Laundry Behemoths Making Moves, Solar Powered Laundromat | Laundromat News Today | April 3, 2026 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:01Welcome to Laundromat News today. I am
2. 0:04America's most inconsistent news anchor,
3. 0:07Jordan Berry,
4. 0:08uh especially when it comes to the
5. 0:09laundromat industry. But, I'm bringing
6. 0:11you news from around the world, all
7. 0:13things laundromat related. We've got a
8. 0:15lot of stories to catch up on today. So,
9. 0:17let's jump into it with our weekly, or
10. 0:21at least uh every time we do this
11. 0:22episode, check-in of the Alliance
12. 0:25Laundry Holding ticker. As of the
13. 0:27recording of this episode, Alliance
14. 0:30Laundry Holding is sitting at $21.36
15. 0:34a share. Um that is down from its
16. 0:39initial uh
17. 0:41valuation at $24.99
18. 0:44by about 14 and 1/2%. So, um you know,
19. 0:47it's been down from its high. I believe
20. 0:49its high was in the upper $26.
21. 0:53Um so, we're down a little bit there.
22. 0:55And along those lines, uh Citigroup has
23. 0:58cut Alliance Laundry's price target to
24. 1:01$28. That's down from 32. Their initial
25. 1:05price target was $32. So, down from 28,
26. 1:07but they do still maintain a hold rating
27. 1:10on and a buy rating on uh Alliance
28. 1:14Laundry Holding. So, uh listen, we're
29. 1:16going to just going to keep an eye on
30. 1:17what that company is doing going
31. 1:20forward. And we're going to stick with
32. 1:22Alliance
33. 1:23uh here. They have acquired another
34. 1:25distributor, Super Laundry, based out of
35. 1:28New York. So, uh again, stacking
36. 1:32distributors, Alliance Laundry. Keeping
37. 1:34an eye on that, seeing what's going on
38. 1:36in the industry, seeing what's going on
39. 1:37with those guys. Uh again, there's only
40. 1:40a handful of ways that they can increase
41. 1:43their revenue and increase their profit.
42. 1:44That's by acquiring assets
43. 1:47and charging us more, really. Uh so, or
44. 1:49selling us more. So,
45. 1:51uh we're keeping an eye on Alliance and
46. 1:53what they've got going on in the
47. 1:55industry. They're uh kind of a behemoth
48. 1:57right now, so we want to see where
49. 1:59they're throwing their weight around. Uh
50. 2:00let's talk about a software behemoth in
51. 2:02the industry, Cintas. They have done a
52. 2:05series C fund raise that raised $110
53. 2:09million and another $30 million in
54. 2:12shares sold via tender offer. So,
55. 2:16uh listen, Cintas making moves, raising
56. 2:19more money.
57. 2:20Um another publicly or private
58. 2:23publicly funded? I don't know. They're
59. 2:25venture funded, venture backed at least
60. 2:28uh company making waves in the industry,
61. 2:30so we're keeping an eye on these guys.
62. 2:32And uh speaking of behemoths here, this
63. 2:35I know does not have a direct
64. 2:37relation to a lot of you and what you
65. 2:40guys are doing in your laundromat
66. 2:41businesses, but this is definitely
67. 2:43laundry related and huge news. Where
68. 2:45Cintas, kind of the giant in pickup and
69. 2:48delivery that's doing large-scale uh
70. 2:51pickup and delivery for larger clients
71. 2:53than most of us are dealing with, just
72. 2:55acquired Unifirst in a $5.5 billion
73. 2:59transaction.
74. 3:01So,
75. 3:03these two massive companies have united
76. 3:06and, you know, again, it may not have a
77. 3:08massive impact on your business, but
78. 3:11we're keeping an eye on it. I know we
79. 3:12are delving in our industry uh more and
80. 3:15more into pickup and delivery, and
81. 3:16again, most of us are not competing with
82. 3:18Cintas or Unifirst on company uh on a on
83. 3:23customers, but uh it is interesting to
84. 3:25hear what's going on in our industry
85. 3:27right now, and this seems to indicate
86. 3:29that at least on the larger scale,
87. 3:31pickup and delivery is not going
88. 3:32anywhere.
89. 3:34All right, this brings us to our
90. 3:35international segment of the news show
91. 3:39here, and let's just let's keep the
92. 3:41tradition rolling. We're going to kick
93. 3:42it off with Alliance Laundry Systems
94. 3:43again. They're launching Stack X in Asia
95. 3:47Pacific region, and that is a stacked
96. 3:50washer dryer machine um that they're
97. 3:53starting there and they're billing it as
98. 3:55basically for newer business owners,
99. 3:58smaller business owners, and compact
100. 4:00format laundry operators.
101. 4:02So, interesting to watch what they're
102. 4:05rolling out with. Personally, I think
103. 4:08that
104. 4:09the movement is more towards the combo
105. 4:12machines as opposed to the stack
106. 4:13machines, but time will tell and we'll
107. 4:15see where it's going. But, those those
108. 4:17combo machines on the commercial scale
109. 4:19are looking in more and more enticing
110. 4:21these days. I'll be interested to see
111. 4:23how they play out over
112. 4:26over time.
113. 4:27Okay.
114. 4:29Kind of laundromat related, kind of not,
115. 4:31but just, you know, want to hear some
116. 4:33good news stuff going on around the
117. 4:35industry. This one is
118. 4:38a washing machine jukeboxes are bringing
119. 4:41unreleased music to Auckland, New
120. 4:44Zealand laundromats this May.
121. 4:47It's a public art installation called
122. 4:49Fresh Laundry and they're turning
123. 4:51Auckland laundromats into unlikely music
124. 4:53discovery destination. So, cool idea
125. 4:57going on in New Zealand in the month of
126. 5:00May. Again, if you want to see more
127. 5:03about any of these stories, we're not
128. 5:04done yet, but if you want to see any
129. 5:06more or read more about any of these
130. 5:07stories
131. 5:09that we talked about today or see the
132. 5:10articles or videos that were drawn from,
133. 5:13make sure you're subscribed over at
134. 5:14laundromatresource.com,
135. 5:16which brings us to Brazil where
136. 5:18community laundromats are growing. I
137. 5:19don't know if you've done much
138. 5:21traveling, but a lot of countries don't
139. 5:23really have
140. 5:25laundromats. They have places where you
141. 5:27drop off your laundry. Many, many
142. 5:30countries have these small little
143. 5:33booths basically that have a a couple or
144. 5:36a few washing machines where you drop
145. 5:38them off, but community laundromats are
146. 5:39growing trend in Brazil. So, pretty cool
147. 5:42to see that happening.
148. 5:45And uh back to New Zealand uh back
149. 5:48across the Pacific,
150. 5:50uh there's a
151. 5:53uh some lotter laundromat that's getting
152. 5:55busted for $160,000
153. 5:59for exploiting foreign workers and not
154. 6:02paying them a fair wage. So, I know that
155. 6:04that Not saying that anybody is doing
156. 6:07that here in the states or
157. 6:10wherever you are in Australia or Canada
158. 6:12or
159. 6:14wherever. Uh but just, you know, it's in
160. 6:17the news and we should just be aware of,
161. 6:19you know, laundromats getting busted for
162. 6:21exploiting workers and not paying them a
163. 6:23fair wage. So, I'll leave it at that. Um
164. 6:26very interesting. We're saying
165. 6:28international here. We're not done with
166. 6:29our international segment. Let's move it
167. 6:31to
168. 6:32fairly international to our neighbor to
169. 6:34the north, Canada, where uh I read a
170. 6:37very interesting article um about the
171. 6:39state of laundromats in Canada today.
172. 6:41And it basically makes the argument,
173. 6:42"Hey, laundromats are Not only are they
174. 6:45a strong investment in Canada, but they
175. 6:47are going to continue to be a strong
176. 6:50investment and remain attractive to
177. 6:52business owners
178. 6:53um all throughout Canada."
179. 6:55Um very fascinating article. So, if you
180. 6:58are in Canada or you're just interested
181. 7:00in the industry in Canada, this article
182. 7:02is definitely one to be checking out.
183. 7:06Um
184. 7:08Okay, so let's bring it local here. This
185. 7:11segment of our news interview, we're
186. 7:14going to talk about what's happening at
187. 7:15some local laundromats. Good stuff, bad
188. 7:18stuff, ugly stuff. This one, a common
189. 7:21common thing that happens in a lot of
190. 7:23coin-based laundromats where a customer
191. 7:26went to laundromat, utilized the change
192. 7:28machine to get some quarters. It took
193. 7:31their bill, but nothing came back out.
194. 7:34And the customer is quoted as saying,
195. 7:35"That just doesn't make sense."
196. 7:39Get Get it? Sense, like
197. 7:42dollars and cents. Ah,
198. 7:43let's say today's joke of the day.
199. 7:46Bringing us out of the international
200. 7:47section and taking us local. Let's head
201. 7:50over to Dunn County with a real news
202. 7:52story here where they Dunn County in
203. 7:55Wisconsin is uh made a very cool
204. 7:58commitment. They are stocking all
205. 8:01laundromats in the county with books so
206. 8:02that kids can read there or take them
207. 8:05home. They're accepting donations. So,
208. 8:08very cool to be partnering with
209. 8:10laundromats on uh literacy and I know
210. 8:13that that has been a big passion of our
211. 8:15industries. We've got a lot of different
212. 8:17programs around the country and beyond
213. 8:20that are utilizing laundromats to
214. 8:22promote literacy and help um get kids
215. 8:25access and and adults access to
216. 8:28uh to books to read.
217. 8:29Uh so, very cool. And uh let's head over
218. 8:32to the Pine Ridge Reservation
219. 8:35where a new laundromat has opened, I
220. 8:38believe in January, and they are making
221. 8:41a difference because they partnered with
222. 8:44everybody solar and one spirit um and
223. 8:47bringing reliable power, solar power, uh
224. 8:51to the community and to the laundromats.
225. 8:54Connected up with a
226. 8:55um
227. 8:56uh kids uh
228. 8:58like after-school place. Uh
229. 9:01yeah, I'm drawing a blank on the name of
230. 9:03what it is. Basically, a place where
231. 9:04kids can go hang out, community center.
232. 9:06That's what I'm thinking of. A community
233. 9:07center and a community garden as well.
234. 9:11And obviously, the laundromat is
235. 9:13utilizing that solar power. Something
236. 9:14cool that they did was they trained
237. 9:15members of the community to help install
238. 9:18the solar system and they also are going
239. 9:21to maintain the system. So, empowering
240. 9:23that community there. And the laundromat
241. 9:25also is serving as a gathering point in
242. 9:29in times of emergency cuz because they
243. 9:31have the solar power. So, in power
244. 9:32outages and things like that, the
245. 9:34laundromat is uh serving the community.
246. 9:36So, I'm always looking for cool ways
247. 9:38that laundromats are serving their
248. 9:40communities. I think it's a unique
249. 9:42uh capability that we have as a
250. 9:45community-based business to make a
251. 9:46difference in our communities. And
252. 9:49speaking of which,
253. 9:51one laundromat owner in Chetwynd is
254. 9:56Yeah. In Chetwynd is making a difference
255. 9:59this Easter by recognizing, "Hey,
256. 10:02listen. Sometimes holidays can be lonely
257. 10:05for people." So, what did this owner do?
258. 10:08Well, uh
259. 10:11she is bringing in uh Miss Springer,
260. 10:14Haley Springer, is bringing in bunnies
261. 10:18for the Easter weekend for people to be
262. 10:20able to come, do their laundry, and
263. 10:22cuddle with some bunnies at the
264. 10:25laundromat. And uh you know, here's the
265. 10:28names of the bunnies are Alaska,
266. 10:29Pebbles, Pearl, and London. So, if
267. 10:33you're anywhere in the area, go cuddle
268. 10:35on Good Friday
269. 10:37um all the way through Easter at that
270. 10:39laundromat. So, again, looking for
271. 10:40creative ways to do good in the
272. 10:43industry.
273. 10:45Um and speaking of highlighting uh
274. 10:47people doing cool stuff, I've got to
275. 10:49shout out legend Alex Bloum, former
276. 10:52podcast guest, who is making the news
277. 10:55for bringing a brand new dry clean
278. 10:58refresh system to let people prolong
279. 11:00life of their garden uh garments with
280. 11:02less harsh cleaning on dry clean items.
281. 11:05Making a difference uh out there in
282. 11:08Massachusetts. So, Alex, congrats, dude.
283. 11:10Always doing super cool stuff. And uh
284. 11:12listen, man. If you're out there
285. 11:14listening to this, we got to get you
286. 11:15back on the podcast. Been way too long.
287. 11:17Got to get a catch-up. And I haven't
288. 11:18even spoke to you since Clean Show, I
289. 11:21think. So, we need to connect up. But,
290. 11:23congrats to you and kudos. Keep doing
291. 11:25cool stuff. And
292. 11:27uh listen, I It was brought to my
293. 11:30attention that I was featured in the
294. 11:32Voyage Dallas news magazine. I'll link
295. 11:36an article over there if you're
296. 11:37interested in that. I'll just leave it
297. 11:39at that. Uh threw it in there. And I
298. 11:41want to give finally a huge shout-out to
299. 11:44Katherine Chaupin who is voted uh
300. 11:48or nominated I should say
301. 11:50um a 2026 40 under 40 honoree in
302. 11:55Dutchess County. Uh Katherine's done a
303. 11:57lot of stuff with nonprofits and has
304. 12:01opened a Pop-in Laundry is what it's
305. 12:04called a a laundromat called Pop-in
306. 12:06Laundry and is crushing it over there
307. 12:10getting recognized as a 40 under 40. It
308. 12:12makes me a little sad that I no longer
309. 12:14even qualify for that. Uh but congrats
310. 12:17to Katherine. Keep doing great things.
311. 12:19And listen, if you've got news from
312. 12:21around the industry big or small whether
313. 12:23you're a company or maybe you're just a
314. 12:24local laundromat you want to share
315. 12:25what's going on
316. 12:27shoot me an email at
317. 12:28[email protected]
318. 12:30and we'll get you featured in the next
319. 12:32rendition of Laundromat News Today. That
320. 12:36wraps it up and we'll see you at the
321. 12:37next one.