From the idea born during sea-side holidays to today’s business group consisting of eight stores, two laboratories, and fifty delivery points. 26 years of the winning company history run between Umbria, Marche and central Italy. Working with his 50 employees, the main character of the story follows the concepts of competitiveness conveyed by great sports coaches
“An entrepreneur today? Looks like a sports team coach a lot” says at some point Stefano Pierotti, the owner of Pierotti Laundry Network Group, born 
in Gubbio, Umbria.
Considering that he started his career at an early age, in the world yet to discover, and that today he is leading a fifty-people team of employees, it is not difficult to believe in Stefano Pierotti’s words. Especially, when he clarifies things even better: “Over the last twenty-six years, I have seen this business change several times, continuously and radically. It is a constant movement, necessarily ahead of times where one adjusts positively to new situations, and where the only possible development depends on the ability of involving the whole group in the choices to be made and solutions to adopt. This means keeping the relations going at all times and finding an immediate meeting point on the strategy to follow. Because of that, I feel like a typical team coach who traces lines on a black board, patterns to follow in order to win a game strategically”.
A winning coach, nothing else to add. He started from scratch in 1990 and today, he owns the Pierotti Group, a company galaxy that comprises the 
Lavanderia Primavera chain composed of eight headquarters scattered between Umbria and Marche, apart from two highly specialized structures such as Carpet Washing Centre and Labor Wash, where the core business is workwear cleaning.
“Everything started during the holidays at the sea-side in Abruzzo” says Pierotti remembering the path that led him to his present key role, a point of reference for all the numerous employees. “That summer in 89 – he continues – I met a couple from Milan who were about to sell their supermarket in order to open a laundry business. They were definitely able to explain how business works, so once I came back home, I immediately started to look for more information on how to open a laundry. Having ignored a few silly offers, I finally came across an opportunity that a year later, on 1 October 1990 brought me to the opening of my laundry in Gubbio. On my first day of work I had a million lira takings in my cash register which was a proof that it was definitely my way to follow”.
Since then, it has turned out to be the right way of the sector to pursue. “For ten years – Stefano Pierotti confirms – given the variety of requests coming from a continuously growing market, I multiplied stores and means until I got to the point of managing fifteen laundries and seven delivery trucks. Then, in 2000, I understood that I could benefit from my market knowledge and started working for third parties. Therefore, step by step, I sold the first stores and I opened two industrial laboratories dedicated to carpets and workwear cleaning”.
A real coach, however, and a real entrepreneur who takes Mr. Conte and Mr. Mourinho as an ideal example, always looks for new challenges. “I opened a laundry again – says Stefano Pierotti – but from a different viewpoint than that of the ’90s. I actually understood that the market is more selective and restricted than before. Shops situated in a neighbourhood, rooted in that particular territory have been replaced by format-structures able to work in multiple locations as long as they guarantee quality services and competitive prices. I am focusing on the idea of the most smoothly working networks possible, and solid, too”.
This is how the succes of Lavanderia Primavera started. Today, it has eight headquarters: three in Gubbio, one in Ancona, Fano, Gualdo Tadino, Senigallia and Umbertide. Winning the championships by working on the quantity and the quality at the same time means: on the one hand, being equipped with companies interface system able to service fifty delivery points of Carrefour hypermarkets chain and on the other hand, never giving up on customized relations with single clients. They will shortly be provided with Facebook or Smartphone application, which will help them manage the services they choose in an easy and accessible way.
The company blog page reflects the idea of clients’ care. It provides advice on everyday domestic life problems: from the art of decluttering thanks to which one can make some order in their wardrobe to suggestions on how to hang out the washing in the most optimal way. “Because in this more and more hectic and unpredictable world – Stefano Pierotti concludes – clients need some suggestions, a word of advice, even before the service itself”.
So, here is Stefano Pierotti, an entrepreneur, a “Laundryman” who first thinks about coaching his staff because only this way you score a goal!
by Stefano Ferrio
Detergo Magazine April 2017
