They never know.
Every time I lead a potential new customer, an existing customer, a visitor or friend through a tour of our plant located at 121 Monterey St, I get the same response: “I’ve driven by Sparkle for many years and never knew there was this much activity and work being done inside!”
Leading our visitors on these plant tours is a special treat for me. Watching their eyes move in amazement as they see the sights and sounds of the facility in operation puts a smile on my face. Every special guest gets to experience the vibrations of the large equipment in operation felt through the floor up through the feet and legs, the sound of the washing machines in high extract cycle, the smell of clean linen coming out of the ironers or the rapid pace of the ladies working the production floor feeding and bundling multiple colors of table linens onto waiting rolling racks. Visitors get to make use of 4 out of 5 senses on the tour. Smell, touch, sound, and sight are all in play. Thankfully the sense of taste is excluded from this experience.
Most folks that have never been in a commercial laundry before admit they expected something totally different. On TV and in the movies, industrial laundry facilities are depicted as old buildings with dark and damp working conditions, steam shooting form old pipes, a mess of goods going every which way. After entering the Sparkle facility they are pleasantly surprised to find a bright clean organized working atmosphere. Throughout the tour they are educated on the new technology and processes employed to make Sparkle a modern and efficient operation. There are many efficiencies running in the background to reduce utility costs and be globally conscious about water usage and reduce our fuel and electricity needs.
While on the tour guests see our soiled garment and linen receiving area where soiled goods are separated by classification and prepared for washing. Our Scantrax system scans all uniforms coming into the facility for laundering. This is an amazing new technology that we will be showcasing very soon. Our large commercial washers and dryers hum with rotation as they work to clean and dry every item that comes through the plant. Workers feed sheets, tablecloths, napkins, and aprons through large multi-roll irons for a crisp and professional look. Uniform shirts and pants ride overhead on their way to the sorting area where the Scantrax reassembles and verifies orders are 100% complete. Visitors are able to see the Scantrax system in action making sure all orders are ready to be loaded onto the Sparkle vehicle for delivery. Sparkle outfits thousands of local workers every day with clean ready to wear uniforms. All our rented products are delivered by our HPT (High Performance Training) trained customer service representatives. Our plant is the only locally owned and operated commercial laundry in the Bakersfield area. All our cleaning is done at this one facility. We aren’t a franchise and our owner lives in Bakersfield. All our employees are local and we continue to be the leader for quality uniform and linen service in Kern County.
Once the plant tour is complete it’s great to hear from our visitors they now understand how the laundering process works. Our existing customers are able to take their experience back to their company and share how Sparkle is able to account for so many items, clean them, and organize them for delivery the next week. Potential customers and visitors have said they feel like they were in an episode of “How It’s Made”. I’ve even had multiple guests compare the activity and departments inside the Sparkle plant to that of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”. Well I know our service is “sweet” but its far from chocolate bars.
You too may have driven by Sparkle for many years and wondered “What’s it like inside Sparkle?” If you have a need for a commercial laundry service give us a call. I’d be happy to schedule a plant tour for you and show you the Sparkle advantage and whats inside the box.
