As laundromats adapt to a new normal in light of COVID-19, many owners are looking for new opportunities to reach pre-pandemic revenue levels or even grow their business. One of the opportunities that many have pursued is offering pickup and delivery services. This virtual program will provide the fundamentals for getting a pickup and delivery business off the ground. Hear from experts on how they got started, the nuts and bolts of their operation, their customer base and how they grew the business. Attend this program to learn more about this growing trend in the self-service laundry business. Panelists include: – Chris Balestracci, Owner, Super Wash Laundry – Dave Menz, Owner, Queen City Laundry – Jonathan Bacock, Owner, WaveMAX Laundry – Matthew Simmons, Operator, Super Suds Laundry – Facilitator Brian Wallace, President/CEO, Coin Laundry Association The cost to attend this program is $25 for members and $35 for non members. Each person who registers will receive a recording of the program.

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Panelist Bios Chris Balestracci is the owner of Super Wash Laundry in East Haven, CT. Chris graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. in finance. He was a varsity member of the Penn State fencing team and served as team captain. After graduation he worked as stockbroker for Paine Webber until 1988. He started in the laundry business with Qwik Wash Laundry in Branford (2500 sq ft) in 1988. He expanded the store to 3500 sq ft in 1999 and sold in 2004. He purchased, renovated and sold 4 laundromats over the years. In 2004, he built Super Wash Laundry, which is a 3200 sq. ft., modern, card-operated full-service laundry offering self service, dry cleaning, and drop off. They also have a van that does pick up & delivery service for commercial and residential customers called Laundry-Express.2 Chris has been a proud member of the Coin Laundry Association since 1989. From 2003-2008, he served on the CLA’s national board of directors. He received several award from CLA, including the Member of the year in 2003; Distinguished Service Award in 2009; and Outstanding Director award in 2009. From 2006-2018, he was a member of the New England Coin Laundry Assoc. board of directors. He served as past president and vice president of the NECLA board of directors.

Dave Menz is a passionate entrepreneur and the founder and owner of Queen City Laundry, co-founder of HappyNest Pickup & Delivery, and is a laundry coach & consultant under the Laundromat Millionaire brand. He joined the laundry industry and the CLA in 2009 and his chain of laundromats consists of 4 locations currently. His team began as a one-man show in 2009 and has grown to a team of roughly 35 employees under the Queen City Laundry brand. Of the current locations, one store is partially attended, but does not offer a drop-off service. That store has a part time manager that is responsible for all aspects of the operations including managing a few part-time attendants. The other 3 stores are all attended with drop-off services available as well. Each of these locations has its own full-time store manager on staff. Additionally, the staff consists of 15 full- and part-time store attendants, and 9 dedicated full-time laundry processors. Dave’s delivery brand was launched in November 2016 and has rapidly grown to 3 trucks and 7 full and part-time delivery drivers. There is also a full-time general manager that is responsible for all 4 stores, the drop-off laundry services and all aspects of the delivery business.

Jonathan Babcock After many years in small business development and digital marketing, Jonathan joined the WaveMax family in early 2018 and opened his first location in 2019. Because of Jonathan’s extensive background in mobile businesses, digital marketing and technology, he was asked to serve as a pilot location for WaveMax to launch a pickup & delivery concept for the brand. After officially launching the pickup & delivery concept in Knoxville in early 2020, Jonathan has seen his pickup & delivery business grow exponentially with no signs of slowing down. There have been many bumps along the way and he hopes to share valuable insights to help others avoid many of the same mistakes.

Matthew Simmons helps operate Super Suds, which is his family’s laundromat.  Matthew and his brother Aaron developed Curbside Laundries which provides laundromat specific point of sale systems and pickup and delivery software.  They helped grow the wash and fold business at Super Suds from about $5,000 a month to over $60,000 a month in wash and fold.  In less than four years Matthew and Aaron helped increase the number of monthly laundry pickups from 49 to over 600 monthly pickups.  There is more laundry pickup business out there than any one laundromat can do.  Matthew is looking forward to sharing his knowledge and expertise to help other laundromats grow their business, too.