Aramark Acquires Suburban Chicago Industrial Independent

Ajax Linen & Uniform, an industrial launderer based in Shorewood, IL, a Chicago suburb near Joliet, IL, recently was acquired by Aramark Uniform Services, according to a news release from Jim Gutheim Associates, which assisted in the transaction.

Terms of the sale of this family business founded in 1922 by Angelo, George and Bill Paros as Oriental Cleaners and Dyers, were not disclosed.

Ajax grew in the ’20s and ’30s as a local laundry, adding a fifth Paros brother, Theodore, in 1930. In 1972, a rental uniform division named Oriental Uniform Rentals was added under the leadership of Theodore and his son, Peter Paros. A new plant was built and expanded in 1979 in Shorewood, IL, near Joliet, which is southwest of Chicago.

In 1994, the company was renamed Ajax Linen & Uniform. The business continued to grow under the management of members of the founding family. In 2013, Peter Paros’ son, Theodore, bought the business with a focus on providing uniform rental and related services to a wide range of customers. The business continued to thrive through the merger, under the direction of Jim Paros (the son of George Paros), by developing strategic alliances with top suppliers in order to compete with national companies by offering customers maximum value, according to the Ajax website.

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