Laundry Advice with Kevin Carlson of RJ Kool

Podcast Episode Summary: Cleaning Processes with Jerry

Host: Jerry
Guest: Kevin Carlson, Regional Sales Consultant for RJ Cool Commercial Laundry

In this "Cleaning Processes with Jerry" episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Carlson from RJ Cool Commercial Laundry. Kevin shared his journey in the commercial laundry industry, starting from his beginnings in Anchorage, Alaska, to his current role in Nebraska. We discussed the diverse range of industries that require commercial laundry services, from hospitality and healthcare to more unexpected sectors like food processing and fire departments.

Kevin provided insights into the longevity of commercial laundry equipment, emphasizing the importance of proper maintenance. He noted that a well-maintained commercial washer should last 15-20 years, while dryers can last 25-30 years. We also touched on the challenges and opportunities in the industry, including the growing demand for laundry services in athletic facilities and private sports academies.

Additionally, Kevin highlighted the role of RJ Cool's website in attracting leads and the importance of building relationships in the industry. He also mentioned their upcoming vendor show in Minneapolis, which promises to be an exciting event for industry professionals to see and experience the latest equipment.

For those interested in learning more or connecting with Kevin, he encouraged reaching out via email, phone, or LinkedIn. I appreciate our listeners' support and encourage you to subscribe, rate, review, and share the podcast.

Key Takeaways:

• Kevin Carlson's career path and current role at RJ Cool Commercial Laundry.
• There is a wide range of industries that require commercial laundry services.
• The expected lifespan of commercial laundry equipment with proper maintenance.
• The importance of RJ Cool's website and relationship-building in generating leads.
• Upcoming vendor show in Minneapolis for industry professionals.

To connect with Kevin, you can email his @ kcarlson@rjkool.com

His phone number is 402-512-2748

www.rjkool.com

For more information, visit Hospitality Cleaning 101. Thank you for tuning in, and stay safe!

Different Sites Below
https://direct.me/jerrybauer

Jerry Bauer
Hospitality Cleaning 101
Jerry@hospitalitycleaning101.com

Transcript

Hi, thanks for joining me today. My name is Jerry, and you're listening to the podcast, Cleaning Processes with Jerry. I started this podcast over two years ago, and it was designed for a show just like today. I reached out to a person that I had met through LinkedIn. I had done business with this company years ago in the Midwest, RJ Cool Laundry. And I'd reach out to him and I'd ask him a couple of different questions, then ask him to join me on the show. This is the reason I started this podcast was to bring like-minded individuals together. The show goes for 30 minutes and that's really the cutoff point because I don't like to go much longer because I was instructed once, don't go more than what a person can listen to it as they drive to work. We ended at 30 minutes. We could have gone for hours. It was like we've known one another all along. So please welcome Kevin Carlson with RJ Cool. I left in Actually, the very beginning, which normally I probably would cut out, but it shows some of the, I guess you would call it bloopers. He was helping me set up the podcast and teaching me how to record it through Zoom itself. I left it all in there. Hope you enjoy. Hope you like it and share. Thanks for joining me. Oh my God. You should see me program a laundry machine. You know, as simple as they've made some of those, they're still kind of a pain. Unbelievable. Let's start this. Thanks for joining me today. For people just joining, we just went through this process of recording and I had to be taught how to record this. Thanks for joining. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.


Kevin Carlson

Yeah, so my name's Kevin Carlson. I am currently a regional sales consultant for RJ Cool Commercial Laundry. We are a full service commercial laundry distributor that we serve the Midwest. I've been in this industry since 2016. I originally started with a distributor up in Anchorage, Alaska. And that's where I got my start in this industry, which is a great place to. And then I moved to Nebraska to join a different company about six years ago. help them kind of develop and to be a bigger distributor. And, you know, I would have never thought I would have been in this world ever when I, when I was first coming out of school. But, you know, I've grown to really, really enjoy this industry. I find it fascinating. I really enjoy the part of, you know, it's kind of a behind the scenes portion of how do we make things better? How do we put on a show out front and looking forward to being in it for a long time.


Jerry

Now, I saw and met you through LinkedIn. Yeah. I connected with you, asked you to join. I had done business with R.J. Kuhl in the Midwest. I'm originally from St. Louis, Missouri, so I'd heard of the company and stuff like that somewhere, or a path across. So I said, hey, join. After you joined Dialog, you decided to jump on here, and I deeply appreciate it. Now I quickly went back to LinkedIn this afternoon to look at your profile and you state you're from Alaska.


Jerry

Were you born and raised in Alaska? So it's funny. I wasn't born there. I wasn't raised there. I moved there. I'm originally from Minnesota. Okay. 

Kevin

So I actually had moved there for a different job, an opportunity to be an operations manager for a chain of private health and fitness facilities that a friend was working at and. It was an opportunity to, you know, move to a new state and kind of have an adventure, right? So, I moved there and then after a little time working for that company, I joined the commercial laundry industry. So, great place to be. I wasn't born and raised there though.


Jerry
Now, in Alaska, was it all laundry machines or was it coin operated as well?


Kevin
So we did OPL, vended, we did chemicals, we were starting to do dishwashers. You know, being up there, you kind of have to be a bit of a one-stop shop. So I learned just about everything in the commercial laundry world being up there.


Jerry
Now, in the commercial laundry, primarily, was it a broad range of most of your customers? Did you do a little bit of each? I mean, I'm sure you did some. Maybe some hospitality of hotels, any nursing homes.


Kevin
Well, and that's, yeah, so all of the above. And I think that's one of the cool things about this industry is there's so many different industries that need commercial laundry equipment. Right. You know, so yeah, people forget. Yeah, you know, any place, any business that generates soiled linen in any capacity needs to have that processed. So, I mean, yes, you're heavy hitters, your hospitality, healthcare, food service, laundromats, you know, straight commercial laundry plants. But, you know, I've worked with ammunition companies, you know, fish processing plants were a big thing up there, you know, all of them have laundry equipment. Right. It's kind of surprising sometimes the places you walk into and, you know, who is, who needs it? And it's quite a few people do not just hotels.


Jerry
Right. And I assume, and I shouldn't just be talking about your place in Alaska, you're here, I assume it's the exact same thing. Now you find laundry machines, Because I've sold a lot of chemicals and I found some of my strangest large accounts in the most strangest opportunities. One of my largest accounts from many years ago was actually in Missouri. It was pork producing. They were producing of pork, the trimming it out, the butchering it. You talk about the amount of fat.


Kevin
Yes.


Jerry
I mean, it was fat. And, you know, the machines they had, it was just all totally different. Not saying I wasn't used to that, but that was an eye opening for me was food processing. Now I sell a lot more food processing chemicals themselves rather than just laundry, but it's just amazing. I know in the last couple of years, there's been a big push as what I've seen is on a lot of fire departments years ago didn't have a laundry machine. Now they're putting them in and they're getting big time. athletic, the fields, the jerseys, the towels. It's just, it's unbelievable of the prospects for either chemicals or the machines themselves.


Kevin
Yeah, absolutely. And one, two, you touched on there, you know, fire departments are very, very big. Decontaminating PPE gear is huge and that is almost similar to probably what you saw in some of those processing plants. We're cleaning PPE gear, a different type, but getting all of those wonderful things off of the stuff that our folks wear and making sure that they're clean and ready to go. Now, how large of a territory do you personally run? Yeah. So right now I cover the entire state of Nebraska. I do go a little bit into Iowa, but for my own territory, I am the state of Nebraska. Okay. Do you have any overnight travel with that or can you? All kinds of it. You know, Nebraska doesn't have the population density that a lot of our other states have. So it's pretty normal to, hey, you start off your day with a three hour drive somewhere, four or five. I have a customer out in Sydney, Nebraska, which is about six hours from where I'm sitting right now. You know, he's actually closer to Colorado than he is to Omaha. But I kind of enjoy that, you know, I like getting out on the road. I like seeing people and I've found that, you know, the further away someone is, if you go see them, the more likely they are to talk to you. Right. Definitely.


Jerry
Now, when I went on your website, And I'll, we'll share with the people at toward more toward noon, but hopefully you turn this over to your marketing department because I was really impressed with it. I really was impressed with the blog posts and stuff like that because of that. Maybe, you know, does, does your website attract a lot of leads? Do you get people? I mean, I know that they, they go to the headquarters first and then they dispatch them out to you. Are there a lot of leads that come in through, um,


Kevin
Web searches, I should say. Yes, I would say a lot of the leads that get directed towards our website are more people seeking service and parts. Surprisingly, a good amount of our leads are still through relationships. We also get a decent, you know, decent leads from manufacturers direct. But I do appreciate what you said about our website, because I know we've done a lot of work to really make that a nice landing place. Right. You know, there's still when I talk to folks, there's still a lot of people that don't really fully understand that commercial laundry is a thing. Right. You know, so when we go to our site, it's like, oh, there's visuals. Hey, this is what equipment looks like. Hey, here's some things you can do to make people feel more comfortable. So I think it's a huge tool.


Jerry
Well, I check out a lot of different websites and I found my, you know, I was told totally for us now on the website and I have some relate not relationships. I, I knew of, or J Cole, I didn't realize that you were selling chemicals. Are you selling chemicals at all in the areas?


Kevin
Yeah. So not in all of our areas and part of what, you know, so we, you know, we've, our company has expanded quite a bit, but we have that our chemical division that primarily focuses on in the Kansas city, Missouri area, and then also in St. Louis. Yes.


Jerry
Yeah. And that makes sense because if you're doing Nebraska and you're doing, trying to wear both those hats and then you're at one end of the state and you're trying to give a demo or you're trying to talk a lot machines and someone's got a London machine down at the other end of the state. And it's much more that you're responsible rather than you can call a part center to send out parts. Trust me. I get it. That's the reason I was asking. I go. I was talking to myself, I didn't realize these little chemicals. My first question to myself was to ask you, is that throughout or is that more in the populated areas? Missouri is great for it. You could have St. Louis, you have Missouri, they can help one another. Nebraska, I can understand why you don't do it there.


Kevin
Yeah. I mean, would I like to? Yes. But I mean, you, you know, being in the chemical business for so long, it's a service heavy role and you need to, you need to do it right. Right.


Jerry
And I imagine you'd have that element of the parts, you know, service that then itself leads itself to. a new piece of equipment, you know, some piece of glen has outlived the life and stuff like that. So what, what is, and I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to ask you what is the expectancy of a machine? How long it lasts. Of course, I know just as much as you do depends on the operation of that, but I'm sure the customers themselves ask you that all the time. I'm buying a machine. How long should it last? I'm not asking you for what, what your opinion is or what is the customer's opinion? What is, what do they think? You know, that's not your opinion. You can give me your opinion, but you give me your opinion and I'm rolling you down to it.


Kevin
So I can't. Yeah. So absolutely. No, I love that. So I'll start with my opinion first. So in my opinion, a properly maintained commercial washer should last a customer 15 to 20 years. A commercial dryer, 25 to 30. Okay. And from a customer perspective, I would say they are maybe thinking a washer should last maybe 12 to 15 years. Really? Okay. And, you know, we can get in, we can get into the weeds and the variables of that. But dryers are still I say our customers expecting to be 20 to 25 years old, where when we're replacing equipment, on average, the average age of a dryer we are replacing is past that 20 year mark. Right.


Jerry
And if somebody would ask me from looking at it from the chemical perspective, I would say, you have to have a goal. It's like buying a car. I have a goal that it lasts at least a day. and installments are paid up. I'm just teasing, you know. You know, if I got a six-year loan or a five-year loan or something like that, you know, literally, you know, you want it to last much longer. But I would say the goal is 15 to 20. That was before your answer. And I, even just as a chemical person, will give you tips of how you can attain that. Now, Is it the chemicals? No, no, it's not. But is it maintaining on their end? Do they have a responsibility? Are they doing the proper, I mean, you know, more of the whole angle? Are they, you know, upgrading and stuff like that. I would think, and I'm going to take your sales presentation away from you, would be you encompass the customer because you're selling the parts. You know what they're buying. You know what they're putting on. You can actually, I'm sure, monitor it many ways, either through your service department or through just knowing what they purchase on parts. Somebody calls and says, I'm having problems and you go, wait, you haven't bought parts in three years, you know, you have to take some of the responsibility.


Kevin
So, yeah. And, you know, where parts are pretty common thing and, you know, most of the things that people tend to replace, you know, on a washer come into the ability or inability for a washer to take in water or remove water. I mean, that's really where those come into play. Is that machine able to bring in water? Is it flowing properly when we're draining? Is the drain able to flow? Is there a butter knife stuck in it? All of those things, and not to rag on you, but did the chemical guy stuff leak all over the back? Is the back panel starting to go? Did it rust to the frame?


Jerry
I mean, you heard me say, it's just horrible. I mean, before the manifolds came up, now they got manifolds. People are being stolen quickly. I get it. I mean, let's be honest. What the chemical companies have destroyed more than anything else. What can I say? It hasn't been maintained. It hasn't been upgraded. They put in water valves. They don't use water valves. They don't put in a loop. Oh, I get it. Trust me. I totally get it. I was working for Ecolab, the big dog for 15 years. I was selling to them when they were actually selling powders and there were laundries or liquids, I should say, more powders and liquids. So I've seen the evolution of the dispensers and upgrades, but it takes hands on helping the customer. My favorite story, and you said the drain or the water, you know, leaving the machine has so much to do with it. My expression is, is Maybe the industry still uses it, the drains, the brain. I mean, if the trains climb, it's not going to work. I had worked when I was with Ecolab in my early days, they were actually selling laundry machines. I don't even know if you know that they were selling. Yeah, they had done. Yeah. They were selling a company. Somebody was making them. They called it treasure and stuff like that. So a rep had to learn to work on a machine and the machines 99% of the pounds in the machine was. You said it, a butter knife in the drain. One of my best stories of my years of doing this is I literally went into a banquet center one evening and they had a problem with the dish machine, had a problem with the laundry machine. Went over to the laundry machine, I pulled a lot of silverware, a lot of silverware out of the drain. Okay. And then, you know, the dish machine's down, the dish machine's down, too. I went over to the dish machine, and I swear to God, I go over to the dish machine, it's grinding everything at full pump and peller. There's literally two napkins inside the pumpkin pellet. So I had to pull it out, get it all working. I went up to the general manager and I laid it on her desk. I just laid them both on the desk. She goes, well, what's the problem? I said, well, the problem's your problem. I said, you're confused. Silver goes in the dishwasher, napkin go in the laundry machine. Your employees did this backwards. You've got it backwards. Unbelievable. My best story, my best story of my whole career. So business wise, good year, exciting things. What do you have exciting things coming out this coming year? I see that you do have a show coming up.


Kevin
Yeah, yes, we do. So just Yeah, 2024 was a great year for our company. And we're rolling that right in 2025. We do have a vended show coming up in Minneapolis. Um, I think we got our date finalized for that now, but that's going to be a great event. You know, we're going to have industry partners there. Most of our staff there just to reinvite some folks to come. Anyone that signs up to come by, talk to us, learn more about equipment, touch it, feel it, see it. Which I think is so important, you know, to see these things in person, to understand what truly what you're looking at, what you're buying. So we're, we're really excited for that. Well, that's great. And when is that? Let me double check because I know we've changed it a couple times. Here we go. I didn't mean to pinpoint you there.


Jerry
I know you're fine. I don't even know when my meetings are next week at work. It's going to be Thursday, May 1st. That sounds exciting. How many different brands are some of the universe or Unimax did the I'm old school. Some of those are still out there. I know. Do you have other brands or is that your main brand?


Kevin
So the, and it depends on where you're at in our territories, but the main brands we sell are Unimax, Fagor. We also do Aqua Wing Ozone. We do Continental Garbao. And then in some territories we have Speed Queen as well.


Jerry
And from the outside looking in, what's the update on ozone? Is it, is it growing? I mean, it seems like it's going through its peaks and valleys. Yeah.


Kevin
Oh, I'm with you. It's well, and I think you can agree that it's, it's come and left our industry multiple times. It's probably, it's been, uh, it's been sold the wrong way. I think a number of times, you know, when I first came into the industry, the big thing was, was he didn't need to use chemical at all. Right. And you can, you just have to use cold water, no chemical. And you know, that's very interesting, right? Well, right. It doesn't, it needs a little bit more help than that. Right. But we're really seeing inroads of that really more on the vended side. Right. And so, and selling it more as a feature that a laundromat owner can have in their store. Say, Hey, look, you know, if you come use our machines, You know, your final rinse cycle is done with ozonated water. You know, it helps your helps your fabric life, helps things, helps disinfect, helps just things feel more fresh. And that and then also in, you know, athletic laundries is where we're seeing a really big push with that as well. OK.


Jerry
I imagine the athletic marketplace is only increased in the last couple of years, and I'm not even sure why I say that, but I think, am I correct?


Kevin
Yes. And what's interesting is, is like, so you have your tradition, traditional athletics, right? Your school programs, things like that. But we're also seeing, and I'd be curious if you're seeing these in your area, there's more of these private sports academies, right? You know, like there's one near me, that's like a big private baseball academy.


Jerry
Correct.


Kevin
And I think that's really a, that's been a huge thing lately.


Jerry
Even what I call camps or schools, tennis camps, tennis schools, it just seems like there's just more and more, even, I'll use the word, well, fitness centers, stuff like that. And everybody gets a towel, everybody should get a towel. People don't wanna bring a towel, their own, and things like that. Big business, I would think. I would think that it's always just seemed to have grown and grown in the last 10 and 20 years. So any other markets coming out where you see the industry going with laundries? I mean, I just think, you know, you know, we talked about the fire stations, we talked about, you know, the camps and schools like that. Where else are you seeing some unusual machines at?


Kevin
You know, I've been working on a couple things with some pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. And, you know, they're not necessarily using them in the traditional wash cycle capacity, but they're using them to help, you know, aid in the manufacturing, not so much of the actual pharmaceutical products themselves, but the vessels that, you know, either carry those products that they're using to create them. Um, and that's been very interesting to be able to go in those facilities and just, you know, that's my favorite part, you know, that you get to walk in as a visitor and see these places. So I think that's a big one.


Jerry
Yeah. Now, or the. I'm not going to name any names, but there's many companies that do what I call laundry. They encompass laundry with many other different things, you know, the PPE, you know, the medicine chest, the things like that, where they come in and they drop off a couple items as well. Are you getting any smaller places looking for saying, Hey, I'm trying to cut that bill down of, of a company that does, you know, some of those, those smaller things are, you know, can we get a smaller machine in here? Yeah. Are you seeing some of that?


Kevin
Yes. And I think really what, what you kind of touched on there is. There's definitely an emerging market of those smaller machines where you have customers that in the past that may have been buying residential machines, right. That are really at the point where they've either. They're just using them more than the, than the capability of those machines. Or they just, it's really just a volume thing. I mean, I have a customer that has a smaller, you know, medical facility and they were doing stuff, everything and up washing all their stuff. And just a standard washer and dryer you'd buy at an appliance store. Right. But they'd been doing enough laundry. We're like, Hey, maybe we should think about this a little bit more. And so I do think that, that, you know, like basically from a 25 pound to a 40 pound capacity machine, there's going to be a lot more opportunity in that. But the hard part is, is what we've run into in those scenarios is the utility connections are, you know, a residential style and that transitioning that into a commercial machine doesn't always work or is a bit cost prohibitive.


Jerry
Right. I know as I speak frequently, I jog my own memory where years ago when I moved to the East coast, because I did not see this in the Midwest. It could have been all over the Midwest and I never knew about it, but I was riding with somebody who said, I'm going to go see this customer. And it was a veterinary. with a doggy daycares attached to it. And he goes, we're going to go over. And I said, you have a laundry machine? He goes, no, they only have one. They have three. I mean, what they were Would it never? I've driven by 100 of those places. I never knew that they had they had laundry equipment. Yes. We're buying chemicals. They had automatic dispensing. They had everything. Never.




Kevin
Well, and I mean, the the market just, you know, you know, the pet market in general, you know, companion animals, there's any business that either houses animals or is grooming them. It's very likely if they don't have laundry equipment, they're looking for it. Right.


Jerry
Well, we're coming up to close to a half hour here, and that's normally when we start winding up. Tell people, and at the end, I put show notes in this, and in the beginning, I do a proper introduction beforehand, a little bit about yourself before we jumped on air, because I was goofing out with my Zoom here. That's my fault. Uh, I'll do an introduction, put some of your contact information, but tell people what's the best way to get ahold of you. And, and like I said, I'll put the website and stuff like that and tell us the best way to get ahold of you.


Kevin
Yeah, the best way to get a hold of me is email or my phone number. You can contact me through LinkedIn. I am like just about anyone. My phone is not far from me at any time. And I encourage, even if you just have a question or a curiosity, my whole goal in this industry is being a resource. Right. You know, I love talking to people about it. I consider myself a laundry nerd. You know, please reach out to me with all of your questions

Jerry
And, you know, and I appreciate that. I know that being for a fact, because you agreed to come on here today and talk to me. I mean, we are here not promoting herself or promoting the industry. Exactly. I'm promoting all McLean, you know, just like the story about the pets and stuff like that. There's people who are in the industry and maybe want to know more information. And I will give all that information in my show notes. And I apologize. I didn't officially introduce in the beginning, but, you know, that's that's my fault with Zoom. And it's Friday afternoon. So no problem. Well, I appreciate it. I hope you have a great weekend.


Host
I appreciate it. Thanks, Jerry. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Cleaning Processes with Jerry. If you enjoyed our insights into the world of cleaning and hospitality solutions, head over to Hospitality Cleaning 101 at hospitalitycleaning101.com to learn more. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast, rate, review, and share with your colleagues in the industry. And if you're interested in joining us for a future episode, reach out through the website. Your support means the world to us and together we'll continue exploring innovative cleaning solutions that save time, effort, and money. Until next time, wash your hands for 30 seconds and stay safe.