Reduce Resident Hassle with New bizzie Dry Cleaning Service

By Philip Shea, Associate Editor

Photo by Philip Shea

When it comes to tedious chores that residents of apartment communities would rather not deal with, dry cleaning typically ranks at the top of the list. There’s just something about having to gather up dirty clothes and carry them back and forth between the Dry Cleaners, which in many cases is out of the way and operates at very inconvenient hours.

Yet with a new product by Clean Brands LLC, the bulk of the hassle associated with this task is taken out of the equation. bizzie, a locker-based pick-up and delivery solution derived from a San Francisco-based product, allows residents to drop off their delicate clothes at a central location within their community—not having to budget their time on the way to work or other obligations.

Wayne Wudyka, dry cleaning entrepreneur and founder of Clean Brands, notes that the adoption of bizzie is a result of the company buying a local brand—1-800-DryClean—and incorporating their design into a larger, nationwide business scheme.

“The locker solution, we were able to connect with this group out in San Francisco that has about seven years worth of experience and actually developed the software and the business operating model,” says Wudyka. “We’re really taking what they’ve perfected in that local market and then creating scalability around that.”

Photo by Philip Shea

The uniqueness and originality of this solution is underscored by the special technology it incorporates. Using an RFID chip to mark each individual order, both the customer and bizzie technician can retrieve and upload information about the order via a smartphone.

For example, if a dry cleaning technician notices a sizeable stain on a garment, he can take a picture of it and upload such to the order page, thus notifying the customer. Furthermore, a customer can leave special instructions for the order by scanning the RFID and relaying such instructions via cell phone text.

“This solution really lives and dies on the smartphone,” says Wudyka. “Everybody’s getting more mobile. Everyone’s living off their cell phone, and this solution makes [our service] very easy and brings it right to you.”

And while Wudyka notes that while his company is the only one incorporating the locker-based solution in the dry cleaning industry, there are a number of companies in other industries that are seeing the massive potential for the convenience it provides.

Photo by Philip Shea

“Google and Amazon are going full steam into the locker-based delivery solution for package delivery. Amazon’s biggest challenge right now is delivering packages—no one’s home.”

Going forward, Wudyka is confident of the path laid out by Clean Brands in this latest venture, and believes that this knack for noticing vacant niches in the industry will continue to serve them well in the long run.

“I love this business. I love being in it, and the opportunities just seem to be sitting out there—hiding in plain sight,” says Wudyka. “Our franchise is more than double the size of our next [competitor]. So when we talk about doing things a certain way, we’re actually doing it.”