Absentee Owner Myth!?!

[Laundry]

I've been looking at buying an existing coin op in NY for the past few weeks. Feeling good about the numbers, but have some questions only an experienced owner/operator would be able to answer.

So, I'd like to know if you really can run a coin op as an investor/absentee owner? This business does 60% dropoff and has two "full-time" and one part-time staff. Great people who are very loyal. But my wife and I are laundry-challenged, not to mention employed full-time. We won't be able to fill-in if one of the usually-reliable staff have an emergency or decide to move to Kuala Lampur. We plan to offer the current owner a contract to help with staffing and operations. Beyond that, anyone know of proven staffing solutions that could get us over this hump?

Sorry for the long post.

[SecretarytoBraveDave]

Would you buy a restaurant if you couldn't cook or had no idea of how to do so or manage those who do have the expertise?

60% drop off is significant. Without some hands on management and determination to succeed, you may be setting your self up for failure if you choose not to put forth some significant amount of time and effort on you part.


The return is greatest by those who put forth the greatest efforts.

[millenniumplus]

Perhaps a manager might be your answer. Question is, will it be worth the money. We went the manager route
and our numbers were weak. When we got rid of the manager and got more "hands-on" involved, our numbers
have been significantly higher. Results will vary from owner to owner but it has been our experience that being
involved day-to-day (that may include last minute shift coverage ocassionally or when WDF volume is out of this
world) works for us. Even with oncall staff for WDF we still might come in. What is the current owner doing to
maintain 60% dropoff? My suggestion is to work initially while you work full time. You'll become experienced
quickly which will enable you to make better business decisions and have peace of mind. This may sound
backwards to some but we find our involvement better enables us to be somewhat of an absentee owner.

[Laundry]

Thanks for the frank advice. Maybe my post was a bit misleading. We may not be laundry experts, but we know the customer. We are the customer! We are attracted to the business because it is has good on-site management now and great growth potential. We're trying to figure out if we can hedge our bets on the staffing front.

To millenium, thanks for the thought about a manager. How was your manager different than the two full time people the business has now? Regular staff are paid 43k annually as it is. We will be training and maintain a presence. Could pitch in on weekends in an emergency. We live 5 mins from the laundry and would be in and out prior to and after 9-5 hours and during weekends anyway. I'm trying to figure out the M-F, 9-5 thing should a need arise. How does one "hire" oncall staff for the WDF side?

As for the 60% drop off, the current owner is does zero advertising so it must be the location. Location is the last strip mall close to a very wealthy neighborhood. Customers are too busy to do their own laundry and can affor to pay for someone else to do it.

[actionmedia]

I am convinced it can be done. At the matter of fact I intend to do the same thing. How ever you need a strong system.
You need to plan and anticipate potential problems and to find the solutions in advance.
Everiting must be predicted and solutioned before you let the business go by itself.
After that you need to involve few hours/week for control only. Be flexible and be prepared to chage your plans everytime situation change.
A good manager is one with strong motivation. Take look at your staff and choose the best person there to be your manager. He or she should have family, mortgage, other duties that keep hem or her tied to the job.
Give that person the best motivation you can. Make him or her responsable for evolution of the business. Pay him more if it gose well panltie him if it gose bad. You can even give him some share to profit.
Be sure your new manager understand the responsabilities and the benefits.
Allways keep an eye on the business.
The key word is: SYSTEM. You need a system, a plan, a good plan.

[hotwash]

i would be really interested to see how the accounted for the drop off. is it included in the collections and do the attendent get some of it. How much could you really grow the drop off that number is huge. i did 2000 # a week in my store but i did alot of self service also. The one questions what are the chances of everyone quiting when you take over, when i sold my store my loyal employees last three weeks total. It is very simple the more attention you give it the more it will give you back, same as everything in life. I bought a store gave it some customer service and a cleaning and it double business in 6 months, but i was there 6 days week maybe 4 hrs weekday more on weekends. Good luck

[petefritz]

You may know how to cook, go buy a restraunt and still fail. It comes down to business sense. The mat business is a hands on business if you want the largest return. If you want little involment buy some stock or bonds.
Having the mat close to where you live will be a big plus, because when you have top run down durring dinner, it is right down the street.
I have bought 2 mats with "loyal" employees, they last about a week. One quit before I even bought the place. She was an independent contractor doing w/d/f and accounted for about 15% of the total revenue.. Poof. gone.
You will find there are endless people looking for work, you can interview after you get done with your day job. If you have the gusto and drive, then you can run the business, many people do work a real job and own a mat or two, but it won't be absentee if you expect to make any money from it.

[millenniumplus]

We went from a full time manager and one person working day and one person working night shift to dropping
the manager and adding a swing shift person. WDF is very big business for us so we next added a part time
employee to work on our busiest days (Thur-Mon). When we started getting very large accounts (300lbs+ per
drop off) we realized we needed more help so we interviewed for and hired an oncall person (who works about
28hrs a week sometimes more, rarely less). My wife and I decided it would not be good money spent to have 3
people working per shift on the busy days because there are times two people can handle things (hence the
oncall person idea). We sometimes use the oncall person to cover if someone calls out. Now, when the staff
determines more help is needed they call us and we make a collective decision for the oncall person to come in.
For example, this past Thursday we had several large commerical accounts clash and drop off their stuff within
one hour of each other in addition to our regular WDF clients/accounts (nneded it next AM). To make matters
fun and challenging , Wed to Sun are the busy days for our regular walk-in customers. Anyway, as not to tie up
the machines (50 washers and dryers: six 50lb-ders one store eight 50lb-ders in other store) and still meet the
four hour turnaround time for anything under 100lbs more hands were needed. Within all the WDF is ironing
so the oncall person has made the difference, yes. BTW we canned the manager when we first opened up
three years ago because he wasn't making much effort to increase WDF, he didn't manage the employees
very well and towards his last few months (he was there 8 months) we determined he was stealing not
just time by doing very little but money. When my wife and I got much more deeply involved we went from
about 300lbs WDF per week both store to 400+ lbs WDF per 5 days a week each store. All other numbers
picked up after we canned him and got involved (eg.: TPD, retail, dry cleaning). Look, we aren't against a
full time manager. We often talk about trying it again. We have a few in-house people that have potential.
Right now what we have in place we are satisfied with. As you will see going forward, I'm a big cheerleader
in regards to WDF. It ain't for every owner. For those owners that have it sky is the limit for growing that
part of the biz. We've advertised twice in three years our WDF. Our increase is from pounding the pavment,
code calling phone book, word of mouth and a little luck. YOu sound like you have a great team/management
in place. 60% WDF is amazing. Your location sounds very good as well. Good luck with your new investment
and look forward to hearing from you on this wesite.

[Laundry]

Thanks to all for the honest and informative opinions on this subject. This is a GREAT site, with GREAT members! We decided not to pursue the business in question but are still on the trail for others in the laundry biz. Looking forward to finding one that's a better fit and becoming a full-time member of this site. Until then...