you] can do to prepare for that.”

With the repair example, is there another shop that you could turn to for equipment service temporarily until your primary shop is back up?

Having adequate insurance coverage and a good relationship with your primary

insurer is key to being able to respond to events that impact a laundry directly, such as fire.

“That’s a huge part of it, getting with your insurance agent and really understanding what kind of coverage you need and how they service a business in the event that you have one of these incidents,” Steiner says.

A store owner should be able to access his or her disaster preparedness plan immediately as needed, and its contents should be shared with every manager and attendant, he adds.

“Really, everyone should be informed of the disaster recovery plan,” Steiner says.

“As an example, you have a natural disaster situation, the owner’s not available and they’re the only one to have that information, then nothing’s going to start moving forward until they deal with their things personally to come back and start working on things in the business.”

Having informed employees who can work safely to activate your plan as ▲

o business is immune to the effects of a fire, flood or other catastrophe but when the unthinkable happens, disaster preparedness will help an affected laundry focus on doing what’s needed to preserve its operations and reopen as quickly as possible.

“A disaster recovery plan is really your strategy that looks at potential risks to your business, whether it’s from natural disasters, manmade disasters,” says Robert “Bo” Steiner, director of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Illinois district office. “It’s basically that strategy that you put on paper that looks at what those risks are and how you will either mitigate any kind of adverse impacts, or the processes by which you’ll recover from something that happens in your business.”

Your planning should address the risks common to your business (dryer fire, water line break, etc.) and to your region of the country (different types of severe weather), he says.

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■ Clean Coin Launderland: When the Rains Came It’s been a bittersweet couple of years for Richard and Helen Nakawatase and their Clean Coin Launderland. Shortly after remodeling their Los Angeles store and upgrading laundry equipment in August 2018, the couple learned that Helen had been diagnosed with cancer and kidney failure; she’s now on chemotherapy and dialysis, Richard says.

Business began to pick up and things were looking good at the end of 2018 as a smaller coin-op down the street had to close due to rent increases.

“Our revenue in mid-December and January (2019) was really up and things were looking really rosy after many lean years,” says Nakawatase.

But on Feb. 2, 2019, things came crashing down. The Los Angeles area was hit by a deluge of rain. By mid-afternoon, the downpour proved too much for Clean Coin’s roof and a sizable section collapsed. No one was hurt but the store has been closed ever since.

“It’s a hassle dealing with our insurance and also with the landlord and their insurance, since the roof had to be replaced, but to do so they had to move whatever equipment was in the store that was still good,” Nakawatase says.

“Our insurance company had to determine if it was more costeffective for them to just replace everything new or move, store, recertify the equipment, etc.

“This took a while but in the end, they decided to total everything since they also weren’t sure how the computer boards, etc., were going to be affected by being in the damp store for weeks.”

Today, the roof has been replaced and contractors are working to rebuild the laundry.

Once all-new equipment is installed, the store could reopen by mid-April, according to Nakawatase.

“Assuming we get up and running as planned, having good insurance, capital saved, and using a public insurance adjust-

quickly as possible will be vital to getting your business back up and running.

Communicating with staff before, during and after a catastrophe also plays a significant role in preparedness and recovery. “(It’s about) having a phone tree or some other mechanism where you can easily communicate with your team to do everything from saying, ‘Hey, don’t come in to the office today,’ to ‘OK, here’s what happened, these are the next steps that we’re going to take.’”

You should also communicate with customers in some fashion, whether through social media or e-mail, to keep them informed of your store’s status.

“By overcommunicating, you build credibility with your team and with your customers because they understand what’s going on, they understand—to the extent you can share—what’s happened and why 10

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A freak February 2019 deluge caused part of the roof at the Clean Coin Launderland, Los Angeles, to collapse (top). Today, contractors are working to rebuild the laundry, which could reopen by mid-April. (Photos courtesy Richard Nakawatase & Michael Ambrose) er has been helpful,” he says.

“The adjuster gets 10% of the recovered amount from the insurance company, but I am pretty sure I would be going crazy if we hadn’t used them.

“Getting good advice from Michael (Ambrose with distributor Western State Design) has also been helpful.”

Nakawatase doesn’t think anyone could’ve truly prepared for what befell Clean Coin.

“At the end of the day, we will have a brand-new store, replacing one that has been in the family for over 40 years,” he says. “So, to look at the bright side, it will end up being a good thing out of a bad situation.”

ACO

“You have to have that training session with your team so they understand what they’re supposed to do. …

It also gives you the opportunity to get feedback from the team: ‘We understand the business at this front-line level and these are some of the things this plan doesn’t address.’”

You can go through preparedness drills that involve taking physical actions but even having what Steiner calls a “tabletop exercise” can help a store owner and his/her staff talk through different scenarios and their individual responsibilities.

“Those conversations will identify areas where the plan needs work or areas where it’s really working well and you can see how it will work in (Image: © Depositphotos/iqoncept) real life,” he says.

A disaster supplies kit can prove useful in they may or may not have access to the facilities or the resources they’re used to, as times of trouble.

“It’s things that the team that’s on-site well as a timeline for them to come back.”

With a plan in place, training personnel comes next. (continued on page 28) www.americancoinop.com

1/14/20 8:32 AM

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Conducting Collections Take safety precautions and keep any would-be robbers guessing

by Bruce Beggs, Editorial Director

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we need to make our businesses hard to rob and significantly higher risk of being caught. Don’t be the easy target.”

Peter Mayberry owns four Anytime Laundry stores and the Golden Horse Laundry, all in the Omaha, Nebraska, area.

“All of my laundries have DC/QC (dollar coins and quarters) but you only get DC from the coin dispensers, so I consider myself DCM, or ‘dollar coin mostly,’” he says. “I have one store that accepts credit cards and Apple/Google Pay and another store that accepts an app-based payment that you can link a credit card to in addition to the DC/QC acceptance.”

Mayberry collects each of his stores once a week and takes a variety of precautions when doing so.

“I always collect during the day when there are a fair amount of customers in the store,” he says. “I have every change machine located behind a wall, and all my entrance doors to these rooms are behind metal doors with metal studs. I also always

use a box of chips, pop, or maintenance bag to carry cash. My main location has a garage that I also can pull into, which helps because no one ever knows when I am actually in the building.

“In addition to these measures, I also have crazy-heavy safes at all my locations that came with a bank I purchased to convert into a laundry. … I always carry (a weapon). When I say always, what I mean (is) there is no point in my day that a firearm ranging from a Glock 42 all the way to an AR-15 is more than an arm’s reach away. I also have a taser that I carry but that’s mostly for encounters with people tripping on drugs.”

Mayberry admits that his precautions may seem extreme to some but he takes them because of certain circumstances. One of his stores lies between a pawn shop and a tobacco shop, each of which has been the scene of a clerk’s shooting death.

Randy Land owns Lucky Laundry in Santa Clara, California. His store

▲

ollecting your laundry’s coins and currency is important not only because you’re gathering the lifeblood that keeps your operation pumping, it’s an action that can put you or your staff at risk if the routine renders you inattentive.

Taking precautions while collecting and handling monies will make it more difficult for any opportunist looking to take advantage of the situation.

Karl Hinrichs is president of distributor HK Laundry Equipment based in New York state but also owns and operates four Laundromats. For years, he’s been preaching laundry security by making it hard for crooks to anticipate one’s behavior patterns and by utilizing video surveillance.

“Luckily, most crooks don’t care where they get the money; they only want to rob the low-risk establishments,” he once wrote in his company’s newsletter. “If the risk vs. reward is too large, they will go find easier targets. As Laundromat owners,

(Photo: © iStockphoto/marchmeena29)

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accepts quarters as well as debit or credit card payments. He collect his store’s income every five to seven days.

“I vary the schedule based on how full the coin boxes are,” Land says. “I use the FasCard system for credit/debit payments and the software records all transactions.

When I collect, I will do it during a quiet time and business is slow. If I need to collect during peak times, such as the weekend, I will wait until closing time and turn off all of the lights and lock the doors. Easy for me to see outside if anyone is casing the business, and hard for anyone outside to see what I’m doing or if anyone is actually inside. Collections take about 20 minutes for 40 machines.”

Luke Williford of The Wash House Inc. manages some 18 locations for his family’s growing chain of stores based in Raleigh, N.C. “We have several quarter-only stores left. We are converting all these stores to loyalty card. Collections are more frequent, less safe and more time-consuming in coin stores,” he says. “We have several loyalty card-only stores (customers add value to their loyalty card with cash, credit card or Apple Pay and then use the card on washers and dryers). Collections are less frequent, safer and less time-consuming at these locations.”

Williford takes a number of precautions when collecting, including: • Always during daylight hours • With two or more staff – never alone • Carrying a pistol (concealed or exposed) • Knowing the surroundings and vetting the people who are in the store • Checking restrooms, suspicious cars and any other “hidden” locations before starting the collection process, and • Working from the back of the store to the front so his back is never toward the store entrance.

He also favors saying little to nothing about one’s collections practices: “Knowledge is the most vital thing in our business. Once knowledge is let out, it cannot be retracted. Stay discreet.”

Currency from all Wash House stores is pulled and taken out of a location once per week unless during the holiday season or because of other circumstances, he says.

“However, coin store coins have to be collected and returned to the change machine two-three times per week depending on the 14

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No matter when you collect your store’s income, know your surroundings and remain vigilant. If anything seems out of sorts, hold off on collecting until another time. (Photo: © Depositphoto/innovatedcaptures) volume of the location. We call this recycling process a ‘pull,’ not a collection.

“Pull vs. collect is just trained internal verbiage. We also never use the word ‘cash.’ We replace the word ‘cash’ with ‘paperwork’ in all conversations. … Cardonly stores are collected one time per week.”

What piece of advice would these store owners offer to newcomers about collections?

he had a full-time job, he collected at night. One night about three months in, he noticed a man sitting in a car by the front door. A few minutes later, a second man exited that car and walked over and lingered by the laundry’s second entrance.

“Since I had cable TV, a fridge and a comfy office, I counted the cash and then hung out for three hours, eating and watching TV, until they decided to finally leave,” Mayberry says. “This was the day that I decided to seriously step up my collection process and the last time I ever collected a store that was empty.”

“Evil prays upon the weak. You must be honest when assessing your or your staff’s vulnerability and be OK pointing out and swifting addressing any vulnerabilities,” Williford says. “Each collection, area and store layout is different, (so) approach it as such. Make changes where changes are needed, and I can’t stress enough to not get distracted.”

In the end, if confronted by someone who wants to rob you, give them what they want and survive.

“If threatened with bodily harm, give them the cash,” says Hinrichs. “Cash can always be replaced, your health cannot.”ACO ACO

“As Laundromat owners, we need to make our businesses hard to rob and significantly higher risk of being caught. Don’t be the easy target.”

—Karl Hinrichs, distributor/store owner “Always consider who is in the store prior to collecting,” says Land. “Be ready to stop collecting and secure what you’ve collected if you don’t feel comfortable.”

“Know that people are paying attention,” warns Mayberry, who recalls a dicey encounter he had as a fledgling owner.

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GOIN’ WITH

COHEN

Picking Up & Ramping Up Bundling laundry services opens door to new model

D

by Laurance Cohen

ave Menz is cooking up something mighty fine in Cincinnati and wants to share the recipe.

It’s not the city’s famous chili, but just as hot.

Ingredients are picked up daily, prepared overnight and delivered fresh to the customer’s doorstep. Forget food and think clothing. Menz isn’t stirring pots. He’s turning machines.

His Queen City Laundry chain may dot eastern Cincy with four stores, but the customer base encompasses an entire metro area and stretches across the mighty Ohio River into northern Kentucky thanks to a strategy employed at its 5,200-square-foot Mount Washington outpost.

Here is where Menz, General Manager

Marlene Adams and a team of pros don’t wait for clothes to come in — they go get ’em. The operator tells me pickup and delivery rings up 70% of sales at the branch with some 30,000 pounds of wash a month.

And in a little over three years, the customer database has hit the 1,200 mark, logging an average of 400 weekly pickups by a threetruck fleet traversing nine routes.

The orders might be shuttled through the back door but they’re handled up front.

Nightly at 10, Queen City’s self-service floor gives way to what Menz calls his “factory” — a third-shift moneymaker that the owner says generates approximately $600,000 of the chain’s $1.5 million in annual sales.

Bundling over-the-road and do-it-yourself laundry services under one roof has been such a hit, the 43-year-old entrepreneur is ready to embark on his biggest venture — a

Dave Menz (left) and his general manager, Marlene Adams, spearheaded an expansion from self-service laundry into drop-off and pickup and delivery. (Photos: Laurance Cohen) 18

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store model he believes is unbeatable.

CONFIDENT IN ONE-TWO PUNCH The estimated $1.25 million project is set to occupy a 6,000-square-foot vacant storefront in Hamilton, Ohio, just north of Cincinnati’s beltway. It’s a clean slate for Menz, who built his laundry roster with a handful of retrofits.

“Our competitors can only match, they cannot one-up us,” he says. “As an overall model, we believe that an operator, regardless of their financial backing or business acumen, can’t compete at a higher level than us.”

This ambitious 10-year veteran isn’t inviting a challenge. To the contrary, Menz is so confident in the one-two punch of topnotch self-service and premier pickup and delivery that he’s letting everyone in on it.

Laundromat owners, he believes, can both defend their turf and prosper.

“It’s all about having options. We decide how we serve the community and our competitors don’t get to make decisions for us,” Menz explains. “No one can come in and affect me and my family financially in a way that would cause me to regress in the level of commitment that I have to the community.”

Queen City is by no means the first coinop to hit the road in pursuit of roundtrip door-to-door garment care. The same goes for running a graveyard shift. Yet Menz’s approach is noteworthy not because of how he does things, but rather where and why.

Unlike pickup and delivery pioneers on the East and West Coasts sitting smack-dab in some of the largest urban markets, he’s blazing a trail in a metro area that barely sneaks into the top 30 population-wise.

And then there’s Cincinnati itself — geographically challenged with no street grid www.americancoinop.com

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and a curvy river bisecting the terrain.

Beyond the physical is the philosophical. Menz sees a reflection of himself in countless others who are driven to succeed in the laundry business. He views things from 30,000 feet and isn’t constrained by four walls awaiting customers passing through the door. The operator relishes a chance to give back to an industry that has given him so much by sharing his thoughts with peers.

Walking the Clean ’15 floor kick-started an interest in pickup and delivery. Menz followed his instincts, read up and eventually gave it a go. The move coincided with a societal shift to what he calls “the in-and-out economy,” where time is valued above all else. Toss in the drudgery of doing wash and it was “the perfect storm” for him.

“One thing that became obvious to me in the first three months is that this was going to be humongous and a game changer in every way, shape and form for people who were interested,” the owner says, adding that he wasn’t converting drop-off customers, but rather “serving a market that we weren’t currently serving and couldn’t serve.”

COMMITMENT AND CAPITAL In-house wash-dry-fold was something both he and Adams, who oversees all four locations, found themselves in by default when the chain’s third store with a service counter was brought online.

Menz tapped his distributor, H-M Company, which put him in touch with a seasoned full-service laundry operator to gain some hands-on experience. He also leaned on industry contacts and

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grsales@greenwaldindustries.com greenwaldindustries.com/greenwald-pay Queen City’s original Milford branch storefront houses 38 washers of varying capacity, including these four 60-pound front loaders near the entry. www.americancoinop.com

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GOIN’ WITH

COHEN magazine articles for guidance and tips.

Together, Menz and Adams crafted Queen City’s drop-off laundry processes and rolled them out to the branches so store managers and staff would deliver consistent, professional service.

When the switch was flipped, Menz says having systems and manpower in place helped ease the transition, but concedes ramping up had its challenges.

“The first six months, it’s gravy, easy money. And then there’s this period for about a year and a half where you’re basically reinvesting everything you’re making.”

Taking pickup and delivery beyond an accommodation to customers requires both commitment and capital, Menz emphasizes.

As the route’s bundles and revenue stream grew, so did payroll. Menz and Adams eased in, adding a dedicated daytime order processor to supplement the store’s shift attendant.

With pickup and delivery still in its infancy, he calculated his next step.

“This was the perfect opportunity to utilize my infrastructure in a way that leverages me beyond almost every Laundromat owner in the country,” he says.

For Menz, that meant having the iron on the floor work past closing time: “This stuff’s made to run. It’s not built to sit.”

With incoming volume on a steady

Front of the house at Queen City - Mount Washington features a spacious and comfortable lounge. upward trajectory, an overnight crew was brought on to sort, wash, dry and package in the aisles out of sight — and out of the way — of daytime traffic.

Menz and Adams focused on maximizing efficiency. Third-shift productivity, the owner notes, achieves rates of 50-60 pounds per hour at “a high quality.”

Unlike a brick-and-mortar Laundromat and its local draw, running trucks will open new avenues, he says. An initial 20-mile radius quickly blossomed to a metroplex.

“With pickup and delivery, I could determine what communities I serve.”

Menz got to know his base.

“One of the misconceptions of laundry pickup and delivery that I was guilty of when we started was that I thought it was just a service for rich people,” he says. “The reality is it’s not true.”

Queen City’s second branch in Milford was doubled in size to accommodate its signature drying department, where comfort, space and throughput are emphasized.

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Regular weekly service with next-day turnaround is priced at $1.79 per pound plus tax, and on-request pickup is 10 cents more. In-house drop-off laundry is $1.50 per pound.

Over on the retail side, Queen City delivers a royal treatment. The Mount Washington branch is a prime example with a lineup of 36 washers and 32 dryer pockets. Dollar coins are dispensed and accepted along with walk-in quarters at all machines. Top loaders vend for $3, 80-pound front loaders for $10. The 25-pounders, 40-pounders and 60-pounders vend for $4, $6 and $8, respectively.

This coin-op doesn’t have folding tables — it boasts folding stations, totaling some 400 square feet of surface area. Doublewide, purpose-built platforms are within easy reach of dryer doors while offering spacious elbow room. A dozen laundry carts roll along 7-foot aisles, reflecting off diamond-plate panels.

“Cushy” describes the patron experience.

Four sofas and anti-fatigue mats pepper the floor. Wall-mounted TVs are on offer as is a well-appointed children’s corner play area.

CONCENTRATING ON BIG PICTURE Queen City’s self-service sector, complemented by its full-service component marketed under the HappyNest brand, is the culmination of Menz’s 10 years in laundry.

He spotted his first store minutes from home on Craigslist. The coin-op would serve as a proving ground for the Flint, Michigan, native who longed to start up his own business.

While he was set to take on the neglected Laundromat, his wife Carla was ready to wave it off. She nearly burst his bubble on www.americancoinop.com

1/13/20 11:37 AM

her first walkthrough.

“I would never do laundry in here. This place is sketchy,” he recalls her saying.

He made a final pitch, promising to hold onto his daytime job as a Cincinnati Bell lineman and pour profits back into fixing up the place.

It was at that first store where Menz aligned with H-M Company, who he hired to fix machines. The Cincinnati distributor continues its support today with advice, repairs and equipment.

With things running on all cylinders and Menz’s own sweat equity, the once-fledgling coin-op turned around, paving the way for a retool and new opportunities.

His second store, acquired in northeast Milford the following year, was doubled in size to 5,000 square feet — not to pack in more equipment, but to afford customers the luxury of an entire storefront dedicated to Queen City’s signature drying department with spacious folding stations. The operator says the expansion doubled sales even though overall machine count went up by only three stacks.

“My philosophy is more on throughput.

When people come to a Laundromat, no matter how nice it is, they don’t want to spend any more time in there than possible,” Menz relates. “So my focus is getting them

www.americancoinop.com ACO Standard_half_horz.indd 1

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Diamond-plate bulkhead offers a dramatic backdrop to laundry carts. in and out as quickly as they want to.”

By store number three, Menz had made the decision to both leave his lineman job and hire staff.

“If you want to operate the best Laundromats, they can’t be unattended,” he asserts. “It provides another layer of customer service that’s physically impossible regardless of technology.”

While acknowledging that many coin-ops neither need nor can afford attendants, it wasn’t for him. Manning stores, he notes, would allow him to provide an amenity package and serve communities as he saw fit.

Menz credits his GM with much of his company’s good fortune. Adams brought skills honed in the restaurant industry to the

chain seven years ago and has been instrumental in the growth that Queen City’s retail and HappyNest pickup and delivery components enjoy, the owner says.

With personnel in place and his days of pulling double duty on the telephone lines and store aisles well behind him, Menz can concentrate on the big picture. His Hamilton flagship, positioned well north of his current Mount Washington home base, will enhance the launderer’s footprint while improving logistics by rerouting trucks.

Menz is eager to put a decade’s worth of know-how into play where his ideal package of location, layout, equipment, amenities and staffing can deliver to customers whether they walk in the door or opt for door-to-door.

“Ten years in self-service, seven years in drop-off and three in pickup and delivery.

We feel like we’ve really honed in on something,” he says. “I feel like we’ve cracked the code.”

ACO Laurance Cohen crisscrosses the country seeking out the most unique vended laundries. He served as American Coin-Op editor in the early 1990s and currently operates Laundry Marketing Concepts based in Hallandale Beach, Fla. He can be reached at goinwithcohen@outlook.com.

FEBRUARY 2020

AMERICAN COIN-OP 21 1/7/20 3:37 PM

1/13/20 11:37 AM

POINTERS FROM PAULIE B

TEMPERATURE CONTROL AND CUSTOMER COMFORT

Paul Russo

It’s a summer day. Would you feel good spending a couple of hours sweating in a restaurant that has no air conditioning?

Or how about spending two hours at dinner in a 50-degree restaurant in the wintertime? Would you want to go back there?

Many Laundromats around the country have not yet realized that they need to keep their inside temperatures comfortable. During summer, fans will only provide minimal comfort. In winter, the nominal heat coming from the dryers can only keep a mat acceptably warm on days when the temperature outside is 40 F or warmer. Any lower and the store begins to get uncomfortably cold.

closing device attached to it. If the door slams shut, then you need more makeup air behind your dryers.

Your dryers should be completely sealed off from the customer areas. This means allowing no entry points of lobby air for the dryers, including sealing off spots as small as the cracks between each dryer.

Again, you can check this. Run a burning incense stick near any cracks or crevices around the dryers. If the

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(Image licensed by Ingram Publishing)

SEQUESTER YOUR DRYERS’ MAKEUP AIR FROM YOUR LOBBY When most or all of your dryers are running, they can easily create a “negative air pressure” problem in your mat. Most commercial dryers will move approximately 500 cubic feet per minute (cfm) each.

Imagine 20 dryers trying to draw in the air they need to operate well. If you don’t have enough makeup air behind your dryers to feed them, they will draw air from everywhere else, especially the lobby area occupied by customers.

If you have either air conditioning or heat going, your dryers will suck air right out of the lobby, lowering the comfort level and causing your air conditioner or heater to work harder.

A simple check for this is to open an exterior door about 10 inches when roughly half your dryers are operating.

The door should open freely with no doorwww.americancoinop.com

1/13/20 11:31 AM

smoke gets drawn toward the dryer, you need to seal that crack off.

Make sure first that your dryers can breathe their own incoming makeup air, which needs to be through vents located behind them or above them on the roof. But avoid the roof if possible because the dryer exhaust ducts up there put out moist, lint-laden air. If the makeup air vents are too close to the exhausts, they will draw in the exhaust air along with its lint, creating a vicious cycle of lint buildup in and around your dryers.

You can get the specs for proper makeup air from your distributor, the manufacturer, or from the dryer’s installation manuals.

Most will tell you that 144 square inches of makeup air is required for each 30-pound dryer. Many mats don’t have enough.

▲

IS YOUR STORE WARM ENOUGH? A simple way to gauge if you’re heating your store properly is to see how many customers are still wearing their coats inside your mat.

Picture this: It’s winter. The temperature outside is 20 but the wind chill makes it feel like 10. A customer has two weeks worth of laundry to get done. She doesn’t really feel like braving the cold but she simply has to get her laundry done today. There are four mats in her area. One of them has supplemental heat and the owner keeps it nice and toasty. The other three are relying only on the heat of the dryers to warm the place. Which one would you choose to patronize?

In freezing weather, people will be much more inclined to go to the heated mat, even if it’s more expensive and/or located farther

from their homes.

(On really cold days, we suggested that customers put their coats in a dryer for 10 minutes right before leaving. The effect lasted only a few minutes but they felt so good putting on a toasty-warm coat when it was freezing outside.)

Heat Pumps — In areas of the country that are not too cold, you can choose AC units that can reverse their freon flow to heat your mat. This essentially changes your evaporator into a condenser and your condenser into an evaporator. Most split units are capable of doing this.

There are three possible downsides that I see: it’s more expensive to heat with electricity than gas; if your condenser on the roof is now an evaporator, its coils will get wet and attract more lint into them; and running your AC year-round could prematurely wear it out.

Warning: Do not even consider trying to heat your store with dryer exhaust! It’s loaded with lint and, more importantly, carbon dioxide. It is probably against every building code in America.

Portable electric heaters aren’t a great idea either. I believe they are risky and use more electricity than what they’re worth.

If you have a properly installed HVAC system, then you already have the ability to run gas heat. If you don’t, then consider adding supplemental gas heat.

You can install a hanging gas heater or two from your ceiling (depending on how big your mat is). They are simple, inexpensive and reliable. They come in various capacities, can heat up your mat very quickly and are controlled with a remote thermostat, just

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POINTERS FROM PAULIE B

like a home furnace.

Make sure you use a licensed plumber and electrician for installation, and keep in mind that you will most likely have to file for a permit.

If you are lucky, your mat may already have enough gas supply capacity to add a heater.

AIR CONDITIONING People are creatures of habit, and providing AC in the summer will give you yet another edge against competitors who do not.

If properly installed and working, your customers, your employees and you will be very happy during the dog days of summer.

AC (or lack of it) could very well be a deciding factor in whether an An example of an HVAC unit with ductwork covered with half-inch foam board that is attached with 4-inch all-weather aluminum tape. employee or customer chooses to (Photo: Paul Russo) stay with you or not.

When I first added AC to one of my mats, I expected a boost pressors. These units, also called “modulating units,” will usually during the summer, but I did not realize that some customers have the highest SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) ratings.

I believe that we need to strike a balance between efficiency, would permanently change their habits. Some of them would stay on as newly converted customers year-round! This amazing sur- costs and simplicity.

You can compromise by choosing a two-stage compressor, prise made the expense more than worth it.

If you buy and install the right kind of unit, advertise it, and do which will operate at two levels of cooling, depending on the need the proper maintenance, you will attract many people to your mat at the time. If your mat has three-phase service, then go with a three-phase compressor. during the summer.

If you’re dead-set on the highest efficiency, then look at the warKeep a sign or two in your mat year-round, stating that your mat has heat in winter and AC in summer. Do the same with your ranty closely. It may be worth it to consider an extended warranty. window signs at the beginning and during each season.

CONSIDER SPLIT UNITS Split units are inherently more energy-efficient than packaged CHOOSING THE RIGHT SYSTEM FOR YOU AC installation and operation is expensive but doesn’t cost as central AC (HVAC, or heating, ventilation and air conditioning), because they don’t have the losses associated with ductwork. Their much as you may think.

Many AC installation companies don’t know how to properly condensers may also be mounted on your building’s wall, whereas size up a Laundromat, I believe. They may be aware of heat com- HVACs are heavy, roof-mounted units that may require dunnage ing in through windows and doors, lack of insulation, losses from (steel I beams) to support their weight.

If your unit works well but is undersized, you may want to add ductwork, and maybe even radiant heat from the dryers, but there’s also heat and humidity from washers, the boiler, as well as a split unit or two for those really hot days. You can try adding that makeup air deficit! An unwitting AC company could easily some fans but if it’s not cool enough, people will get frustrated.

Some will actually open the laundry doors if they feel your store is size your unit at half the size that you really need.

Seek help from your distributor, which has experience with too hot, wasting your AC. That said, I was told that it’s actually cheaper to run an this. I would start by giving it the square footage of the mat, the numbers of washers and dryers, your electric service capacity, and AC compressor at a steady rate, rather than have it cycle on whether you have your dryers sealed off from the customer area or and off throughout the day. It’s the startup surge to get the motor up to speed, often under a load, that really draws current. not. Most distributors will be happy to help you.

The more efficient AC units will have variable-speed fan motors, Once the motor gets up to running speed, the amp draw drops and the top-of-the-line units will even have variable-speed com- significantly.

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For good efficiency with less exotic AC systems, you can have your main unit slightly undersized, plus a second unit that kicks in on really hot days when the store temperature rises past the main unit’s cooling capability.

The main unit’s compressor will be on most of the time, thereby reducing energy-wasting spikes. A good, thermally protected compressor will last years with proper maintenance. I say set your main unit at 75 and your second at 77.

Don’t forget to insulate your AC ductwork as well as the mat itself. Why make that nice, cool air only to have it heat up five degrees in the ductwork before it even enters your mat? At the least, try painting the ductwork white or silver to reflect sunlight.

I also installed 20-by-20 mesh “No-See-Um” screening over the condenser coils to keep lint out. Regular home screens are not tight enough, I believe. All evaporators have filters or screens but I’m not aware of any condensers that protect their coils with filters or screens. This is necessary in some mat installations where the HVAC is too close to the dryer exhaust.

breathing freely. The standard 30-day filter applies to homes, not Laundromats. I changed my store’s filter every three or four days.

Due to their small filter screens, split-unit evaporators may need to be cleaned every day. It’s a simple, easy job that you can delegate to a trusted employee. Not much harder than cleaning lint from stack dryer screens.

You can reuse your filters a few times if you vacuum them with a wet/dry vacuum. Screens for split units can be brushed clean with a dry paintbrush, vacuumed, or rinsed off in a sink.

SWAMP COOLERS Mats in the Southwest will often use evaporative coolers (“swamp coolers”) to effectively cool their stores but the humidity level must be below 30% to get any kind of decent benefit.

They are cheaper to run but they also require maintenance, use water, and don’t always cool as effectively as one would want.

Don’t forget that they add moisture to the air. This also creates a potential mold issue in the cooler itself that can be blown into your mat’s air. So they need to be cleaned often. And remember that humid air also makes it harder for dryers to dry goods. ACO

MAINTAINING YOUR SYSTEM If your AC is properly sized but isn’t cooling well, first consider the possibility that the condenser coils could be clogged, especially Paul Russo owned and operated multiple Laundromats in New if it’s located on the roof near those nasty dryer-exhaust ducts.

York City for more than 40 years before his retirement. He’s a I cleaned my condensers twice each summer to keep them free regular on theEquipment Coin Laundry and Association’s Contact us today for new Parts. online forum, posting of lint and breathing well, andEnd thatofwas with the 20-by-20 mesh under the pseudonym “Paulie B.” You’re welcome to direct any year equipment and financing deals. Lock in 2017 pricing. Call us for information. screens in place to protect them. questions or comments for Russo to Editor Bruce Beggs at bbeggs@ Call 800-362-1900 to Schedule Your Service Appointment For evaporators, change or clean the filters often to keep the unit atmags.com.

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PRODUCT NEWS CURBSIDE LAUNDRIES INTRODUCES MULTI-LOCATION MODULE FOR WASH AND FOLD POS

Curbside Laundries provides a wash and fold point of sale (POS) solution designed for Laundromats.

The software handles pickup and delivery and allows customers to schedule their own laundry pickups online. It manages the entire process from payment to texting the customer when their laundry is ready.

The software is hosted in the cloud

and now with the latest release, laundry owners can manage multiple locations using a single instance of the software. As a result: • Owners can see how all of their stores are doing with a single sign-in from any smartphone.

This includes looking up any order, seeing how many pounds there are to launder at any given location, how many pounds each employee is laundering, which machines are being used for wash and fold, how much is spent on each machine for each order, and more.

• Pickup and delivery drivers can see which store has capacity and unload dirty laundry at any location. The clothes that are unloaded show up in that store’s laundry to-do list, Curbside says.

And the owner can see who is the most productive.

• Owners can now remotely set

prices, set up services offered, customize automated notifications and laundry reminders for each store or just copy the settings from one store to another.

• Invoices for commercial clients are automatically generated and sent out for each location.

• Owners can assign which employees work at each store, creating a single account for each employee to track their productivity across multiple stores.

In the past, with software that was not in the cloud, multi-location laundry owners had to travel to each store to pull the information they needed. Adding employees to the POS or changing prices also took a trip. With Curbside’s multilocation wash and fold software, laundry owners can access every part of the system and view every report from their home computer, tablet or smartphone, the company says.

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LATEST CLEANER’S SUPPLY CATALOG FEATURES 200-PLUS NEW PRODUCTS

Cleaner’s Supply has released a new catalog featuring more than 200 new and innovative products for the laundry and drycleaning industry.

One of the products is the HOTSEAL™ Machine used for applying barcode heat-seal labels (pictured). It has fully programmable temperature and timer controls, and uses standard 110-volt power while complying with OSHA standards.

The USA-made machine includes a full two-year warranty.

Its small footprint saves valuable space, and the machine packs perfor-

mance and durability into an easyto-use labeling system.

Cleaner’s Supply has also added a stripe label option to its customprinted heat-seal labels.

“We’ve heard from a lot of customers that they want to be able to mark routes and stores,” says Julia Reckdenwald, custom print specialist, “and now they can with multiple colors to choose from. It adds a lot of versatility to the labeling system.”

Stripe colors include black, blue, green, red or yellow. (For more about the stripe label option, call the Custom Print department at 800-

www.cleanersupply.com |

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224-5239.)

Look for the “New” icon to find listings of new items throughout the Cleaner’s Supply catalog.

800-568-7768 (800-368-7768 for Korean-speaking representative)

www.americancoinop.com

1/14/20 8:45 AM

CALENDAR

UPCOMING EVENTS FEBRUARY 5 CLA Connect LIVE Newark, New Jersey Info: 630-953-7920 11 Laundry Owners Warehouse Open House & Service School Fort Lauderdale, Florida Info: 954-537-1643 13 CLA Connect LIVE Seattle, Washington Info: 630-953-7920 13 Laundry Pro of Florida Open House Lakeland, Florida Info: 800-232-5736 or 863-701-7714 26 CLA Connect LIVE

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Nashville, Tennessee Info: 630-953-7920

Burbank, California Info: 630-953-7920

27 CLA Connect LIVE Raleigh, North Carolina Info: 630-953-7920

19 CLA Connect LIVE San Leandro, California Info: 630-953-7920

MARCH 5 CLA Connect LIVE King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Info: 630-953-7920 12 CLA Connect LIVE Park Ridge, Illinois Info: 630-953-7920 14 Coin-O-Matic Service School: Speed Queen Top Load Washers Alsip, Illinois Info: 708-540-2047

MAY 13-14 Coin Laundry Association Excellence in Laundry Conference San Diego, California Info: www.coinlaundry.org

JULY 24 Michigan Institute of Laundering and Drycleaning 2020 Summer Convention Thompsonville, Michigan Info: 877-390-6453 or mbatora@mildmi.org

18 CLA Connect LIVE

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(continued from page 10) would want to have in the event there’s some kind of disaster, and it’s consistent with things you might want to have at home: a battery-powered radio, flashlight, first aid kit, things that don’t take up a lot of space but give people the tools they need to be safe and deal with the emergency at hand.”

Steiner recommends keeping copies of important records like building plans and insurance policies in fire-resistant and watertight containers to aid in business continuity.

Aside from any operational precautions your laundry can take, you may also need to take precautions from a financial

standpoint.

“Look at your cash flow, look at your reserves and think about whether you need to seek maybe a line or credit or something like that in advance of any disaster happening so that you’re prepared in the event something does happen,” Steiner says. “We all know that having access to a line of credit could be that thing to get you over the hump until you can get the business back up and running.”

If your store experiences a federally declared disaster (flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires are examples), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the SBA “will be there to help,” he adds.

“From an SBA perspective, we make

loans to small businesses and individuals to help them recover in the event they are victims of some kind of disaster,” Steiner says. “These are to help cover uninsured losses, loss of business due to the disaster.

It’s something that not everybody is aware of but it’s an amazing resource. These are low-interest loans that can help a business weather a disaster.”

ACO This article is based on an American Coin-Op podcast titled Having a Disaster Recovery Plan. To listen to this and other free podcasts, visit https://american coinop.com/podcasts/archive.

■ A Stormy Father’s Day for Lake Elmo Coin-Op Tornadoes are uncommon in Montana, where fewer than 10 touch down annually. But when that rarity struck Billings on Father’s Day afternoon in 2010, the Lake Elmo Coin-Op—an unattended, 1,800-square-foot store—was in its path. An EF-2 twister packing winds up to 135 miles per hour peeled the roof off the building the laundry shared with a dance studio and barber shop.

“Typical Father’s Day Sunday,” recalls Jake Witham, a second-generation laundry operator whose parents had owned the business since the mid-1980s. “We were supposed to have my folks over to my house for a barbecue. Sirens went off. Big hail.

After it passed, my mom called and said, ‘You need to head down to the store. A customer called and said we lost some windows.’”

Witham’s father had been trying to buy the building housing the laundry for 20-plus years. Two weeks prior to the tornado, a deal had been struck.

As Witham’s vehicle topped a hill behind the Laundromat, pieces of insulation along the roadside told him something major had happened. The twister left Lake Elmo CoinOp without a roof.

“I got to the bottom of the hill and saw the building … I was pretty much in shock. I sat there in my truck. Didn’t even know what to do.”

Despite the tornado passing through one of Montana’s busiest traffic intersections, no deaths were reported. Witham learned that some customers rode out the storm beneath folding tables. Most ran to a bar next door

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A 2010 tornado peeled the roof off the building the Lake Elmo Coin-Op shared with a dance studio and barber shop (top). The rebuilt, expanded store was renamed Spin Fresh Laundry. (Photos courtesy Jake Witham, Spin Fresh Laundry) and took refuge in a walk-in freezer.

The area was under martial law for about a week, Witham says.

“First thing we did once we were allowed in was we took all the money out and left every coin box sitting open on every washer. We didn’t want anyone coming around and thinking they could break in. We also took the money out of the changers and left them wide open.”

Two days before Father’s Day, Witham’s father had gotten his first insurance premium notice for the building. The morning after the tornado, he’s stood at his insurance company’s office door, check in hand to pay the first installment, Witham says with a chuckle.

As the Withams started the rebuilding process, they received guidance from an

insurance agent family member and a commercial real estate agent who connected them with an architect. The city wanted the building setback moved 20 feet (reducing the building’s size by that much) but the architect successfully argued that the project was reconstruction, not new construction.

The store was out of commission just a few days shy of one year. When it did reopen, it was as the 2,900-square-foot Spin Fresh Laundry. “We had a year of business interruption insurance, so we wanted to make sure we did it right,” Witham explains.

Had the tornado struck the building before his family took ownership, the laundry might’ve been lost because the Withams would’ve had no property on which to house it.

ACO

www.americancoinop.com

1/14/20 8:32 AM

Every FREE monthly episode offers:

• Topics of specific interest to self-service laundry owner/operators like you • Engaging industry-specific conversation with an expert • Business-building tips you won’t find anywhere else • Convenience of listening anytime, either online or downloading for later • Information and insight to get a leg up on competitors – give us a listen!

NEW! Attended vs.

Unattended

There’s no magic formula when it comes to choosing a coin laundry’s operational model but certain factors can affect the call. Mike Enz from equipment distributor Laundry One weighs both approaches.

Maximizing Your Coin Laundry’s Value When it comes to boosting a store’s value, certain factors have stood the test of time.

Industry veteran John Vassiliades, who’s brokered the sales of over 1,000 coin laundries, explains.

Having a Disaster Recovery Plan With such a plan in place, a laundry can be ready to cope with fire, severe weather or other incident and return to operation as quickly as possible.

Robert “Bo” Steiner, district director at the U.S. Small Business Administration, talks planning strategy and execution.

Staffing Your Laundromat Michael Finkelstein, whose Associated Services Corp. operates a large chain of laundries in the Southeast, discusses techniques for hiring and keeping good laundry attendants.

Listen in at: americancoinop.com/podcasts

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ADVERTISERS’ INDEX Advertiser

Page

Advertiser

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AC Power ................................................ 25

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High Mark Manufacturing .........................9

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NEWSMAKERS

EVI TO ACQUIRE LAUNDRY SYSTEMS OF TENNESSEE, AFFILIATES Commercial laundry and drycleaning equipment distributor EVI Industries, Miami, reports it has executed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Sevierville, Tennessee-based Laundry Systems of Tennessee and affiliates.

Laundry Systems of Tennessee distributes commercial, industrial and vended laundry products and provides related installation and maintenance services to the new and replacement markets of the commercial laundry industry. The company also leases commercial laundry equipment and sells chemicals and other laundry consumables.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the purchase includes a combination of cash and EVI common stock.

The acquisition expands EVI’s sales and service presence in the Southeast, which coincides with its strategy to build density in geographic markets to improve customer service and through which it may pursue new growth opportunities.

Laundry Systems of Tennessee will operate under its existing name and under the direction of President Jeff Large and Vice President Tonja Large.

“We are honored to join the Large family and their team at Laundry Systems of Tennessee,” says Henry M. Nahmad, EVI chairman and CEO. “Jeff and Tonya are successful entrepreneurs with a continued passion and commitment to growth. We are excited to collaborate with them and their team in the pursuit of our mutual long-term growth goals.”

The transaction is expected to close upon satisfaction of closing conditions.

Molly Yatso-Butz (center), coordinator for the Aurora Health Care Foundation, North Region, accepts a $2,235 check from Kristi Williams (left), Oshkosh (Wis.) Express Laundry Center manager, and Liz Knoll, Oshkosh Express Laundry Center assistant manager. (Photo: Oshkosh Express Laundry Center) WISCONSIN LAUNDRY DONATES $2,235 TO BREAST HEALTH FUND Oshkosh (Wis.) Express Laundry Center recently presented a $2,235 check to Aurora Health Care Foundation’s Oshkosh Pink Possible Breast Health Fund. The Pink Possible campaign, staged each October, engages businesses to raise money for Aurora Cancer Care breast cancer patients and their families.

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The laundry donated the proceeds from sales of Pink Possible shopping bags, as well as 5% of its October total sales, to the cause, according to Manager Kristi Williams.

“We feel it’s important to contribute to Pink Possible because so many members of our community suffer from breast cancer each year,” she says. “Over the past four years, Oshkosh Express Pink Possible donations have totaled more than $8,000.”

“The money raised in 2019 will be used for a new breast cancer support group that begins in January 2020, as well as wigs and massages for cancer patients,” says Foundation Coordinator Molly Yatso-Butz, Aurora Health Care Foundation, North Region. “We are so fortunate to have Oshkosh Express contributing to Pink Possible.”

HAPPYNEST PICKUP/DELIVERY SERVICE ADDS MORE LOCATIONS Tech-enabled laundry pickup and delivery service HappyNest is continuing its expansion with the addition of locations in Delaware and Florida, the company reports.

Leo Shao, owner of Lucky Star Laundromat in Wilmington, Delaware, as well as Edgemont Laundromat in Chester, Pa., says he’s excited about his partnership with HappyNest.

“Our expansion into the Delaware market is a natural fit with the business we are doing in Maryland and Virginia and adding this stretch of the Mid-Atlantic will help us market to a wider customer base consisting of nearly 6 million people,” says HappyNest founder John MacKrell.

In Florida, HappyNest has partnered with laundry owners in the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County areas.

Sunshine Laundry Centers will service HappyNest customers in Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, Vero Beach and the surrounding region.

“Sunshine Laundry Centers is an ideal partner demographically for us, and from a business perspective we couldn’t have asked for a better partner,” says MacKrell. “Tom Rhodes and his team have built an incredible laundry business maintaining the highest quality standards while providing excellent customer service.”

LaundryMe! is HappyNest’s newest service supplier in Palm Beach County.

“LaundryMe! offers outstanding service at competitive prices, which complements our HappyNest model perfectly,” MacKrell says. “With the addition of the Jupiter, West Palm and Boca Raton areas, we are nearing completion of our expansion along the east coast of Florida.”

“After meeting John at the last CLA Excellence show, I decided to … start my LaundryMe! pickup and delivery service,” says Stacey Runfola, who owns three Laundromats in the Lake Worth and Delray Beach region. “When I was recently offered the opportunity to join the HappyNest family and help create a national brand, I knew it was the right next step for me.”

While the branding of her stores will be unchanged, the existing pickup and delivery service will be rebranded as HappyNest. ACO www.americancoinop.com

1/13/20 11:30 AM

THE BRAND YOU KNOW. THE BRAND YOU TRUST.

The LG Platinum Commercial Laundry System offers vended laundries unrivaled energy-efficiency, programmability, installation flexibility and durability. Offering 22.5 pounds of capacity, the LG Giant C Fast Platinum Washers are configurable to meet the needs of nearly any vended laundry application — card or coin.

• Designed to deliver more strength, storeowner control & servicing ease.

• Advanced programmability of water temperatures, fill levels, cycle times, spin speed & vend prices.

• Individual sensors are removable & replaceable.

• New twin spray water-delivery system ensures a quality wash.

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• Optimized Washing System automatically detects over-sudsing & counteracts with a suds-reduction process.

• Quiet, energy-efficient & 400 Gs! • Compact footprint & stackable configurations for more capacity & revenue per square foot.

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LG Platinum is available only through the Continental Girbau family of distributors.

Call 800-256-1073 for more info!

6/12/19 10:49 AM 6/12/19 11:26 AM

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