Laundry businesses in the world are fashionable although they are experiencing a complex situation because, to be profitable, they need to be very well located or develop a skillful strategy to attract customers. In this guide we give you the keys to setting up a successful laundry.
Taking clothes to an establishment to be washed is something that has been carried out throughout life. To do this , laundries have had to reinvent themselves, change their business model and use a strategy to become a profitable business model. This has meant that traditional laundries can now be found on the market, as well as those that combine other services such as dry cleaning, those that are self-service or those that work online through an application. Learn How to Start a Laundromat in this article
But, regardless of the transformation that the laundry business model has undergone in Spain, what has not changed is that most of them are in the hands of freelancers. The president of the Spanish Federation of Dry Cleaners and Laundries (FETYL), Jose Carlos Mas, affirms that most of the laundry and dry cleaning businesses are family-owned ,
Despite being traditional businesses, laundries also attract the attention of entrepreneurs, who see in them a business model in which to invest. However, Mas explained that they are an activity that requires a lot of time, work and strategy to be profitable. In this guide you will find all the requirements to open your own laundry and the keys to success.
What are the requirements to open a laundromat?
The first thing to know is that this business model is based on cleaning garments and if the cleaning is done with water it is called laundry and if it is done dry it is called dry cleaning. “They both do the same thing,” explained Mas. However, despite the similarity, the opening process and the requirements to open a dry cleaning or laundry vary.
the representative of FETYL explained that when it comes to laundry, the requirements are not the same as when opening a dry cleaner. To open a laundromat, you must live locally and register as self-employed. However, in order to open a laundry, it is necessary to register as a small and medium-sized producer of toxic waste in addition to all requirements for laundry.
Chemical cleaners typically use perchloroethylene, which is a solution that can cause damage. Therefore, they should be registered as a small producer of toxic wastes in the environment and submit annual reports on volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Mas pointed out that for this reason chemical cleaners are always checked by local, regional and environmental police. According to him, the work of the Department of Environmental Protection (SEPRONA) is particularly interesting, because the civilian guards come on motorcycles and stand in front of the dry wash, this also scares you.
Orientation about how much it costs to set up a laundry
To open a laundry or a dry cleaner, you mainly need SBA 7A Loans premises and machinery, it is the cost of this that increases the necessary investment. Juan Carlos Mas calculates that laundry and dry-cleaning can cost about 50,000 euros, without taking into account the expenses per premises. As for the performance that a laundry or dry cleaning service can have, “if it works”, it is between 100,000 and 140,000 euros per year.
Tips for setting up a laundry
Before the entrepreneur launches and launches his project to open a laundromat, the president of the federation offers a series of tips for setting up a laundromat. As he said, the laundries and dry cleaners no longer work as before, since customers prefer to buy more clothes than to have a single quality one, which means that they do not go to this type of business as much : “Before, people who invested in a jacket did not risk washing it at home and came to us. Now he washes it at home,” said Mas.
The project to open a laundry
For this reason, and before embarking on the adventure, the main advice that Mas gives, and that should mark the project roadmap to open a laundromat, is to look for a good location . And it is that this type of business works especially well near business areas. Likewise, he recognizes that in the towns there is also less competition and a relationship of trust is established with the clients.
