BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — The Round Table of Laundry and Dry Cleaners gathered in Brooklyn Park, Minn., September 26-28 for the annual “fly-in” to critique Pilgrim Dry Cleaners.
“Each year the Round Table gathers in a member’s city to visit their operations and to plan for the group’s annual spring meeting,” the company notes. “This year Bonnie Engler, the president of Pilgrim, hosted the fly-in.”
The agenda included tours of six locations, including three of their plant locations where on-site cleaning is done: Robbinsdale, Minnetonka, and Brooklyn Park; as well as their dry stores which are retail locations for drop off and pickup: Maple Grove, Long Lake, and Uptown Minneapolis, the dry cleaners relates.
Paul Batz and Paul Hillen also spoke about How Goodness Pays and how to build a positive environment and company culture through good leadership, it adds.
This year’s fly-in attendees included: A Cleaner World, Admiral Cleaners, Anton’s Cleaners, Avon Cleaners, Classic Cleaners, Dependable Cleaners, Max I. Walker, Model Cleaners, Pilgrim Dry Cleaners, Porter’s Fine Dry Cleaners, Pratt Abbott, Puritan Cleaners, Red Hanger Cleaners, and Zengeler Cleaners.
“Ten marketing employees also attended the fly-in this year, bringing their group to record attendance,” Pilgrim states. “A separate meeting was held to discuss marketing initiatives within the companies.”
The Round Table was originally called a Sales Mangers’ Pow-Wow, the company explains, and was founded in 1940 in Allentown, Pa., by industry leaders Herb Koch, Lee Workman and Barrett Finn. They moved the conference to New York City for the next five years and became known as the Laundry Management Group.
In 1950, the name was officially changed to The Round Table Conference and has remained so ever since, the cleaners points out.
“The meeting serves as a time to discuss industry trends, advancements and to exchange ideas,” Pilgrim adds.
The March 2019 Round Table meeting will take place in Costa Rica.
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