or some, success
stems from a simple formula of combining hard work with smart
business strategies. Even though Bob Craig strongly believes in
both practices, he attributes his success to another source:
the grace of God.
“I think God provides a lot of
opportunities for us as long as we’re faithful to
Him,” Bob said. “I think He provides blessings to
us and gets us out of a lot of situations that we get ourselves
into.”
Bob certainly doesn’t see success as
an accident or a by-product of luck; he feels that his
Christian values have lead him in the right direction.
It’s probably no accident, either,
that Bob was born in 1942 in — of all places —
Silver Spring, MD, home of the headquarters of the
International Fabricare Institute. At the time, his father,
Maurice, was an instructor for the association, then known as
the National Institute of Drycleaning.
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His father spent a lifetime in the
industry, gathering experience since the age of 16. Later, he
worked as the general manager of Campus Cleaners in Houston for
almost 15 years before he opened his own cleaners, a One Hour
Martinizing franchise, in 1962.
Bob, who grew up working at Campus
Cleaners, seemed destined to follow in his father’s
footsteps. However, it wasn’t until his last year of
college — he graduated from the University of Texas with
an accounting degree in 1964 — that he decided he’d
rather be in business for himself.
During his college years, Bob honed his
technical cleaning skills by spotting and working behind the
counter. A year after college, he felt ready to open his own
One Hour Martinizing store, and, even though he lacked managing
experience, he felt he could always lean on his father for
help. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way.
“He helped me open my first store in
July of 1965, then he passed away in September of 1965, just
two months later. He had a heart condition,” Bob
recalled. “I didn’t think I could get in trouble
with him around, but it all got thrown in my lap in a hurry.
But I guess it turned out well.”
n the beginning, Bob started on a small scale.
“There were probably three of us... myself, a presser and
a seamstress. I did the cleaning and waited on the
counter,” he said. “My father had always taught me
to really serve the customer, so we were able to give good
quality and good service.”
In 1968, Bob expanded with the help of his
mother, Helen, who had taken over the managerial duties of her
husband’s plant after he passed away.
The pair bought a new plant together,
which started a partnership that is still alive and thriving
today. Though Helen retired in the early 1980s, she still helps
Bob out with emergencies that require the delicate skill of a
seamstress. “She’s 88 right now and still doing
good,” Bob said.
In 1973, Bob formed another long family
partnership when his brother, Harry, joined him in
business after earning his accounting degree from the
University of Texas.
It wasn’t the first time the Craig
brothers had decided to work together. “We had a
partnership growing up, when I was in junior high and high
school mowing yards,” Bob recalled. “I’d mow
the yards and he’d sweep and rake. We worked real well
together then and we still work real well together. We have a
very good relationship. His office is right next
door.”
One reason the partnership works is that
the two brothers bring different strengths to the table.
“He does all the work and I do all the fishing,”
Bob joked. “Actually, he’s more in charge of
operations. The managers report to him. I’m more on the
administrative side. I take care of payroll, marketing, site
selection and finance.
“We have a different temperament. We
balance each other well. He may be conservative on some
financial deals when I’m more aggressive, but then we
just split the difference between us.”
y the time the early 1980s rolled around, the
Craig brothers had acquired a few more plants, including a High
Hat Cleaners and a Town & Country Cleaners. They decided to
combine the stores under one name: Craig’s Cleaners.
Over the years, the Craigs have tried many
ways to make a lasting impression on the public. Most notable
is probably their double drive-thru service designed for
maximum customer convenience.
“We emphasize and encourage people
to stay in their cars,” Bob noted. “We really
discourage them from coming in. There’s not really a
front door to our stores. We just have the sliding glass doors
next to the driveway.”
Bob, who got the idea from fellow Varsity
International member Mel Shapiro, thinks it makes everything
easier for the customer. “They don’t have to get
out with the kids. That’s a big plus because they
don’t want to leave their kids in the car, or take them
out of the seat belt or the child seats. That’s a real
hassle,” he said.
Many other big decisions for Craig’s
took hold when the business faced its toughest times. Bob and
Harry decided never to lower prices, but, instead, increase
services. They’ve added a lot of new services since then.
“We give the customers Priority
bags, or V.I.P. bags, with their name on it and their barcoded
identification on there,” Bob said. “We have a
night deposit in all of our stores. We developed automatic
billing. We put in curb service, even before we had the
drive-thru service. We give dog bones to the customer’s
dogs. Anytime we think of a new service we can give the
customer, we try it.”
Every year, Craig’s Cleaners plans
to raise its prices by 5%. Bob feels that it is absolutely
necessary.
“We’ve had some professional
market studies done and it’s been verified that customers
think of us as good quality, great services and high prices.
That’s just where we want to be,” he said.
“We’re probably the second highest cleaners in
Houston, if not the highest priced.”
Bob uses his accounting background to
break his pricing philosophy down into numbers. “Every
time you raise prices, you do lose a few customers, but your
profit is a whole lot better,” he said. “If you go
up 5%, as long as you don’t lose 20% of your customers,
you’re going to have the same profit.”
Bob keeps track of how many customers
think Craig’s prices are too high by surveying customers
who leave them. “Anybody that spent $50 a month for three
months and hasn’t traded with us for two months,
we’ll send them a letter with a dollar bill in it wanting
to know why they left,” he said. “31% leave for
prices. 45% leave because they moved. Only 10% might leave
because of quality or service. We feel like if 20% of the
people are not complaining about prices, our prices are not
high enough.”
In addition to having 12 locations and 11
routes with Craig’s Cleaners, Bob and Harry also own an
independent cleaning franchise named Coronet Fine Dry Cleaners.
The plant has a different set of personnel and a different set
of quality standards.
“It’s just a higher-priced
market,” Bob explained. “There is a difference in
the quality. We get a lot of ball gowns and fancy things. The
high-end customers want it perfect and they’ll pay for
it.”
Bob has been told by other members of his
Methods For Management cost group that Coronet is the
highest-priced cleaners in the country. “For a
man’s suit right now, they’re getting $34 to
$35,” he added.
ob served as an IFI director back in 1988, and
has been active in the Greater Houston Launderers and Cleaners
Association and the Southwest Drycleaners Association, having
fulfilled terms as president for both.
In addition to helping the industry, Bob
has also found satisfaction by contributing back to the
community. Craig’s actively participates in several
projects, including Teddy Bears For Kids, Dress For Success and
Trees For Houston, to name a few.
In his personal life, Bob has been married
36 years to Judy, whom he met in a church parking lot.
Nowadays, she’s a Ministry Network Director for the
Second Baptist Church in Houston, which has a membership of
about 32,000 people.
Together, the couple raised their
children, Kimberly and Ray, who have now graduated from college
and are finding their own paths. Ray, an investment banker in
New York, is married and has an 8-month-old daughter. Kimberly,
who has two children of her own, set up the human resources
department for Craig’s and has worked with the family
business from time to time.
One of her projects was to help
reduce employee turnover at Craig’s. Kimberly shares her
father’s belief that employees are every bit as important
as customers. The business now has around 200 employees
altogether.
“We try to provide a lot for
them,” Bob said. “We have a 401K plan. We have
health insurance available. We have Astros tickets that our
managers and employees can use. We try to give our people a
raise every year. After all, our employees are our
biggest asset.”
All the hard work since the days his
business started with only three employees has certainly paid
off. Though Bob made the decision not to be a public
accountant, his love of numbers helps him keep track of all the
blessings he’s accrued over the years. “I guess
I’ve become a C.P.A. in my own right — cleaning,
pressing and alterations,” he laughed.
