Laundry shop offers franchise opportunity for Cebuanos

Quicklean laundromats use Speed Queen industrial washers and dryers in all outlets. (CONTRIBUTED)

QUICKLEAN Franchise Solutions, Inc., which operates self-service laundry shops, is offering the business for franchising.

The plan is to establish this year 30 to 40 franchised outlets nationwide, including in Cebu.

These will be on top of the 15 to 20 company-owned outlets that they also plan to open, said Alan Escalona, chief executive officer of Quicklean.

The long-term target is to open a total of 500 company-owned and franchised outlets nationwide, he added.

Quicklean currently has 28 outlets, mostly in Metro Manila especially in the university belt.

Escalona said they will launch the brand as a franchise during the Franchise Asia Philippines 2016 in July.

They have received over 200 franchising inquiries, so far. Some came from Cebu, but Escalona said they haven’t contacted them yet because they were still talking with applicants who expressed intent first.

“We have interviewed already about 15 people and two are really getting serious. One is in Palawan and the other is in Metro Manila,” he said.

The business started when Escalona’s nephew, who distributes Speed Queen industrial washers and dryers in the country, thought of opening a laundry shop to make use of unsold inventory in 2011. In just about five years, the company has opened 28 laundromats.

Speed Queen is the largest and oldest laundry equipment company in the US, Escalona said.

“We have the latest laundry technology. Our coin-operated machines are very fast and very efficient. Plus we have the repair system, the spare parts, everything. Because we started selling that before we ventured into the laundry business,” Escalona said.

From coin-operated machines, Escalona said Quicklean will migrate to machines that can use smart cards to be able to offer a rewards system.
Franchising packages are being prepared.

“The minimum is about P1.8 million for five washers and five dryers to be viable. Some have asked whether they can start with three washers and three dryers. We’re still thinking about that,” Escalona said.

The estimated return on investment is two to four years.

“If you have a very good accountant, you can recover your investment in just two years. Some stores break even in less than a year,” Escalona added.

Laundry shops are all-cash businesses and have very low labor cost since the customers load, wash, dry and fold their laundry themselves. Customers pay P70 per load, which can be up to eight kilos per washer, and P80 for drying.

The ideal site for a Quicklean outlet has an area of 80 to 90 square meters, is located within a residential area or near universities, and has a lot of existing laundromats.

Self-service laundromats started in the US in the 1940s and in Japan in 1960s, Escalona said.

“They have never stopped expanding since then. There is always a five to 10 percent growth yearly. We feel that this business will last generations and generations,” he added.