Wash Cycle Laundry
Founder: Gabriel Mandujano
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233 South 49th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19139 • (888) 611-WASH • help@washcyclelaundry.com
The Wash Cycle is a sustainable laundry business (it uses eco-friendly detergents and energy-efficient machines, and delivers via bicycle) that serves homes and businesses in Philadelphia.
HOW MENTORING WILL HELP: “I had a pretty well-researched business plan when I launched Wash Cycle Laundry, but even now, I still have more questions than answers. The neat thing about a startup is that it can still be a lot of different things when it grows up, so I’m really looking forward to getting help thinking through some of these decisions and plotting a course for growth.”
HOW $10,000 WILL HELP: “It will be a big help in getting us to the next level. In order to maintain a high quality of service, we want to purchase mobile devices — like the handhelds UPS and FedEx guys have — and software programs that will help us make our delivery routes efficient and simplify our billing process. I’d also like to be able to send some of the team to outside training programs for the laundry industry.”
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ONE THING THAT has long held so-called “green” businesses back is their cost curve. “Eco-friendly” most often means “more expensive,” and in straitened economic times, consumers’ desire to save a buck often trumps their desire to save the planet.
For Gabriel Mandujano, though, no such problem exists. “Laundry turns out to be an industry where being greener helps you be cheaper, so the more research I did, the more I became convinced that I could start an innovative company in that sector.”
The result is Wash Cycle Laundry, which serves Center City Philadelphia, both homes and businesses, and is unimpeachably green from minute one of the business transaction. “We use energy- and water-efficient equipment and biodegradable/EPA-certified detergents and reusable packaging to minimize our environmental impact,” Mandujano, 28, says. Wash Cycle also delivers door-to-door — via bicycle, naturally.
The company represents an almost perfect combination of Mandujano’s twin interests: entrepreneurship and environmentalism. A Maryland native, he moved to Philadelphia a decade ago and previously worked at The Enterprise Center, a local organization that helps boost minority-owned businesses.
Wash Cycle Laundry launched last October and has since expanded to five employees. Its biggest clients currently are gyms, salons and other “lifestyle businesses.” To hear Mandujano tell it, though, Wash Cycle is equal parts laundry company and personal-growth headquarters. “We’re committed to social impact,” he says. “We give all our employees opportunities to take on ‘stretch’ assignments that will help them advance in their careers.” •
