During the past 14 years, Jeff Gardner built a thriving laundry business in the Twin Cities with two self-serve laundromats/dry cleaners, and a growing wash-and-fold business.
But in an industry that's facing serious head winds — fewer people dress up, and more are buying wash-and-wear clothing — growth is a challenge.
The conventional approach is to add more locations for drop-offs and pickups, but that requires hiring staff, renting space and increasing the overhead.
Last year at an industry convention in California, Gardner came across an innovative alternative to a traditional brick-and-mortar expansion. He met someone who created a modern software system that puts locker-like drop-off sites in the lobbies of apartment buildings, condominiums and other places where people who are likely to need such services might be.
"I've known there was a need for this but didn't know what the solution was," Gardner said. "I knew it when I saw it that this was it."
With dozens of new luxury apartment buildings being built, Gardner saw an opportunity. He bought the technology, tested it and adapted it to the Twin Cities, which is an unusual market for the laundry business. People here tend to spend less on dry cleaning and laundry, and they have a four-season wardrobe that doesn't exist in many more temperate communities.
Gardner renamed the business the Laundry Doctor.
Each locker becomes an individual drop site, and beyond that everything is done electronically. After you drop your items in a locker, you text your four-digit locker code to the main office with a pickup notification. On your mobile device you select the service (dry cleaning, laundry, starch etc.) and relay any special instructions. For instance, customers can photograph a stain and send that image to Laundry Doctor for extra attention. Because the lockers are unstaffed, the drop-offs and pickups can be made at any time.