Aprons and Linens

We’ve been using a uniform company since we opened and they are charging us about $40 every two weeks for aprons and linens. We use around 30 aprons and 75 towels during this period.

I’m looking into the possibility of buying aprons and towels and washing them ourselves. I have a great assistant who is more than willing to wash them for us.

Can anyone recommend a good company to buy them from ? They don’t need to be embroidered. The aprons are bib aprons and the towels are 16x16.

Thanks for your help ! :smiley:

Your local t-shirt screenprinting company can get you aprons. You can buy towels at Costco. Don’t know where you would get bar towels.

don’t forget…when you wash/dry your aprons, use a mesh laundry bag, else all the strings get all wound up & impossible to untangle…

GOOD GOD NO!!! Most laundry/uniform companies use special chemicals to get the oils and grease out of aprons and towels/rags. We tried bringing ours home and washing them and it was a nightmare. It’s a lot of work, you can’t get the odors out, and they still feel “greasy” after you wash them. My wife tried every chemical known to man to get the smell and grease out of everthing and it didn’t work. You might be ok with the aprons but not with the hand towels. Your situation may be different than mine but we offer a lot of fryer foods, subs and pizzas. If you are pizza only it might not be so bad. I only know that we tried it for about a month and we threw away all of our towels and aprons we bought and went back to a company that provides them and washes them. It is one of the $35(+/-) a week expenses that I would rather pay and cut expenses somewhere else.

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[size=3][size=9]That’s half the fun, just like untangling the kids fishing lines. :lol:

Dave[/size][/size]

We were in the same boat here is what I did.

I started washing them myself, aprons were a HUGE pain in the rear. I mean huge. We used white and they would tangle and it was a huge hassle. Could never really get them bright white.

Finally had an ah ha moment. I bought some black aprons and handed them to all the staff as part of their uniform. They each got two. They were now their problem. If they don’t have one they buy one and it is theirs to keep. Best thing I ever did. Seemed like a lot of money initially to buy them but found them pretty cheap at a place called image textiles online.
They wash awesome (mine) and don’t fade or stain. Awesome Awesome Awesome.

As for the towels I too was sick of paying for them. I now take them home every other day. Put them in my washer, wash with EXTRA EXTRA bleach then wash again with EXTRA EXTRA bleach, let them soak for around 4 hours and whola clean as could be. (I use almost a 1/2 gallon for each load)
I also came to the realization at 15 bucks a week I could buy 3 bundles every two weeks for that price which is 36 towels at sam’s. So I buy towels regularly and pitch the bad or shredded ones. I use the ones that won’t bleach or get holes for nasty cleaning and then we pitch em. I have been trying to find a place online to get them even cheaper but still looking.

I now have so many towels it is ridiculous. I take a bag there and bring a bag home. (And have several other bags ready in case life is busy, but keep in mind the towels are NASTY WHEN YOU BRING THEM HOME. I MEAN NASTY!

For now it is still worth it to me, for every 15 I save I can buy towels regularly and still be ahead.

I agree! 35 a week is worth its weight in gold for a service. Put your efforts into the shop with homemade product and you make up the difference, 1000 percent. When there is sauce to be steeped, dough to be proofed, meatballs to be rolled, flap to be prepped, steak to be sliced and portioned, frozens to be portioned, chicken to be cooked, coldcuts to be sliced, vegetables to be diced and sliced, salads to be made, pasta to be cooked and portioned, dressings to be prepped, oil to be changed, grills and equipment to be maintained, cleaning to be done, customer service to be top notch and the list goes on and on - and then a store to run, who has time for linen? NOT ME!

Geesh… once a Diva, always a Diva. :lol:

-J_r0kk

NO!NO!NO! I gladly pay Cintas $60/week for 80 bar towels 20 aprons and 2 mats
did i say NO!?
forget the stench,
forget the work,
forget the fact that my wife would kill me to bring this crap home to wash in the same machine that washes my kids’ clothes
why do I feel so strongly you ask?
Our place caught FIRE! (almost burned to the ground) because my old linen guy missed our stop and I figured I would go to the laundromat to get by for a week and maybe save a few dollars. So I pick up my load of towels after they are dried, throw them in the back room and lock up. Get a call at 3AM that our place is up in flames…long story short…spontaneous combustion…the oil residue combined with the heat from the towels after they dried and there you go…en fuego! :shock: …funny thing is we barely use ANY oil and didn’t even have a fyer at the time
Believe it or not this has happened to others many times so I have heard with restaurants who do their own laundry

Holy crap ! You almost had to change your name to Flameous Pizza… :shock: