How to maintain a regular cleaning schedule at your laundry business

The clothes aren’t the only things that need to be cleaned at a laundry business. It is just as important that the store remains clean as well, especially a laundromat or other venture that deals directly with customers.

With that said, however, cleaning the business itself can sometimes slip by the wayside. This can certainly be a problem if your laundromat has few full-time staff or is mostly automated – you can never be sure what your store looks like at a given moment, and you could have a cleanliness issue that is driving away potential customers.

That is why maintaining a regular cleaning schedule is a must for any laundry business. You need to either bring in the right professionals or have your employees clean up on a routine basis.

Here is how you can create the right schedule for your laundromat:

Evaluate your needs
The first step is to take a look at your business – what needs to be cleaned? You can’t create a schedule without first understanding the important areas to focus on, and a simple evaluation can identify the areas that need the most attention.

Therefore, begin by taking note of the main areas in your business. For example, you may have an entrance, a waiting room, the equipment, an office or a back room for employees. The higher-trafficked areas need the most attention, so build a schedule template that is broken down into days of the week and sections of your business.

Then, you can write down what cleaning needs to be done in each of those areas. For example, you may want to:

• Pick up trash
• Mop floors
• Vacuum
• Maintain machines
• Wipe down furniture
• Wash windows

Since each task doesn’t have to be completed in each space – or at the same frequency – creating a schedule of your business’ needs will keep cleaning on track and ensure operations are as cost-efficient as possible.

A clean laundromat is incredibly important.

Talk to your employees
Your laundry business’ cleaning schedule can be completed in two ways: by your employees or by a cleaning service.

If you opt for the former, you will likely save money, but you could run into motivational and scheduling issues. Employees can be a great resource for keeping your business clean, since they are there on a regular basis and can monitor the day-to-day needs of the store.

If employees are the right choice for you, kick things off by talking to them about your cleaning schedule. You can post a calendar in the laundromat itself for easy viewing, and assign specific tasks to certain staff members on a rotating basis. Make sure they know how important regular cleaning is and provide them the right tools to get the job done.

Offer the right rewards
Even with these steps complete, you may still run into some problems with motivation. Employees are likely to resist the idea of cleaning your laundromat, and you can overcome that hesitancy by rewarding them for their efforts.

You can either offer incentives, like a quarterly bonus, or hold monthly lunches or parties for your staff. Make sure they know you appreciate their work and that their cleaning efforts won’t go unnoticed. You can also turn cleaning into a competition, providing a reward for the person who does the most in the laundromat.

A clean, tidy business is incredibly important. Customers expect that standard, and it is never a good sign to see a laundromat in disarray. On the other hand, having a clean business is a positive sign to customers and will help maintain a profitable business for years to come.