Buying a linen and uniform service in Florida

Linen and uniform services rent and clean textiles for businesses. Trucks pick up soiled items and drop off clean ones on a regular route, usually weekly. Customers include restaurants (aprons, towels, table linens), hotels and vacation rentals (sheets and towels), medical offices and clinics (scrubs, gowns, linens), auto shops and factories (work uniforms, shop towels) and almost any business with floor mats and restrooms.

Most revenue repeats. Customers sign service agreements, often for several years, and pay weekly or monthly for what they use, plus charges for lost or damaged items. Some services instead wash customer-owned linen and charge by the pound.

The business has three parts: the plant (industrial washers, dryers, ironers and folders, plus boilers and water treatment), the routes and drivers, and the garment and linen inventory, which wears out and must be replaced. Typical staff include plant workers, route drivers who also act as salespeople, a plant manager and customer service staff. In Florida, hotel and vacation rental volume rises and falls with the tourist seasons.

• Many route customers on written agreements that renew, with few cancellations.
• Dense routes, so each truck serves many customers in a small area and fuel and driver time per stop stay low.
• A plant with room to grow and equipment that's been maintained, not run until it breaks.
• Tight control of linen inventory, with losses tracked and customers charged for replacements.
• Efficient water, gas and electricity use, often helped by water recycling or heat recovery equipment.
• Drivers who stay and keep customers happy, since they are the face of the business.
• A mix of customer types, so a slow tourist season doesn't hit every account at once.

Florida has no state license for linen and uniform services, just local business tax receipts. The rules that matter are environmental and safety rules.

Wastewater from an industrial laundry usually goes to the local sewer, and the local utility regulates it through its industrial pretreatment program under state rules (chapter 62-625 of the Florida Administrative Code). The plant may hold a permit with discharge limits and sampling requirements. Ask for it, the sampling results and any violation notices.

If the plant does dry cleaning, its owner or operator and the property owner must register it with the Department of Environmental Protection, and suppliers can't sell it solvent without a current registration certificate (section 376.303). Past solvent use can leave soil and groundwater contamination.

Shop towels from auto shops and factories often carry solvents. Under EPA rules, reusable towels are exempt from hazardous waste rules only if they're kept in closed, labeled containers with no free liquids and sent to a laundry for cleaning (40 CFR 261.4(a)(26)). Ask how towels are collected and how liquids are handled.

For health care linen, OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard sets how contaminated laundry is bagged, labeled and handled (29 CFR 1910.1030).

• Customer agreements: term, automatic renewal, price increase rights, and whether they can be assigned. Read a sample of real signed agreements, not just the template.
• Revenue per stop and per route, and how many customers are past due.
• Plant equipment age and the cost of the next major replacement (washers, ironers, boilers).
• Several years of utility bills, since water, sewer, gas and electricity are major costs.
• Linen in service: its value, age and how fast it's being replaced. Worn inventory means a big purchase soon after you buy.
• An environmental site assessment, especially if the site ever had dry cleaning or fuel tanks.
• Truck condition, maintenance records and leases.
• Workplace injury records, since plant work involves heavy, hot machinery.

• How many route customers do you have, and how many canceled last year?
• How close is the plant to full capacity?
• When were the major machines last replaced or rebuilt?
• What do water, sewer and gas cost each month, and have you had any violations?
• How do you track lost linen and charge for replacements?
• Has the site ever been used for dry cleaning or had fuel tanks?
• Who brings in new accounts today?
• Do you launder shop towels for auto shops or factories, and how are they handled?