HANOVER, Mass. — Lapels Dry Cleaning has found a place on Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 list for the fifth time since 2016. The company is ranked 397 on the 2021 list, which considers entries from a pool of nearly 4,000 franchise opportunities in the United States.
Lapels, headquartered in Hanover, Massachusetts, has been franchising since 2001, currently has 102 united in the U.S. prides itself on its environmental initiatives. As is the case with the vast majority of dry cleaners, Lapels has felt the 2020 global pandemic’s impact and has worked to offer services to serve its customers better in uncertain times.
“We strive to be the best franchise out there every single year. That requires continuous improvement, even during a pandemic,” said Kevin Dubois, CEO of Lapels. “This past year, we developed new offerings, such as our new flat-rate laundry program, converted existing laundromats and built a new partnership with Target to host lockers in select locations, as well as increased our free delivery routes to accommodate contactless services and stay at home orders. We also sought out independent dry cleaners for conversion to provide our new franchise owners the opportunity to hit the ground running with built-in market garment care services.”
During the pandemic, individual Lapels locations have also offered discounted and free cleaning services to health care professionals.
Since its start in 2000, Lapels has worked to create an eco-friendly drycleaning practice. The latest effort is to enter into a partnership agreement with GreenEarth, using that company’s non-toxic cleaning alternative for its newer locations. This has been a significant selling point of the company, both to retail customers and to some of the world’s largest hotel operators and employers looking to offer a sustainable solution to their customers and employees.
Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 is an annual listing of American franchising companies and is determined through a submission and review process, taking into account cost, size, support, growth and brand strength. It has been published annually since 1979.
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