The laundry business is far more recession-proof than virtually any other business in UAE; a challenging economy has tested and proven that fact. In good times and bad, people must clean their clothing. Laundromats provide a valuable service to communities everywhere.
Laundry Business Fundamentals
You may think that the laundry business is about clothes, but what it’s about is people. It’s a service business, and like any service business, you need to treat your customers well if you want them to return to your shop.
Think carefully about who you want your clients to be. How many of them you want to have. And you should have an organised and detail record-keeping system before even letting people know about your services. Create a detailed business plan after conducting due diligence on things like the ideal client base, location, cost of operation and personnel.
You may want to target businesses who need to have laundry done regularly. For example beauticians, spas, day care centres, restaurants, hospitals. Or even individuals who find themselves overwhelmed by mountains of laundry. Higher income expats will certainly have more disposable income to spend on this service. But by setting your price points in range with the busy middle class or even lower middle class, you may end up getting the bigger client base you want.
Although there are a few self-service laundromats in Dubai, the vast majority are not. Therefore you will need to make sure that you have staffing levels to provide this type of service. You could also outsource some of the services such as dry cleaning to companies that provide special bulk rates to laundromats.
Innovation
Even the laundry sector is evolving thanks to technological changes. Companies such as Washmen have partnered with laundromats across Dubai to allow clients to book laundry services via a mobile app. With a tech-savvy population with some of the highest penetration rates for smartphones in the world, it makes sense that the laundry business follows this trajectory.
As a start-up, you could partner with an existing mobile app service, or you could invest in designing your own. The fact is that this a growing segment of the market and if your business does not take advantage of it, you may be losing many clients to your competitors.
Laundry Business Licensing
If you are investing in a laundry business in Dubai, a local partner is needed for a license through the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED). If it is in a free zone, you can own fully own it; however, your location options are limited, and rental costs tend to be higher.
You will need to obtain a location with a minimum area of 30 square metres for a laundromat with either washing or ironing services and 40 square metres for a store that has both washing and ironing facilities. It is critical to get approvals from the Dubai Municipality Planning Section, Health and the Safety Division of the Dubai Municipality. Be prepared for routine ad-hoc inspections as safety is paramount.
Many commercial buildings have their regulations when it comes to laundromats due to the risk of fire.
A Consultant Can Save You Time
A laundry business license is lodged every single day in the UAE. If you think about it, that’s a lot of people applying to open a laundromat. Unfortunately, not everyone will have a smooth process in getting their license. Because they have not followed the proper process. A trained consultant can help you save money. And also your time by leveraging their knowledge to help you get the best start.
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