Laundry operators it seems are incurable optimists. As the COVID-19 pandemic approaches its one-year anniversary in March, members of the linen, uniform and facility services industry speak increasingly of “silver linings” associated with their experiences of the past year. Those that have survived the virus are hoping for better times in 2021. One such company, HLS Linen Services, an Ottawa-based not-for-profit co-op laundry, opened a new 64,000-square-foot (5,945-square-meter) plant in Toronto in the fall of 2019 when demand for healthcare and hospitality laundry services there was booming. Now, HLS CEO Rocco Romeo says the Toronto plant, which Textile Services toured ...