CHICAGO — When disasters strike a dry cleaner’s company — from equipment failures to natural catastrophes — the immediate response often depends less on insurance policies than on the strength of relationships between competitors. These connections, developed through years of everyday cooperation, become lifelines in moments of crisis.

In Part 1 of this series, we examined a real-world example of how such a relationship saved a company after a fire. Today, we’ll continue by looking at other examples, along with how these relationships are built.

Relationships that enable dramatic crisis responses are often built through smaller, everyday acts of cooperation.

Toran Brown, CEO of Rytina Fine Cleaners & Launderers in the Sacramento, California, area and president of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), has developed what he calls a “friends first, competitors second” philosophy with nearby cleaners.

“We have a competitor where both of us have relied on each other when equipment goes down. When we were relocating our plant and couldn’t get things done as quickly as we wanted, they helped us out and provided cleaning services, and we’ve done the same for them.”

Brown also maintains a close relationship with another cleaner who regularly visits Rytina’s plant to consult on their GreenEarth system. “He comes into our plant with some frequency just to counsel us on what we can be doing better,” Brown says.

When wildfires tore through Los Angeles County in early January of this year, the industry’s cooperative culture functioned at scale.

Ray Rangwala, principal of Esteem Cleaners in Glendale, Calif., and president of the California Cleaners Association (CCA), watched as fires consumed Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

“On day two, we started hearing from fellow dry cleaners that they found out their stores got burned down by watching it on TV,” Rangwala says. “The signpost in front said the name of the cleaner, but the cleaner’s building was gone, and it’s being broadcast to the world.”

The CCA’s initial response focused on coordinating drinking water donations to affected neighborhoods. But the effort quickly expanded. Fellow cleaners and equipment suppliers contributed more than $60,000 to support affected operators.

Nine drycleaning businesses were destroyed or severely damaged. The CCA used data gathered by POS software to identify which cleaners were offline, then determined which had actually burned versus those that simply closed due to proximity to the fires.

Beyond financial support, the association helped connect affected cleaners — who had lost much of their customer base — with work from homes that needed smoke/ash restoration and other services. 

“Dry cleaners were coming from franchise networks as far away as Texas,” Rangwala says. 

But perhaps the most important assistance was less tangible. “The biggest part we could do was help them think straight, help them emotionally, and help them bounce their ideas off each other,” Rangwala says. “‘Don’t do this. Do it this way.’”

For operators who haven’t developed cooperative relationships with competitors, the path toward this is straightforward.

“If you want to make a friend, be a friend,” says Brian Butler, president of Dublin Cleaners in Columbus, Ohio. “Just go walk into one of their stores and introduce yourself. Just be friendly.”

Brown suggests leveraging regional associations: “That’s the benefit of these associations, because it invites people to connect on a more local level. Sometimes it’s as easy as just calling somebody up and saying, ‘You have time for a beer?’”

The relationships also pay dividends beyond emergencies. A customer had visited Butler’s competitor claiming the cleaner had damaged his clothing. The customer then contacted Butler’s production manager, asking her to provide an expert analysis on letterhead about the alleged damage. She declined, but the customer began telling the competitor that Butler had written a letter blaming him for the damage.

When the cleaner, someone Butler occasionally shares parts with, texted to ask what was going on, Butler immediately called him. “I said, ‘There is no letter that exists from our organization. So, this guy is now a proven liar,’” he says.

Then Butler remembered that Dublin Cleaners’ platform photographs every garment. He checked his records and found images from three and a half months earlier — when that same customer had brought the clothing to Dublin Cleaners — showing all the damage the customer was now claiming the other cleaner had caused.

“I’ve got photographs of this issue,” Butler says. “It looks like he got into a bar fight and a motorcycle accident all in one while wearing it.”

Helping this cleaner, and the cleaner in turn giving Butler the heads-up that the customer was using Butler’s name and reputation, served both businesses well.

“We all get these con artists,” Butler says, referring to disreputable customers. “I’ve been in this cleaner’s position. He’s a decent human. So why wouldn’t you be friendly to the other people? You have so much in common.”

“Customers have the benefits of Yelp and businesses don’t,” Brown says of cleaners sharing information about potentially troublesome clients. “Sometimes it’s nice to learn about problematic customers from other operators who have dealt with them.”

Come back Tuesday for the conclusion of this series, where we’ll examine how cleaners can build beneficial relationships even in competitive markets. For Part 1 of this series, click HERE.