Shortly before last October’s TRSA Annual Conference & Exchange, we toured three independent laundries in Northern California. We were struck by the diversity in outlook among these companies that include Sacramento Laundry Co., Shasta Linen Supply and Nu West Linen. Below are interview highlights.

While none of these companies is based in San Francisco, all three have benefited from the strong economy driven by Bay Area tech giants like Facebook and Google. This growth has posed both challenges and opportunities for operators, some of which are common to linen, uniform and facility services companies nationwide.

For Nu West, located about ...