In 2017, a forty-six-year old inhabitant of Mattinata near Foggia, a mother of four children, decided to leave the hotel she worked for in order to open a business in the textile care sector. Thanks to her husband’s support and some good advice, she opened a laundry in her hometown. The business worked so well that she opened two other points of garment withdrawal and delivery in Monte Sant’Angelo and in Manfredonia, a slightly bigger town, where people started bringing shirts and pants to clean
In 2017, Rosa is 46 years old and is married to a marvelous man called Mario, with whom she has four children. Her oldest son will soon make her a granny of a sweet little grandchild. Back in 2017, Rosa lives in Mattinata, a town with six thousand inhabitants in the province of Foggia. After having worked in the hotel sector for a long time, she feels the moment of a radical life change has come. “Two main factors made me take action – says Rosa, whose surname is Giudilli. – On the one hand, my husband was going to retire, and then, an acquaintance had decided to close down his business activity here in Mattinata, a laundry, launching an idea that I could actually run a laundry. In few words, his advice was to open my own laundry to fill the void he had left in town”.
Concern and doubts followed inevitably, yet, not too strong as Mrs. Rosa immediately felt that this could be the right road to take. In the end, the fact that she had worked in the hospitality sector for so long, where one becomes familiar with laundry services, seemed a great starting point. This way, she launched herself towards the new adventure with such conviction that three years later, in 2020, Rosa Giudilli could introduce herself as an actual
entrepreneur and the owner of the La Lavanderia laundry shop based in Mattinata linked to two other shops, withdrawal and delivery points in Monte Sant’Angelo and in Manfredonia, a densely populated town. “If a business expands, it means it works – comments the owner of the La Lavanderia with satisfaction – and I have certainly made a lot of effort for it to work over the last three years, with the crucial help of my husband.”.
Since 2017 until today, not only it has been an effort but a real mobilization. Indeed, Rosa Giudilli purchases the necessary machines and products to start the shop and at the same time, she learns and practices her skill at her friend’s laundry in Foggia, Michele Ciuffreda’s shop. “All my gratitude goes to him for having advised on the right machines to buy thanks to his thirty-year long working experience. – reveals Rosa Giudilli. – Moreover, he introduced me to Olivio Vicomandi, a skilled technical consultant, and to Catia Angelucci, who supplied us with a boiler”.
The result is a scented, clean shop. “Today, a laundry is a place that conveys light, freshness and closeness – confirms the owner. – Consequently, the quality is about everything, the fragrance of the used products such as detergents, hygienizers and stain removers.
Just a simple fact of entering here needs to transform it into a positive experience, something to repeat.”. The inhabitants of Mattinata understood that. Also, the fellow countrywoman knows how to speak to them. “In this town, there are still many housewives, – explains Mrs. Rosa – therefore, the service needs to be artisan like,
tailor-made for families, not standardized at all. Here, clients come to bring important clothes, blankets, wedding dresses, shoes to revitalize, while shirts and pants worn every day are destined to be washed at home, in a domestic washing machine”.
“When the first coat was brought to my shop, – continues Rosa Giudilli – I understood right then that it was a key moment because that client was trusting me with leaving his coat at my shop, an important garment for his family wardrobe. I did my best and gave him back his coat cleaned good as new just like I would always do with all the coats brought to my shop from that day on. The result was a word of mouth that, for a shop like mine, is the best advertisement ever”.
“The market is different in Manfredonia. It is typical of a town with 60 thousand people with more single households and fewer housewives. Therefore, many shirts and pants are brought here to be cleaned. Well, – concludes Rosa Giudilli – now, I can say that La
Lavanderia services every type of clients”. “So far, the experience – she adds – has given me great satisfaction and the awareness that it is impossible to operate in this sector without taking good advice. For this reason, I need to say that it is a good idea for anyone who wants to start working in the laundry sector to always consult qualified sector associations first”. •
by Stefano Ferrio
Detergo Magazine February 2020
