There are no Big Macs in the drycleaning industry says Steve Berglund, who, according to IFI, is one of the nation's "Best Dressed Drycleaners." He was awarded the honor at last July's Clean Show in New Orleans.
Steve also has the distinction of owning Mastercraft Dry Cleaning of Fresno, CA. He has over 35 years of experience in the industry and has spent a lot of that time trying to decipher the mysteries of market share. Steve believes that drycleaning has yet to produce a franchise that is comparable in size and scope to McDonald's restaurant.
He wants to change all of that.
"What does McDonald's sell? Do they sell hamburgers? No. McDonald's doesn't sell hamburgers," he said. "They learned that about the time they developed the Big Mac. I'm not sure if Big Mac was their first, but they learned it pretty early on and what they learned was branding had value. Over the years, I've been fortunate enough to run across people who have told me that branding and naming have value."
Steve pointed out that if you look at the leaders in the fast food industry, you won't discover plain old hamburgers for sale. Instead, you will find Whoppers and Big Macs.
"Now, the question as I see it is this: Are there any Big Macs in the drycleaning industry? I love asking that question," Steve said. "As far as I can see, the answer is no."
Born in Bakersfield, CA, back in 1942, Steve first learned about franchising by watching his father, John, sell Martinizing drycleaning stores in California.
"My father was a life insurance salesman. He was number one in his sales office for 16 years in a row," Steve recalled. "He was a very good salesman so the Martinizing company asked him if he wanted to sell franchises."
Incidentally, Steve's father met Art Bender one day in his business exchange club. Bender was the first McDonald's franchisee in 1955. He opened one of the first franchise locations in Fresno.
"I remember my dad told me, 'I went to the Exchange Club today and Art Bender brought us all Big Macs.' He told me all about this great hamburger," Steve said.
Long before Steve entertained thoughts of franchises, he was still unsure of what course he wanted to pursue professionally. After high school, he attended drycleaning school and spent a couple of years studying business at Fresno City College.
He then joined the Army Reserve in Fresno. "I was activated in the Berlin Crisis. I belonged to a hospital unit. The entire unit was activated and we took over Madigan Hospital in Ft. Lewis, Washington. Then, that entire hospital unit went to Berlin," he recalled.
When he returned home from Berlin, Steve began helping clients open up the Martinizing stores they had purchased from his father.
"He'd sell a store in Salinas, for example, and I'd go to Salinas and rent an apartment there," Steve explained. "I'd stay a month or two months and help them open up their Martinizing store and then I'd go to another store or pack up my stuff and come back home."
During that time of his life, Steve developed plenty of knowledge on how to set up and operate drycleaning plants, so he and his father decided to form JMS Enterprises in 1967. The plan was for Steve's father to continue to sell Martinizing franchises, but he would also buy plants with Steve, who would then go on to manage them. By 1971, they already had three stores.
For the next several years, Steve honed the family businesses and started several other projects. He was always searching for better business alternatives, trying to figure out which approaches worked best.
In 1975, Steve opened the first Mastercraft Drycleaning store. He also purchased (and later sold) a Coit Drapery & Carpet franchise along with the Suede-Life Leather Cleaning license.
About two years after his father passed away in 1979, Steve opened a 6,000 sq. ft. plant and began focusing his attention on low end drycleaning.
Seeking to capture the market, he developed a marketing and advertising strategy and created a chain of Dollar Cleaners. "I created logos and had a guy called E Pluribus Cleanus -- he was a character on a dollar bill."
At one point in 1986, Steve was juggling two Mastercraft Drycleaning stores, six Dollar Cleaners stores and the Coit Drapery & Carpet franchise.
"In a nutshell, I spent all of this time trying to figure out marketplace," Steve explained.
Certainly, many of Steve's ideas have worked very well. In 1982, one of his Mastercraft plants was honored as best-in-the-nation in design, marketing and promotion by American Drycleaner. However, Steve realized in 1993 that it was time to re-evaluate his priorities and narrow the focal point of his businesses.
He made this decision not long after he visited the doctor for a routine examination. His test results revealed that he had cancer.
"It turned out that I had a tumor on my colon and it had just, just started going through the wall, so we caught it early," he said.
After doctors removed a piece of his colon, Steve underwent chemotherapy for a while. "As it turned out, I'm still here," he said. Even though he reached his five-year plateau in 1998, he continues to get check-ups every six months.
Surviving the health crisis was one step, but Steve was also eager to take on another battle. "I closed and sold everything and just concentrated on Mastercraft," he remarked. "The reasoning was that nobody could pick up the pieces. I wouldn't be leaving anything that anyone could put any value on."
As a father of three sons -- Erick, 24, a college graduate; Scott, 20, a business major at college in Fresno; and Mark, 12, who enjoys being enrolled in a laptop computer class at school -- Steve had many reasons to learn from mistakes and make his business better. Although, it is ironic to note that Steve might not even have his family if one of his plants hadn't stretched out an acrylic sweater suit in 1971. The garment's owner was his future wife, Gina. She lodged a complaint to the owner, Steve, who responded by offering to pay for a claim and a lunch date.
In an effort to distinguish Mastercraft apart as the "nation's finest drycleaner" (Mastercraft's slogan), Steve has come up with several ideas: Super Shirt service which combines a patented collar shaper, sleeve holder and cuff links to ensure that shirts are laundered in a superior fashion; Handy Hamper garment bags; AirWash professional wet cleaning; Clean Connect information centers that offer information to customers; Master Menders stations for tailoring and alterations; a Care Check Garment Assessment that prints out pertinent up-to-date information for customers; and a Quality Control Assurance system, to name a few.
He has a total of seven patents and 13 trademarks.
"The concept was very simple," Steve noted. "Everybody asks you when you go to McDonald's, 'Do you want cheese with that?' Why do they ask that? Because cheese costs them a quarter of a penny and they sell it for six pennies, or a dime, or twenty cents. The piece of cheese is a mark-up item.
"Super Shirt is the same thing," Steve continued. "If you normally charge $1.10 for a shirt, put Super Shirt on it and you can charge $1.50 and half of that is profit in your pocket."
One phrase that Steve likes to use is "Anybody can eat an elephant one bite at a time." Certainly, he has spent most of his career learning the ins and outs of business one step at a time.
All of that hard work has led him to where he is now. He has learned enough to eat an elephant, so to speak, but he is ready to replace that big pachyderm with his own Big Mac. Steve has developed a business plan and is speaking with different venture capital companies in an effort to try to form a nationwide Mastercraft franchise. "I'm starting to realize that what I do have is workable. The interest level is there," he said.
Though he doesn't know where the road will lead him in the future, at least Steve is content with the journey so far. He has really enjoyed his role as a husband and a father. "It's easier to be in business than it is to be a good father. To be a good father is not as easy as it seems," he noted.
Additionally, he has also been very active in supporting the community of Fresno, a place in which he is proud to live. Not only has he served as a past chairman of the board for the Central California Better Business Bureau, but he has contributed to a variety of charities through the North Fresno Rotary Club, a group he joined over 26 years ago.
Steve also helped form a board of directors for the Poverello House in 1984. The group initially worked with Catholic charities, then later expanded to the rest of the community. They raised enough money to purchase property and created a place for homeless people to stay in downtown Fresno.
Steve finds it extremely rewarding to be in a position to help others. "I believe giving back to the community is something that every business person should do," he said. "After all, the community supports business, so business needs to support the community. It takes a little bit of time and effort, but it's well worth it."
Kevin Kelly has accepted the position of national sales manager for Cleaners Depot in Houston, TX. He will be responsible for all replacement equipment, parts and package plant sales.
Kelly has over 16 years in the drycleaning and laundry industries as a store owner/operator, equipment dealer, service technician and plant efficiency engineer.
Cleaners Depot is a full line equipment dealer carrying such brands as Columbia drycleaning machines, Hoffman pressing equipment, Hurst boilers plus all other major brands. Cleaners Depot also has parts available for immediate shipment on all types of drycleaning equipment.
Kelly can be reached at (800) 400-1941 for any equipment or parts needs.
Dan Eisen, former chief garment analyst of the Neighborhood Cleaners Association, is now offering a new, independent garment analysis service. Eisen retired from NCA last spring after 33 years with the association.
Eisen said his independent analysis will create full confidence for both customers and cleaners that the analysis will be fair and independent. Customers and cleaners can use the service either jointly or independently.
In addition to his many years with NCA, Eisen is licensed by New York State to teach drycleaning, fabrics and pressing and by EPA to teach certification courses. He has served as a consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and led seminars at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Marymount College. He has also tested fabrics for Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, Jones New York, Saks Fifth Avenue and Gortex among, others.
His work in garment care and analysis has been featured in newspaper articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Newsday, and he has been cited as an expert source in the Daily News, New York Post and other magazines and newspapers. He also has had numerous television appearances, including the David Letterman Show and CNN News.
Since leaving NCA, Eisen has relocated to Florida. He can now be reached at his new home, 274 NW Toscane Trail, Port St. Lucie, FL 34986; phone (561) 340-0909; e-mail cleandan@adelphia.net.
Mark Ver-Non of Haverford, PA, Tammy Bell of Brewer, ME, and Richard B. Days of West Hollywood, FL,were awarded the 2001 R. R. Street & Co. Inc. scholarship to International Fabricare Institute's three-week General Drycleaning Course. The students completed course work from July 30 - August 17 and received a General Drycleaning Course certificate upon completion. The course covers several areas such as drycleaning processes and equipment, stain removal, finishing, shirt laundry, wetcleaning, wedding gowns, business practices, legislation and customer service. Street's established the IFI Scholarship trust fund in 1965 to support the continuing educational opportunities available for those entering or involved in the professional garment care industry. The awarding of each scholarship is done at the sole discretion of each IFI District Director. Scholarship applications can be obtained by contacting IFI at 301-622-1900.
Hurst Boiler Inc. honored two of its distributors recently. Bill Steiner and Ozzie Rubio of Steiner-Atlantic Corp. in Miami, received an award for most outstanding sales over the past four years. Presenting the awards are Jeff Hurst and Gene Hurst. Also, New York Machinery was honored as Hurst's best new distributor for 2000.
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