Part 1
Pick up and delivery service is latest addition for Dodds, Pinkard
LOS ANGELES — Ross Dodds and Russel Pinkard are the owners of three thriving laundry businesses: Wash on Western, a full-service Laundromat they refurbished and reopened in 2017; a self-service Laundromat in West Hollywood; and a brand-new venture, Wash Club LA, offering residential and commercial laundry pickup and delivery service.
Their distributor, Western State Design, says Dodds and Pickard are savvy not only about finding the right locations and figuring out how to maximize return on investment but they understand the importance of serving customers’ needs and providing a superior laundry experience.
To achieve this, the owners have emphasized:
- Having durable, reliable, easy-to-use, top-quality commercial laundry equipment in a variety of sizes
- Offering a clean, safe, comfortably equipped space to do laundry, with amenities such as free Wi-Fi and TV, as well as necessities like laundry supplies for sale
- Hiring, training and treating employees well
- Getting to know their customers and becoming involved members of the community
- Finding untapped consumer or commercial demand for value-added laundry services and satisfying that demand through superior service execution.
ROUGH START
Dodds and Pickard got off to a rough start in the Laundromat business. Their first offering, Hollywood’s Wash on Western, sustained devastating fire damage just after they purchased it in 2017. The blaze broke out overnight in the restaurant next door and quickly engulfed their store.
Rather than wallow in despair, Dodds and Pinkard got busy trying to regroup, all the while learning as much as they could about self-service laundry to ensure they did everything better the second time around.
They met Michael Ambrose, who works for Western State Design. Ambrose was instrumental in helping them design and equip their remodeled store. Wash on Western’s Dexter Laundry vended washers and dryers are extremely popular with their customers, particularly the large-capacity models which serve families well, the owners say.
LATEST VENTURE
Fast forward a few years later: After acquiring additional Laundromats (one of which they’ve since sold with Ambrose’s help), Dodds and Pinkard decided to branch out into a dedicated laundry pickup and delivery service business—with a plan to serve both residential and commercial customers.
To facilitate the new business, they licensed software from the New York laundry pickup and delivery service, Wash Club NYC.
Initially, they ran the new service out of one of their Laundromats, during off-hours. The business proved successful but quickly required 24-hour operation, using more and more of the store’s washers and dryers. Their average number of turns per day increased dramatically from 3-4 to over 10, and sometimes peaked as high as 15 on a given day. Needless to say, their customers were not thrilled with this arrangement, which was short-lived, fortunately.
Check back Wednesday for the conclusion!
Conclusion
Partners invest in facility dedicated to pickup/delivery service
LOS ANGELES — Ross Dodds and Russel Pinkard are the owners of three thriving laundry businesses: Wash on Western, a full-service Laundromat they refurbished and reopened in 2017; a self-service Laundromat in West Hollywood; and a brand-new venture, Wash Club LA, offering residential and commercial laundry pickup and delivery service.
Their distributor, Western State Design, says Dodds and Pickard are savvy not only about finding the right locations and figuring out how to maximize return on investment but they understand the importance of serving customers’ needs and providing a superior laundry experience.
To facilitate their newest business, they licensed software from the New York laundry pickup and delivery service, Wash Club NYC.
Initially, then ran the service out of one of their Laundromats, during off-hours. The business proved successful but quickly required 24-hour operation and using more and more of the store’s washers and dryers. Customers were not thrilled with the arrangement, which was short-lived, fortunately.
The partners acquired and built out a dedicated laundry service facility that had opened a couple months earlier. They again turned to Michael Ambrose with Western State Design for help specifying and equipping the new plant with an optimum mix of state-of-the-art on-premise laundry equipment.
They purchased a mix of Dexter and Milnor laundry machines that enables them to run their business efficiently now but also scale up over time.
Dodds, who says he’s learned a lot about commercial laundry equipment over the years, is pleased with their choices, starting with the automated soap dispenser:
“An automated soap dispenser is key. Many people don’t realize what a major expense soap is. You can train employees over and over again on how to use soap and they still won’t understand the precise concentration to use. It’s best to have the machine do it.”
He also appreciates the reversing dryers, saying they “are great because they prevent sheets and towels from getting tangled. Tangling not only causes wrinkling, it keeps the load from drying properly, requiring human intervention and additional dry time.”
The new industrial washer-extractor is worth mention, too.
“My new high-capacity Milnor washer is a solidly built piece of equipment that is also incredibly efficient,” Dodds says. “Its high G-force extraction leaves the laundry practically dry, which minimizes dry times, reducing energy costs.”
LANDING COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS
In addition to their complement of residential pickup and delivery customers, Dodds and Pinkard have landed a number of new commercial accounts. Wash Club LA services mid-sized businesses such as gyms, yoga and boxing studios, and spas. Mostly they have gained this business through word-of-mouth and social media, though they do some digital advertising as well.
The partners took advantage of having developed dependable employees in their other businesses, transferring them to the new enterprise so they could start with an experienced staff.
Whereas competing service companies may outsource work to subcontractors, Wash Club LA handles and processes all laundry received in its own facility using its own personnel. The business owns and operates its laundry equipment as well as the three pickup and delivery vans and company car.
Dodds and Pinkard are not content to rest on their laurels and say they have big plans to branch out into other promising, nearby Los Angeles neighborhoods where they believe there is demand for their brand of service.
Slowly but surely, they’re changing the retail laundry landscape, to the benefit of local laundry customers.