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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Swisher Hygiene has acquired the assets and business of Savoy Linen Services, a Connecticut-based linen services company.

Started in 1924, Savoy provides linen rental and laundry services primarily to foodservice customers in the southern New England and greater metro New York City markets. Concurrent with the acquisition, Paul Vazzano, the owner of Savoy, joins Swisher Hygiene and will contribute to the continued growth of its linen services business.

“The acquisition of Savoy is a continuation of our efforts to build upon our existing presence in the linen and dust control markets and expand throughout North America,” says Steven R. Berrard, Swisher Hygiene CEO. “We will be very deliberate in making value-added acquisitions and building additional facilities in order to further expand our linen production capabilities, properly leverage our customer base and create additional cross-selling opportunities for our full-service platform.”

Total consideration paid by Swisher Hygiene included cash and a promissory note that may be converted to a maximum of 171,428 shares of Swisher Hygiene common stock.
 

Equipment Manufacturing: Kim Shady, Laundrylux Corp.

Since graduating a long time ago from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management, I have been involved in the hospitality industry in some form. I managed private country clubs for three years, owned a restaurant and banquet facility for five years, and have managed professional laundry sales organizations for the past 24 years.

Laundrylux, founded in 1955 by Bernard Milch as Wascomat of America, has been a leader in North America laundry equipment sales. In the past three years, with the introduction of the Electrolux brand in North America, the company changed its name to better match its future. Now, we offer two world-class brands—Wascomat and Electrolux—and both bring something unique and valuable to the table.

Our core business is providing laundry solutions for lodging and long-term care facilities, but we are also strong in the fabricare and athletic industries. The challenges we face include helping our clients understand how to operate an on-premise laundry professionally and profitably.

The majority of our clients are focused on their guests or customers, and laundry operations tend to attract little focus. Lack of expertise in the laundry operation keeps them from understanding how to reduce costs and operate at their highest efficiency. There is a lack of understanding that all washers and dryers are not built the same. Selecting the proper laundry equipment can significantly reduce labor and energy costs. There can also be great savings in linen replacement with properly featured washers and dryers.

Our most impressive accomplishment for 2011 was assisting a nursing home group with 30-plus facilities in reducing its energy and labor costs. We brought an integrated system in which all pieces of laundry equipment communicate to a central computer. The nursing home group has taken control of its laundry operations through machine controls that monitor every facet of laundry costs. It outfitted most of its laundries with state-of-the-art equipment to monitor every location via the Internet. The information allows the group to compare facilities and set operational baselines. They can easily identify problems within days and define corrective actions to reduce energy or labor waste.

I look forward to sharing my industry experience and further building my knowledge from this panel.

Member at Large: Douglas Story, Swisher Hygiene

Most people call me Doug. I started as a researcher responsible for creating something new from the by-products of the papermaking industry. That research yielded various types of surfactants (detergents) and coupling agents that are now widely used in the laundry industry. That research effort, and leaving South Carolina to live with my bride in North Carolina, is the core of how I moved from research and development to the laundry industry.

I’m a biology/chemistry graduate of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., with an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago. For more than 30 years (25 in the laundry industry), I have worked in a career that has crossed many boundaries within today’s laundry business organizational structure.

From research chemist to global marketing and portfolio management, I have gathered a diversity of experience that has allowed me to develop a unique 4-D view of how organizations and their employees must work to accomplish the strategies and objectives of a viable laundry operation and business.

From personnel to operational needs, I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from the best our industry has to offer. I hope that I can pass along some of those “learnings” in this publication.

I am vice president of innovation for Swisher Hygiene, an international service organization that provides full-service programs for a wide range of cleaning and cleaning service operations. From the special expertise of servicing laundry needs or operation to the expertise required to handle solid-waste programs, Swisher Hygiene is a single source supplier.

My team and I are continually looking to the challenge of providing new technologies and services. We not only want to make everyone’s life easier but also aid our customers in reducing costs and enhancing the sustainable future of their operation and business.

Swisher Hygiene has been on the leading edge of driving a wide range of programs and services that will take the day-to-day burden of many operational procedures off the collective backs of management so it can focus on customer service and business growth.

Our challenges are also our accomplishments: we use innovation models to create new solutions to old and new problems for our customers. We are also looking beyond “what we’ve done for you today” to the next generation of ideas and innovative solutions.

Chemicals Supply: Marlene Williams, Anderson Chemical Co.

I am the lab/research and development manager for Anderson Chemical Co., a family-owned business in Litchfield, Minn. My background is in product development and support for laundry, kitchen and housekeeping for the institutional and industrial markets as well as sanitation technology and water management. I manage our R&D laboratory and have responsibility for quality control and our technical service network.

I’ve been the lab/R&D manager for 22 years and am part of a group of specialists with similar longevity who provide services for formulating and textile evaluation. We have developed laundry chemistry, most recently green products, in partnership with the EPA’s Design for the Environment Safer Product Labeling Program. We service institutional and industrial laundries through distributors across the country.

Our daily operation is variable, balanced between product development, quality, and support for chemical specialists in the marketplace. We provide machine and chemical program information, and laboratory troubleshooting support for our accounts. In addition to a well-equipped laboratory, we have established a network of industry specialists to cover the gamut of laundry challenges.

Challenges for the future include green chemistry product development for both chemistry and performance. Increased awareness and regulation requiring green formulations are with us now and will continue to expand in the coming year. Raw-material availability and cost will continue to be challenges as global markets compete for limited and specialized materials. Effective cleaning and sanitizing at lower temperatures and against a larger base of pathogens will require an expanded focus in 2012.

Our company has just celebrated its centennial. During those 100 years, we expanded our offerings from local to national/international. Our fourth-generation leaders are dedicated to moving the company forward in response to new and developing industry needs. I am excited to be a part of this year’s panel and look forward to the opportunity to learn and share with others in the industry!

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TORONTO, Ontario, Canada — Clairvest Group Inc., Clairvest Equity Partners IV Limited Partnership and Claire Equity Partners IV-A Limited Partnership have entered the linen rental industry via a combined $8.6 million investment in Linen King, an Oklahoma-based textile services company that provides commercial laundry services to the healthcare and hospitality industries.

“Our team has followed the textile rental industry for a number of years,” says David Sturdee, Clairvest managing director. “We are excited by the opportunity to partner with a strong and ambitious management team led by the founders of the company, who will continue to own a meaningful percent of the company.

“Linen King has an outstanding reputation for reliability and customer service, and we look forward to working with management to help execute their growth initiatives.

“I’m thrilled to have Clairvest as our partner to help fuel the next stage of our expansion,” says Leonard McCullough, Linen King’s CEO. “We’ve spent the last 12 years rapidly becoming one of the largest textile rental companies in the central U.S. and are enthusiastic about working with Clairvest to expand our footprint throughout the country.”

Linen King operates plants that serve the Oklahoma City, northwest Arkansas, mid-Missouri and central Arkansas regions. The company was formed in 1999.

FAIRFIELD, N.J. — An outstanding business program, a resort area with much to see and do, and near-perfect weather combined to make the Textile Care Allied Trades Association (TCATA) Annual Conference in Park City, Utah, in August one of the group's best ever, the association says.

Jade West of the National Association of Wholesaler Distributors provided attendees with an overview of federal legislation and regulation having a significant impact on businesses that has passed or may be passed.

Best-selling author Joachim de Posada discussed the “marshmallow principle” of delayed gratification, the subject of a famous 1970s experiment. He explained how businesses might apply the principle to be more successful.

Economist Alan Beaulieu explained to attendees how they could make adjustments in their business planning to prosper in anticipated, predictable economic cycles.

At the closing dinner, several members were recognized for achieving milestone anniversaries. Foster-Stephens of Elk Grove Village, Ill., became only the fifth company to celebrate 75 years of association membership.

A special surprise was the presentation to Foster-Stephens President Nancy Jones of the original membership application made by Elmer Jones, the company’s founder and Nancy’s grandfather, submitted shortly after Foster-Stephens was founded in 1936.

Also recognized were 50-year member Laundrylux and 25-year members Fuller Supply, Gurtler Industries and United Brass Works. Milton and Gail Magnus of M&B Hangers were recognized for their support of the Annual Conference, an event they haven’t missed in 35 years.

Bryant Dunivan, vice president of sales and marketing for Energenics, was elected TCATA president-elect. He will serve a two-year term. Joining Dunivan on the board will be Roger Komins, Package Supply, elected treasurer-elect.

Elected vice presidents were David Tingue of Tingue, Brown & Co., representing the Supply Manufacturers Group, and D’Arcy McConvey of Dalex Canada, representing the Distributors Group.

DENVER, N.C. — Leonard Frushtick, founder of Leonard Automatics, died Monday at age 80, the company reports.

Frushtick started his career selling buttons to the garment manufacturing industry, and later expanded the business to include a variety of machinery.

In 1969, he moved his family to North Carolina to be closer to the garment industry and founded Leonard Automatics. As garment manufacturing began to decline in the mid-’80s, Frushtick migrated to the laundry industry. His creativity gave him the ability to develop new technologies involved with garment finishing, and has lent itself to promoting an atmosphere of creativity and innovation at Leonard Automatics that exists to this day, the company says.

Frushtick became a prolific painter after his retirement, and he and his wife, Phyllis, traveled extensively, providing a wealth of experiences for him to express on canvas.

A private memorial service for Frushtick is scheduled for Friday in Bluffton, S.C. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Hospice Care of the Low Country, 119 Palmetto Way, Bluffton, SC 29910.

Surviving are his wife of 60 years, Phyllis; daughters, Sue Jones and Geri Bland; son, Jeffrey Frushtick; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — Pierce Commercial Laundry, Mandeville, La., recently received the prestigious Fred Maytag Award during Maytag® Commercial Laundry’s 53rd Annual Meeting in Palm Springs, Calif.

The Fred Maytag Award, with a history of more than five decades, is the longest-running award in the commercial laundry industry, Maytag says.

RICHMOND, Ky. — If you’re an Association for Linen Management (ALM) member who plans to vote for the 2011 Heywood Wiley Manager of the Year or Allied Tradesperson of the Year, the association’s two top awards, then get ready for some changes.

Voting for three finalists in each category has traditionally been conducted on site each year during ALM’s annual conference, but all voting for this year’s honors will be conducted online. An independent committee will select the finalists.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Regional drycleaning and laundry supply distributor E.J. Thomas Co. has been sold, the company reports. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The new owners are Randy Zimmerman, who is now responsible for E.J. Thomas’ day-to-day leadership, and Matt Walter, who will provide advice, counsel and strategic direction to the company.

RIPON, Wis. — UniMac honored Houston-based Scott Equipment with the 2009 Top Sales Volume Award recently at the 2010 UniMac Excellence Every Day Distributor Conference in Nashville.
 
“For years, Scott Equipment has been one of UniMac’s top performers in sales. This is the first time they’ve earned the award,” says Kim Shady, vice president of distributor sales for UniMac. “Scott Equipment founder John Martin is very well known and respected in our industry, so it was an honor to present this award to him.”

RIPON, Wis. — Statewide Machinery has expanded its upstate New York UniMac territory to include the Hudson River Valley area.

“The expansion into the Hudson River Valley region strengthens UniMac’s successful relationship with Statewide Machinery,” says Kim Shady, UniMac national sales manager. “Statewide Machinery is a leading laundry equipment distributor and an outstanding industry partner.”

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. — White Plains Linen purchased 50% of Cascade Linen Service late last month, bringing White Plains' annual sales to $50 million. This, along with the recent expansion of its plant to 100,000 square feet, makes White Plains Linen one of the largest independent linen suppliers in the country, the company claims.

LAS VEGAS — Since it was formed a decade ago at the behest of a local hotel, Brady Linen Services has experienced remarkable growth, prompting not one but two laundry expansions. Its three facilities collectively process in excess of 100 million pounds annually here.