The road to Business Success in Hospitality Laundry paved by Family Entrepreneurship

In October 2018, US-based Metro Laundry Services celebrated the opening of its second plant, a 53,000-square-foot facility in the Washington, D.C., area.

The company’s story started with a young man growing up in a family of entrepreneurs. Bernard Young, president and CEO, initiated the company in 2002. Steven Young, senior account executive/COO and nephew to Bernard explains that the drive for his uncle to have his own business developed with his previous employment—in other family businesses. Young: “His father, my grandfather, was a successful farmer in Virginia, one of the original forms of self-employment. He learned a lot from that.”

While working as a sales reps for his brother who had a chemical company that sold cleaning supplies and chemicals to hotels, Bernard developed relationships with the hospitality business as a whole. As time went along, he wanted to do his own thing, and decided to start this business in laundry. He founded the company with a focus on restaurants but matriculated to hotels only, with the exception of restaurants in hotels—100% hotels and their dining facilities. Although the company had a “brief encouter” with a medical business, they soon realized that healthcare linen is very different from hospitality. Steve: “We realized we will never do that again.”