Survey Reflects F&B-Industrial Crossover

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Launderers who traditionally have focused on serving restaurants with table linen rental and have diversified into industrial markets are applying their experience with product lines aimed at the latter catagory to provide extra value to their food and beverage (F&B) customers, a new TRSA survey indicates.

Conducted for the Feb. 6-8 TRSA Restaurant/F&B Roundtable at Florida’s Walt Disney World, the survey of these laundry operators concluded that more than 60% are into direct sales of garments for front-of-the-house employees. More than half are marketing customized (logo) and anti-fatigue mats in this manner. Almost nine of 10 are renting these and 80+% are renting scraper mats.

The typical respondent’s profile - demographics of about half of those who answered the survey - was an industry professional based in a single-plant operation with at least 50% of all customers in F&B and at least some industrial business, ranging from 1% to 60% of revenue. Nearly six in 10 respondents said half of all accounts use cloth napkins; fewer (57%) reported this prevalence of tablecloths in their customer base. More than half said they’ve worked in the textile services industry for at least 20 years, with 17 of the 40 describing their seniority at 30 years or more.

Further results of this research were revealed at the Florida roundtable and participants have been sent a copy of the survey report. TRSA is forming a Restaurant/F&B Committee to further improve the industry’s service to this market. The new panel will conduct its inaugural meeting on March 27 at the Leadership & Legislative Conference in Washington.