Employees or Contractors
During the planning of your Laundromat some decisions need to be made about how the store will be run on a day to day basis. The focus of this discussion is about the people that will or will not be in there every day.
One of the options is to have an Unattended Laundromat. This is just how it sounds. The customers go in, use the equipment and leave without any contact with someone representing the store. Cleaners are used at least once a day, and this could be in the middle of the night so the customers have no interaction with the personnel. Some customers will see you as you empty the coin boxes or fix some equipment but their main options are a phone and a concern box.
The next two types are similar, Partially Attended or Fully Attended. Partially Attended stores usually have someone there every day of the week but usually only during the business day (7 am to 6 pm) the rest of the time the store is Unattended. The Laundromat may close at 10 or 11 pm or be open 24 hours. Fully attended stores have someone there at all times the store is open for business. This does not mean that the store stays open until 11 pm or is open 24 hours. One of the stores I bought was Fully Attended but only had hours from 7 am to 7 pm. Within 6 months I had finished the renovations that allowed me to change the hours to 6 am to 10 pm and be attended from 7 am until 6 pm. We have since become a Partially Attended, 24-hour store.
The responsibility of an Attendant is primarily to attend to customers, help with explaining the operation of the equipment, and maintain the cleanliness of the store. By default, they act as a form of security just by being there.
Many stores develop a Drop Off / Fluff And Fold / Wash And Fold business to increase revenue and offset the cost of the attendants.
The final part of this discussion is to use your own employees to run the Drop Off service or use a Contractor working inside your store. The Contractor would be running their own business and you would essentially become an “Unattended” Laundromat. The Contractor would clean the store in exchange for rent.
There are opposing positions on the merits of each method and the costs and effort involved with each.
If you are renovating or opening a new store you will want to look at each of the methods and determine which one is right for you, your business and your market place.
Ken
