Get equipped for success with The Laundry Hub

The Laundry Hub is a one-of-a-kind laundry in Dubai that can accommodate all of your demands while providing outstanding service and utilizing cutting-edge technology. It is simple to get to all sites every day at any time thanks to the position in the center of Dubai. In this interview with Naqeeb Safi, Managing Director – The Laundry Hub, he shares how being prepared in the right place at the right time can help your franchise brand grow exponentially.

1.How did you enter the franchise business?

Being for over 15 years in the industry, took us to a solid position where the rapid growth allowed us to acquire a high processing capacity in our factories. Our focus was always on achieving the best quality so we invested in the latest and top notch technology, we increased our operations and logistics capacity and we optimized our systems through the years. We are in the right time for a safe expansion, our factory and team can comfortably accommodate the expected growth.

We want to share the success with friends and clients who throughout the years always have serviced their garments with us and presented their interests in our success and brand. More often, we started to receive franchise inquiries, being most of our franchisees and potential franchisees our regular guests or clients who know about our delivered quality, how distinctive we are and the engagement we create in our community which makes many investors show interest in running their own laundry business with our support. All this interest that we received pushed us to enter the franchise business with solid steps.

2.Where and how did the idea of your concept come from?

Our concept born thinking in giving the clients an integral cleaning solution, we wanted to provide a wide array of services at the same place and be able to provide everything under the same roof. That is how the word “HUB”, in the company name “The Laundry Hub” suited perfectly to enhance the fact that all aspects of the offer and logistics are being handled by us allowing faster times or delivery, lower costs, higher quality as we control the quality in house, staff and logistics are also fully engaged to our clients only.

3.What inspired the brand name?

Is closely related to our concept and how the business was born.

At “The Laundry hub” we provide service from garments dry cleaning, stain removal or gown’s special care to the shoes and bags cleaning and restoration, curtains washing, carpets cleaning and even baby strollers. Everything in the laundry hub is in-house, we do all the services, we have our own logistics, our own online presence and marketing team, our own manpower, the machinery is owned by us, the technology and innovation is also developed in-house, thats why is called The Laundry Hub, the name itself speaks about this.

4.What is the story behind the brand’s logo?

Our logo is an iron in motion which represents the core of what we do, it also has 3 lines at the back of the iron representing our fast delivery system.

The color base is white that represents the cleanliness and brightness that we deliver. The orange represents our clients energetic lifestyle and the green is our passionate team that is always ready to go ahead.

5.What makes your brand different from your competitors?

One of the main reasons to be preferred over the competitors is the quality of the service, the quality in each step of the process from collecting the clothes from the client, servicing the garments with special care, to the delivery at the convenience of the customer.

Our flexibility to accommodate special requests allows each client to have a smooth and friendly journey.

We are also pioneers in many technologies brought by us for the first time to the UAE. We are also up to date with the ecofriendly growing preferences by our exquisite clientele.

6.What are the essential qualities that you look for in a franchisee?

We look for someone looking to invest in a risk free laundry business, with an investment range from 70,000 – 150,000 USD.

• Passionate about business and/or management
• Preferably with access to prime locations in their respective regions.
• Having the necessary capital for setting up the franchise shop
• Good credit history, proof of funds or another source of income
• Having a value and quality concept in accordance with the franchisor to ensure the proper assimilation of the parent company culture
• Ability to replicate, follow and maintain the same consistency in the entire cycle of the shop(s) management as the franchisor
• Should have previous business experience of a minimum period of 2 years
• To have a solid foundation or understanding all the legalities and fundamental skills needed to operate a franchise business.

7.How long does it take, on average, for your franchisee to realize their investment?

Around 2 years. The ROI perceived in the business is great which allows investors to recover their investment before the 3rd year, sometimes in the 2nd year itself, all will depend on the location of the shop and the management efforts to follow our guidelines.

8.What was the major challenge you faced in your career, and how did you overcome it?

Major challenges were to finance the projects and get investors’ trust. I overcame it by letting them know the success stories I had and if they take the risk and invest we will have another success story.

9.What is your best achievement?

The best achievement was to establish The Laundry Hub as one of the top and most reputed laundries in the country. In 2022, we expanded to Egypt with our first shop in Cairo and a well equipped factory that will serve that country and region.

Saudi Arabia market also is highly demanding our presence in the main cities for what we are on ways of expansion to Saudi Arabia.

This along with the trajectory is a great achievement that we are maintaining through the years and being part of so many people’s and family’s lives through delivering their daily laundry and helping them to make their daily life easier is a very rewarding achievement.

10.How does your business day start?

Business day starts with organizing my schedule and looking into new things to learn and always making sure to meet new people.

11.What was your best moment throughout your franchise career?

When we signed our first franchise agreement, to see the excitement and trust in our franchisee was a big motivation for all the team to provide the best support for his success, and to keep developing our franchise system, to constantly improve it for the benefit of our franchisees.

Another great moment was when the first franchisee opened his shop and we saw the success coming straight away, his location surpass all expectations from the first week, sales and visitors were above the projected, even until now the franchisees locations are exceeding the expectations in so many ways which give us the reassurance that our system is in the right path and in the right hands of our very committed management team.

12. Where do you see your brand in the next 5 years?

Our strategy and focus is on expansion, we want to expand to at least 3 GCC countries in the next 5 years, with established factories, operations and our traditional retail shops in the new country. We also want to grant a Master franchise as well as to develop solid partnerships with top brands and companies of other industries for a co-joined market penetration strategy.

14.Any tips you want to impart to our readers who want to be in the franchise industry?

The first step is always the hardest, but I can advise that if you made up your mind on having and launching your own business, the laundry shop is the safest and easiest business to operate and that generates good  returns.

Our laundry franchise is designed to be safe to invest, easy to operate and manage, as it acts as a collection/retail point where we put the expertise and do the operations for your shop and you get the profits.

The best tip and advice would be to start a business where you have all the support and help from experienced management, this will help you avoid so many mistakes, save a lot of money in “trial and error” and to avoid the risk of closing or operating in loss.

Having a big company backing your business up can help you to achieve profits and required sales levels much faster.

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