F&B/Hotel Talk Continues Roundtable Discussions

Participating in a TRSA virtual roundtable benefited some 30 members April 6 as the F&B/Hospitality Committee prompted discussion of its highest priority issues for networking and information-sharing.

Addressing age-old challenges becoming more pressing in light of COVID-19 impacts, committee members discussed their companies’ strategies and tactics, encouraging industry peers on this Zoom call to join them in doing so:

Labor recruiting and retention. Mario Stagliano, partner, Arway Linen & Uniform, Philadelphia, covered the variety of enticements his company has offered to compete for new employees and encourage them to remain. Mark Harad-Oaks, Arway HR director, joined Stagliano in describing how their company competes with other industries to attract enough staff to handle an expanding workload.

Efficiency through greater automation. Committee Chair Keith Pooler, owner, Sacramento (CA) Laundry, described the gains in productivity his operation has experienced through steady upgrading of plant equipment. The committee foresees incremental gains in production continuing, but linen and uniform services plants likely will remain manual and labor-intensive, highlighting the importance of paying attention to whatever is new in laundry automation.

Rental vs. customer-owned goods (COG). Mike Benik, CFO, People’s Linen, Keene, NH, reframed “rental” as “full service” – nomenclature hospitality laundries can use to demonstrate to hotels the greater value of renting laundry as opposed to their saddling themselves with buying their own linen. Unlike most U.S. hotel linen service specialists, People’s, which has significant business from restaurants, can attribute the vast majority of its hotel revenue to rental.

Keeping up with inflation. Sarah Sinclair, CEO, LinenMaster, Vero Beach, FL, which is represented on the committee, reported the company’s experience with linen service operators’ use of its software to adjust existing charges and implement new ones. Given the flexibility and ease of use of today’s route-accounting systems, the industry appears to be making such changes quickly and benefiting from increased revenues accordingly, she reported.

TRSA staff presenting on the roundtable were Kevin Schwalb, VP, government relations, discussing the latest developments and recent history of TRSA advocacy with federal, local and state government; and Jack Morgan, senior editor, sharing his take on the committee’s priority issues and describing strategies detailed in recent Textile Services magazine profiles of companies and plants serving F&B and hospitality markets.

TRSA market-specific virtual roundtables, free to members, enable them to network with colleagues whose companies hail from the same industry niche and contribute to the direction and value of TRSA and the industry. To encourage frank discussion, privacy is protected by not recording these.