CFA CLEAN EXPO 24

We’ll be posting reports all weekend, so check back for photos and information throughout the days of the CFA Convention in Toronto.

FRIDAY NIGHT COCKTAIL PARTY

It was a chance to see old friends and be introduced to new ones. The gathering was a great kick-off for the rest of the conference. Familiar friendly faces below!

Tomorrow it all begins, with a full program of speakers, Lunch & Learn, and the exhibition floor with live equipment. Here’s a taste of the companies that are exhibiting.

For tonight, time to rest up and be ready for a great convention to come! See you tomorrow…

---

SATURDAY SESSIONS

Over 400 people registered for the conference!

A full house was on hand for the opening sessions this morning. A short Annual General Meeting included a moment of silence for member Sergio Gosio, who passed away recently. In addition, member Clark McDaniel received a special award for all his service to CFA. Clark was not able to attend, but his award was collected for him by a co-worker.

Dino Kantzavelos, president of CFA, reported on the activities of CFA in meeting with provincial and national leaders on behalf of the organization and its members. The focus of the effort has been on the utilization of the C59 Bill, which deals with carbon tax. The regulation generates billions in tax revenues, and the Finance Ministry can distribute up to 80% of the funds to programs. Many organizations apply for a cut of the money.

Dino’s request was based on Swedish precedent. In Sweden, the government gives a 25% tax credit to people using professional cleaners and tailors. Dino is requesting the same in Canada. As he said, “We’re not asking for a hand-out. We’re proposing a program that actually would increase our business — and therefore increase our contribution to the tax base in return.” There has been a great deal of interest at the government level, and lobbying is ongoing.

He also said, “In the last fiscal year, CFA did not lose a single member.” The association also added new members. The increase is reflected in the attendance at the convention. Efforts are ongoing to attract members from beyond Ontario.

Who was here?

CFA is open to all operators across Canada. So we asked for a show of hands of how many attendees were NOT from Ontario. The result was astonishing.

THE EXPO

After the AGM, the ribbon was cut and the Expo was open! Attendees flooded onto the floor to discuss the running equipment and services on offer to them.

TICKETED EVENT

A noon Lunch & Learn ticketed event featured presentations by two speakers. Jacquelyn Stevens of Willms & Shier environmental lawyers spoke on the issues of PFAS (“forever compounds”), microplastics and greenwashing. For each section she explained the relevant issues and cited recent cases that showed the dangers of ignoring the issues.

Kevin Marois, Integrity Mechanical, spoke on Managing Your Equipment. He urged listeners to use their senses in the plant — listen to the equipment, pay attention to changes in smells, look for issues with equipment. In all cases, the sooner an operator acts on the problems, the sooner they are fixed. Downtime costs money; equipment owners are required to keep the machines in good order to maintain their quality and their business.

After lunch, Nicolle Kirby of Xplor by SPOT and Dave Troemel of Be Creative 360 explained the ins and outs of their software and services.

Linley McConnell (Gibson’s Cleaners) and Nadine Rana (Style & Grace Cleaners) gave a joint presentation entitled “Marketing Your Business Like a Pro — Secrets to Success with Simple AI and Creative Tools.” The presentation included a video that showed how easy it is to create something using the free online tool Canva, gave an example of using AI to word a promotional piece, and listed other tools that can be tapped to make marketing faster and easier.

Sam Taylor of SMRT Systems talked about his software product, and had an interactive time fielding questions from the group about questions or issues they’ve had and how to use the tools better.

GALA DINNER

Attendees enjoyed a fabulous dinner together, with background music from a young and talented jazz band. Sid Chelsky told the story of his career in the fabricare industry to illustrate how important relationships and integrity are for all top-notch cleaners. (SEE BELOW FOR HIS REMARKS.)

Fabricare Canada announced the winner of the Canadian Industry Person of the Year — but if you weren’t here, you’ll have to wait until December to find out who it is!

The Text of Sid’s Speech

Good evening, everyone,
I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about my
involvement in the industry for the past 64 years. I will get
to the point when I have finished my presentation.
At age 18, I had been dating my wife, Brenda, for two
years. During that time, I had been working part time at
Careful Hand Laundry as a summer driver and learning
the business inside, one evening while visiting her at her
home, her father, Alex Shindman asked me what my
intentions were towards Brenda. I replied, I hoped we
would marry and then he asked when that would be. I
replied that I needed to finish high school first. Then he
asked me what I planned to do then, I answered that I
planned to go to university. He then asked me what I
would be studying, and I answered Business
Administration. He then asked what I would do next, and I
answered “get a job”.
He then said, “Let’s cut to the chase. I could use you in
the business now”. Six months later, we were married.
Aside from the story, in grade 10, I took a final exam in
geometry and scored 100%. However, I was informed that
they had made a mistake and had given me the grade 12
final exam by accident. I guess then, I knew all the
angles. I love math.
Unfortunately, 6 years later, Alex Shindman passed away.
His partner brother Jack Shindman in the business was
well known in the community and got me involved in

chartable work. Within one year, I purchased his share of
the business from him and Brenda’s sister, Elaine.
Unfortunately, within 6 months of the passing of Alex
Shindman, Brenda’s mother, Shirley, passed away. It took
me 15 years to pay it off, but I did it.
I realized that if I was going to be successful in this
business, I had better get as much knowledge as possible
about the industry and took an active role in the DCLI of
Ontario, becoming Consumer Affairs Chairman, President
of the Laundry Branch, and then President of DCLI. I am
thankful for the help and consideration I got from the late
John Dillon, the executive director, and Bill Renaud of
Newtex who gave me great advice.
During that period, I realized that I had to make many
equipment changes to modernize the plant and keep my
payroll under control. At this time, I was fortunate to meet
many allied trades who gave me sage advice as to why
and how I should proceed. I replaced my whole wash line
with new equipment from Milnor and made a deal on a
handshake. When I got back to Toronto, the next day, I
received a call from another company in Texas, offering
me similar equipment at $10,000 less than what I was
paying. I told him I had already purchased the equipment.
He asked me if I signed anything and I said no, but I shook
hands on the deal. That was an important lesson that my
reputation in the industry was more important than going
back on my word. Brenda’s family was fully involved in the
industry. Her cousin Don Lerner owned and operated

Brighton Laundry, a large commercial laundry, as well as
being president of Crib Diaper Service in Canada, which
was from Chicago, of which I was appointed the Canadian
Director by the Chicago board members. In addition, her
uncles Harry Rosenthal of Rosenthal Manufacturing
owned Sheraton Laundry and Herman Gross of National
Laundry, both of which were large plants in Chicago
operating with over 25 trucks each. In addition, another
uncle Al Neiburger of Friendly Cleaners in Waukegan,
Illinois and her cousin Leo Pearl who owned and operated
Resillo Corporation, which made the highest quality pads
and springs for presses and ironers.
These uncles had such buying power and close friends in
the industry that they introduced me to Super Laundry
Machinery Company in Chicago, and I purchased at a
very low price a new folder, I found out that they had an
agent, Dave Goodyer in Canada, and I called and asked
him to come and see me. When he came, I presented him
with a cheque for commission he would have earned. He
was so impressed, because he knew of the family
connection. This was a very smart move, as we all know,
that even new equipment can run into problems, sometime
later, I called him, and he came immediately and spent the
whole day fixing the issue and refused payment from me.
At that time, I had a staff of 40 and after the installation of
the new equipment, I only needed a staff of 32. As my
business and reputation grew, I needed to expand the
premises and bought a two-story building on Bathurst

known as Hillcrest Motors which had a vehicle freight
elevator. I renovated the building and ran into a problem
with the local alderman, Ying Hope who tried to blackmail
me to purchase a building he was involved with
somewhere else. I refused and it took two years to get to
the zoning requirements with or without him. I made my
pitch to the local taxpayer association.

However, due to the length of time it took, our business
grew even larger, and we needed a better building and
layout. I sold this building at a good price and purchased
a 12,000 square foot building on Tycos Drive with
additional gated parking. It was then that I did a new
layout of equipment with the assistance of my allied trades
I purchased equipment from. I added two additional
ironers and an additional 100 hp boiler, as well as
additional dry-cleaning machines and other items. The
business continued to grow as our reputation for quality
work and service got noticed. After a trip to Asia, I
realized that we were behind the times in Toronto to
service the high-end hotels, and when I got back home, I
spoke with my staff and told them of my idea, and they
agreed to work on a rotation basis. I offered the hotels a
7 day a week service for both linen, uniforms, and valet. I
ended up with customers such as the Four Seasons,
Hyatt, Granite Club, etc. The money I borrowed to pay for
all of this was paid back withing 5 years. I also expanded

the retail and opened several drop-store locations, which
were all successful.
To continue to be successful, I joined a cost group which
helped me tremendously. I also hired Bud Gray &
Associates; an engineering firm dedicated to our industry.
It cost me $50,000 for the six months of work, but believe
it or not, I recovered the full amount in the next six months.
As the business continued to grow and a staff of 70, I
realized that it was more difficult to control the quality of
my retail work and decided to sell the commercial division
and building to another company and transfer the retail
business to my son Brian and rented an existing cleaning
plant and installed additional equipment into this new retail
plant store on Davenport Road around the corner from
where the business started on Avenue Road and
Davenport Road.
Reporting everything that occurred during the growth of
the company would require me to write a book. So, I want
to thank all the allied trades who helped me in this journey,
and I would like to cite a few that became not only
business associates, but friends.
I would like to cite the late Ken Kenalty of Kenalty
Industries, now owned and operated by my good friend
Ian Gibson and his family, D’arcy McConvey Jr. of Dalex,
Carlos Fernandes of Jensen Corporation, and Bill Hay of
R.R. Streets.

As I progressed as a consultant to the industry, and
eventually took over as the executive director of the CFA, I
express my appreciation of the help and friendship I have
with Brad Maxwell, Rob McConnel and Dino Kantzavelos,
all presidents of CFA. This is the completion of 10 years
as the executive director, and it has been a love of
industry and our membership and what it stands for.
Now to the point I want to impress upon you. Build
relationships with your allied trades and your cleaners and
check out their reputation with other cleaners. When you
find a good one, nurture your relationship. Be there for
each other and remember that your future in the industry
is dependent on your helping each other and allied trades,
keep advising them of new and improved technologies
that will help them grow their business and their profits.
There are several cost groups such as Methods for
Management with Kermit Engh and Ascend Consulting
with Diane Vollmer. I urge you to consider joining one of
them.
Lastly, I want to thank my family, especially Brenda who
always wants to help me, Brian and Alexandra, who are
there to help me with technology on the computers.
Thank you for allowing me to address you tonight.