CHICAGO — If 2020 was the year that dry cleaners held their breath, 2021 was the time where many finally fought to the surface for a breath of air. So, what does 2022 hold? Will it be the year of revitalization, or is it still time to tread water and waiting for better days?
To answer this question, we asked some dry cleaners and industry experts what they believe the coming year will bring to the industry. In Part 1 of this series, we looked at how cleaners fared in 2021 versus 2020, and in Part 2, we saw the value of learning to pivot to provide the services today’s customers want. Today, we’ll examine some of the challenges cleaners might face in the coming year, and how best to deal with them.
Challenges for 2022
Sassan Rahimzadeh, president of ARYA Cleaners in San Diego, California, says the current pain point for most dry cleaners can be summed up in one word: labor.
“Twelve months ago, we were all worried about business coming in the door, and that we had too much staff to take care of what was coming in and trying to figure out what to do with them,” says Rahimzadeh, who is also the president of the California Cleaners Association (CCA). “Today, it’s the exact opposite. We’ve got plenty of business walking in the door; we just don’t know how the heck to handle it. I believe that if you asked everyone what are 50% of their headaches today, it’s not customers, it’s not rent. It’s labor. That’s the toughest challenge we have.”
Mary Scalco, CEO of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI), believes that competition for workers is one of the biggest obstacles cleaners must overcome,
“Labor is crazy right now,” she says. “In most cases, the minimum wage hasn’t gone up to $15 an hour, but you’ve got places like Chick-fil-A and Walmart offering that wage, along with college scholarships and other perks. That’s the same labor pool. It’s hard for small dry cleaners to compete with that.”
Rahimzadeh believes that matching wages to better compete for quality workers can be an investment — one that he has seen pay off at his company.
“Our payroll has gone through the roof, but I’m still profitable,” he says. “The average pay rate at my company now is about $18 an hour. If you had told me that four years ago, I would have told you I’d be out of business. And yet we’ve just had our most profitable quarter ever. So, don’t be afraid to spend your money — if you spend your money wisely. We invest in pieces of equipment to make ourselves more efficient; invest in your employees to become more efficient. In that way, we all win.”
Focus for the Future
To grow and prosper, the old mindset of “how we’ve always done it” is a notion that has to be set aside, says Scalco.
“I’ve said this on many Zoom calls, but we have to stop thinking of ourselves as providing a commodity and think of ourselves as more of a service,” she says. “How do we become convenient for our customers to use? How do we enhance that customer experience?”
Part of selling that service is to educate customers on what a dry cleaner can do to make their lives better, says Peter Blake, executive director of the Northeast Fabricare Association (NEFA), South Eastern Fabricare Association (SEFA) and the Mid-Atlantic Association of Cleaners (MAC).
“We need to capitalize on the fact that we can clean everything for you — shoes, socks, pants, shirts, slacks, dresses, suits,” he says. “Doesn’t matter what it is; all of that has to be cleaned, and we can do it better. We can make your clothes last longer. And we can save you a ton of time. And I think it’s reshaping our advertising so that we can highlight those critical factors.”
Come back Thursday for the conclusion of this series, where our experts will give their final predictions about the upcoming year. For Part 1 of this series, click HERE. For Part 2, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].