TRSA Execs’ Southeast Tour Touches 8 Member Companies

A driving route Sept. 22-25 to visit TRSA members in Alabama and Florida took TRSA President & CEO Joseph Ricci and VP Tom Newell to nine company member locations. It was the eighth in a series of regional excursions involving Ricci and his TRSA staff colleagues since 2021, initiated as the COVID-19 pandemic waned and the economy reopened.

These meetings enable TRSA staff to tour members’ facilities and benefit from their management’s candid, personal observations of challenges and opportunities on the industry’s front lines. In return, they receive insights on economic, political and social trends affecting linen, uniform and facility services from TRSA’s perspective, developed from promoting and protecting the interests of companies varying in geographic reach and by customer industries served.

Stops on the recent Southeast route (traveling roughly 600 miles, east along the Gulf Coast then north into Alabama} were:

• Alsco Uniforms, Mobile, AL
• Cintas Corp., Pensacola, FL
• Crown Health Care Laundry Services, headquarters and local plant, Pensacola, FL
• Integrity Laundry Services, Fort Walton Beach, FL
• WRC Laundry Services, Dothan, AL
• Taylor Linen Services, Andalusia, AL
• Sanico Services, Cottondale, AL
• UniFirst Corp., Birmingham, AL

Shown in the photo accompanying this article are, from left, three Taylor siblings (Katherine Jones, Riley Hill Taylor and Reid Taylor); Ricci; Riley Taylor; Newell; Dale Bailey; and Kevin Barrios Reyes.

This mix represented the diversity of member operations:

• Companies with 100 or fewer employees to those with thousands
• Local, multistate and multinational operations
• Specialists in serving customers in foodservice, healthcare, hospitality or industrial
• Generalists who operate mixed plants with a balance of these

“We tell our primary contacts at member companies we would like to visit them, their plant management, or anyone else they’d like us to see,” said Ken Koepper, TRSA member and industry relations director, who accompanied Ricci and Newell. “These are private, confidential discussions.”

For more photos and general observations of the Southeast tour stops, see the daily coverage from Sept. 22-26 on the LinkedIn pages of TRSA and Ricci. Follow these pages for additional insights into TRSA activities. A video highlighting key moments from the route is set to appear on LinkedIn shortly.