Series: Consultants in the Spotlight

You can’t be in the industry for long without hearing the name America’s Best Cleaners, but you may not realize what it really signifies. The consulting company offers two different, though compatible, services: Certifying top cleaners as able to correctly process high-end fashion and other luxury items (CoutureCare Certification); and consulting on everything from production, plant design, leadership development and skills training. ABC currently has 32 affiliates in the U.S. and Canada, and has connections to an international affiliate network elsewhere.

Though the bar is high for entering the CoutureCare Certification process, non-affiliates can hire one or more services from ABC, each of which will be customized to the particular cleaner’s needs.

History

“America’s Best Cleaners (ABC) has a proud history spanning over 25 years,” said Christopher White, ABC Executive Director. “The company was established with the vision of elevating the standards of dry cleaning and laundry services in North America. As an independent consulting and certification body, we specialize in ensuring that only the top-tier, most trusted and professional businesses in the textile care industry carry the distinction of being an ABC Affiliate.

“Our areas of expertise include leadership development, production and retail design services, cleaning systems formulations, finishing skills, production management, vintage, couture, bridal gown cleaning, and client relations optimization. The CoutureCare Certification™ is our hallmark, a rigorous program designed to ensure that businesses can deliver on the unique demands of high-end fashion and luxury fabrics, while maintaining impeccable quality and service. Within the certified affiliation, we integrate best practices, technology, and continuous personal and professional development programs monthly, and at our biannual Accelerator Live events.”

Get started with ABC

For companies new to America’s Best Cleaners CoutureCare Certification™, the potential affiliate must be a non-franchise business with at least one million in retail dry cleaning revenue, offer pickup and delivery, and control all aspects of their business. The starting point, after the baseline is met, is an evaluation of their current operations, customer satisfaction levels and technical capabilities – particularly in handling luxury and couture garments.

“We require a baseline overview of their facilities, service offerings and a commitment to achieving high standards,” White said.

Once a plant is designated as CoutureCare Certified, their geographic area is protected from a competing plant earning the same designation.

The process to become an ABC-certified affiliate includes:

1. Initial Consultation: Discuss the company’s goals and challenges.

2. Evaluation and Audits: ABC’s team conducts an on-site audit to assess the operational and service standards.

3. CoutureCare Training & Certification: Affiliates are trained and evaluated on handling luxury garments to ABC’s strict standards.

4. Ongoing Support: Certified affiliates receive ongoing training, secret shopper audits and performance evaluations to ensure they continuously meet or exceed the standards required for ABC Certification.

In cities where there is no certified affiliate, ABC also offers a full suite of services directly, which are available on our website.

Does it really work?

Two of the nominees for our Best Plant 2024 Award are ABC success stories: Tower Cleaners and Carousel Cleaners. (Read story here.) White is justifiably proud of their success.

“We designed state-of-the-art production facilities for Carousel Cleaners in Vancouver and Tower Cleaners in Calgary. Both of these operations have had us design the facilities that have provided them significant savings in variable productive labour, energy, and supplies saving with just the design. ABC has continuously worked in both organizations since then in mapping the skills pathways for all of their operations. We designed and implemented a cross-training program that has built a resilient workforce. We provide executive and leadership team mentoring programs that hold the leaders accountable, while empowering them to develop systems to help their team grow personally and professionally.

“We recently have aided several affiliates on business acquisitions, allowing them to accelerate their growth strategies with all the deals funding themselves – requiring only small upfront capital investments. We aid the buyer in integrating the purchased businesses. This includes meshing the cultures, brand integration, pricing strategies, operations consolidation, and retail and route conversion strategies,” he said.

Fear of Consultants

Some business owners hesitate to call in a consultant for a variety of reasons, even when they need help. We asked White how he overcomes those fears in order to bring his services to a company that needs them.

“Often, businesses hesitate to engage with consultants due to the perceived cost, and a fear of exposing operational weaknesses. Some owners may also feel a reluctance to change long-standing practices or might be unsure about the value they’ll receive,” he acknowledged.

“At ABC, we overcome this hesitance by first and foremost listening to potential clients’ needs. We ask a lot of questions so that clients can articulate their needs. We then clearly outline the tangible benefits of our certification program, which include access to industry-leading insights, exclusive tools, and a nationwide network of affiliates. Additionally, we provide case studies and performance data from our existing affiliates to demonstrate how our involvement leads to measurable improvement in revenue, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.”

Elephant in the Room

Let’s just get it out on the table: Consultants are not free. What costs can someone expect to incur when working with ABC?

“The costs associated with hiring our team depend on the size and scope of the project and business, and the services the client wishes to receive. However, we always emphasize that the expense is an investment in long-term operational excellence and profitability. We have done simple training materials as low as $500, to comprehensive 3D plant designs with financial models and management systems at over $30,000,” he said.

He emphasized that everything is customized to the needs of the company hiring them, “So there is no set price.

“We help companies justify this expense by showing clear, measurable improvements in customer satisfaction, garment quality, operational efficiency and revenue. Additionally, businesses certified by America’s Best Cleaners gain access to our entire catalogue of materials and a unique marketing advantage, allowing them to attract luxury and high-net-worth clients, which often offsets the initial investment quickly.”

When he speaks of a ‘catalogue of materials’, White means a collection of over 71 gigabytes of information that affiliates get access to, and others can tap into on a project basis.

What do they really do?

ABC has an impressive list of consultants who specialize in different aspects of the business. You can read their biographies and more information about them on the website, but we put White on the spot to cut through the verbiage and tell us specifically what each team member does.

Christopher White – Executive Director. Chris oversees the entirety of projects and works to make the offerings ABC has, even better.

Liz Davies – Technical Services Trainer. Liz grew up in a dry cleaning environment, and is a management consultant trainer for systems operations work flow. She gives hands-on cleaning skills training and household goods processing training, as well as assembly and packaging training and client relations training.

Sarah Guilott-McInnis – Implementation Specialist. As a third-generation dry cleaner owner, Sarah understands what happens in the plant from the ground up. She works with Chris White on all affiliate projects. “Event planning, implementation work, creating SOPs, she can help put it together,” White said. She holds the clients accountable for implementing the action plan they have worked out. She also writes and drafts all training materials, which are unique to the industry and to each client, including work flow guides and Quick Guide flash card training tools.

Josef Shapiro – Business Consultant. Josef is purely a high-end, top-level leader/owner executive coach. He works with a company’s CEO and digs in deep to do personal and professional development. (You can read more about him on his interesting website, Clear and Open.) He likes to encourage executives to “Stop trying to be Superman and be Yoda instead.” He challenges leaders to make them grow, find out what holds them back personally and professionally, and become what they want to be.

Francis Flare – Business Consultant. Francis specializes in customer relations and systems development. He works with clients to build a robust client relations strategy and protocols, and to determine target markets.

Ed D’Elicio – Facility Designer. Ed founded ABC, and has been in the garment care industry for over 45 years. He designed what one trade magazine referred to as ‘The Plant of the Future’ in 1994, and has designed over 100 projects since, many of them award-winning. He works with clients to produce a 3-dimensional plant design, and also works with clients on acquisitions.

“Consulting has never been more critical, particularly in an industry like ours where technology, customer expectations and garment care techniques evolve rapidly,” White said. “Whether large or small, businesses need external expertise to stay competitive, attract premium clients and avoid stagnation. America’s Best Cleaners provides not just consulting, but a partnership, ensuring that each business we work with is equipped to meet the highest standards, achieve long-term success, and build a sustainable reputation for quality.”

---