Series: Best Plant Award 2024

A profile of one of the Best Plants that was nominated for our Best Plant 2024 Award. Our panel of judges will select THE Best Plant at the conclusion of this series.

Towering Over the Prairies

Tower Cleaners in Calgary, AB, owned and operated by Tony and Sassa Stephen, was nominated by one of its suppliers (Chris White of Kreussler) as one of the best plants around. The company didn’t get there overnight. In fact, it was founded in 1978. The Stephens bought it in 1996 and took a small plant with five drop stores to three plants and 29 drop stores.

Bigger and Better

The reason Tower was nominated by Chris White is the careful attention to growing the business that Tony and Sassa have paid.

“They not only support over 22 retail stores, but also a large fleet of route vehicles,” he said. “This eco-friendly facility uses the latest in sustainable dry cleaning with SystemK4 from Kreussler. They have state-of-the-art Unipress finishing equipment, with a completely automated Metalprogetti Assembly and Bagger system running on the latest version of Spot software with HSL tagging.

“Tower also has completely automated routes and retail store sorting conveyor systems that allow the routes to be sorted at night and ready to be loaded on the truck when the driver arrives in the morning. The Tower plant was built for diversity and process retail dry cleaning, plus fire-, smoke-, and water-restoration of goods, contract work for several airlines, and flat work,” White said.

In 2006, Tower bought a 16,000 sq. ft. building in order to amalgamate its three plants into one central plant, and make a home for its new CRDN restoration business. “It was one of the first plants to automate all parts from distribution and auto sorting, to auto bagging and storage conveyor — all integrated into our POS software system,” Tony said. “We did it all at once; changed software to Spot, started bar coding, put in everything Metal Projetti had to offer.”

Even that was not big enough, though. “In 2021 we bought the building beside our plant, adding another 26,000 sq. ft. to help house our CRDN restoration business, and did extensive upgrades to both buildings,” he added.

Nuts and Bolts

• 50 employees work in the plant, 140 total in the Calgary area.
• Predominantly wet cleaning, but with three 55-lb. Union K-4 dry cleaning machines.
• 6 Primus wet cleaning washers and dryers.
• 7 UniMac soft mount washers (100-lb. to 55-lb.)
• A number of small Miele and Maytag washers and dryers.
• Small piece ironer.
• Kannageisser small piece folder.
• 6 Unipress double buck lightning shirt units
• Unipress double legger pants presses.
• Colmac steam tunnel.
• Macpi form press

For a fun tour of the plant, check out the company’s Instagram video — be sure to turn up the music!

What makes you stand out?

“We have had the privilege to maintain a number of employees from when we bought the company, and now the majority of our plant staff have been with us from 15 to 20 years,”Tony said with pride.

“A few years ago, we got an award from the city for diversity in the workplace, having so many people working for us from all over the world.”

Surviving and Thriving

Tony Stephen is in no doubt about why Tower has not only survived some incredibly difficult times, but grown and thrived in the midst of them.

“The greatest reason for our success has been our long term employees and an outstanding management team,” he said. “Our board room has been one of the most important places for us, as we have our weekly management strategy meetings looking at all the different aspects of our business.”

Tony’s full of stories about his people, and it shows not only his own humility but also his eye for detail and his involvement in the lives of those with whom he works.

“Covid really made us look outside the box as our retail business dropped 82% overnight,” he said. “I remember having to lay off 65 people in one day. Our youngest daughter, who was working with us, was crying. One of the newer drivers asked her what she was so upset about. She said that it was so hard seeing all the people who had worked for our family business since before she was born losing their jobs.

“Another employee, Aleena, came to me and asked that we not lay off Pelo. He and his wife worked for us and they are both deaf. Her concern was how hard it would be for them to find work. She asked that she not be paid and instead divert her wages to his family.

Mehran, who has been one of our seamstresses for the last 22 years, came to work the day after she was laid off. I explained that we have no work and we had laid her off. Her response was, ‘I have been through a war and a revolution, the one thing I have learned is that in times like these you can only rely on your family — and this is my family. So, what can I do to help? You don’t need to pay me.’

“It is so many things like this that have helped me to always want to grow our business and provide work for those who need it,” he said.

Saluting the Best

When we offered Tony a chance to call out those who had been most helpful to the company, it was hard to get him to stop naming names.

“Tom Goldthourp was the first delivery driver,” he said. “He’s now been our retail operations manager and HR person for 25 years. Jason Lee has been a driver for 17 years and is now our route manager. Desseray Stephenson is the newest addition to our management team. She is young and has only been with us for two years, but was just promoted to retail manager looking after all of our drop stores.

“When I bought Tower Cleaners, Nicky was the person who washed the floors. Both Nicky and Liliana are now plant supervisors. They both have over 30 years experience. Keven Tailleur owned the first mechanical company I bought equipment from; he is now our plant manager.

“These are all great people who are invested in the growth of our company.

“During Covid, we teamed up with our biggest competitor in the city to help each other survive. From that has come a great friendship. One of our competitors lost his plant, so we gave him a van and did all of his cleaning while he switched his customers to pick up and delivery. Now instead of working six days a week, he works four — and seems to be enjoying life. We do all his cleaning.”

Tony’s final comment summed up his attitude toward both his company and those who come in contact with it: “Our plant has enabled us to help many in and out of the industry.”

A Towering Future

The Stephens plan to continue to grow and innovate. “We recently returned from Italy, looking at the equipment that Macpi has to offer and how it can help us with automation,” Tony said. “It’s necessary because of the volume of work we do, so keep an eye on what is to come — it should be exciting.”

That automation and careful selection of a management team has enabled Tony and Sassa to do other things that are near to their hearts, as well.

“Sassa and I left for two years to do humanitarian service in Brazil,” Tony said. “It reminded me just how many people want an opportunity to work and provide a safe environment for their families. Our plan is to continue to grow so we can help others realize their potential. Just last month we helped a family come to Canada for a work opportunity with our restoration company.

“I love our industry and the ability to provide work for those who want to work. It has been a real blessing to our family.

“To be able to step away for two years and come home to a thriving business just speaks to the quality of our staff. We have been back for a year and I am enjoying being back in the middle of it all as we look to the future for growth and sustainability. Our partnership with suppliers and manufacturers really makes this an exciting industry to be a part of,” he said.

The business is in the Stephen family blood, evidenced by the success that Tony and Sassa have seen in their son, Terrell. In 2012, he bought Perth’s in Winnipeg. It currently has 9 drop stores and a 36,000 sq. ft. plant. “Winnipeg also has a large laundry business,” Tony said. “In 2019, Terrell bought Palomar Cleaners in San Diego, with over 30,000 sq. ft. of plant space, mostly laundry but also with pick-up and drop-off dry cleaning. Both plants have over 100 employees.”

Next Week — Our next Nominee. See if you can guess who will win the award!