It was hard to imagine that there could be a silver lining amidst the dark plumes of smoke billowing from the production plant and flagship store of Daniel’s Dry Cleaners and Fire Restoration in Renton, Washington. Daniel’s Dry Cleaners had been a fixture in the Seattle area for over 20 years, providing fine dry-cleaning services to many loyal customers. Daniel Ferelli, the owner and operator of Daniel’s, had also established a good reputation as a fire restoration dry cleaner. So it is ironic that a fire, which originated on the roof while it was being repaired, all but destroyed the production facility, offices, and contents of the Renton location on June 17, 2005.
That evening, Daniel called Ryan Meekma of Custom Commercial Fabric Restoration Services. CCFRS is a specialized restoration dry cleaning company with locations throughout the Western United States. Daniel’s Dry Cleaners and CCFRS had been competitors since 1995, but the competition was always conducted out of mutual respect. Dan explained to Ryan that although they were competitors, there was no other company he would call to assist him in restoring the fire damaged clothing from his Renton location as well as the fire restoration orders he had taken that week to clean. Custom Commercial picked up the first fire order the following day.Dan and Ryan then began to discuss the recovery plans for Daniel’s Dry Cleaners. During these discussions, they realized that they both shared a passion for restoration, and they saw eye to eye on the state of and emerging trends in the industry. Knowing that it would take years to rebuild both his facility and his customer base, Dan agreed that allowing CCFRS to acquire his restoration business would be the most prudent plan.
In September, 2005, CCFRS was pleased to announce to all of its customers that Daniel’s Dry Cleaners and Fire Restoration had joined the team. The acquisition blended the attributes of Daniel’s Dry Cleaners that his customers came to appreciate along with the consistency, quality, and service provided by CCFRS.
The acquisition included a vehicle and some employees. Dan placed the remainder of his employees with other retail dry cleaners who acquired his various drop locations throughout the Seattle area. Dan agreed to provide consulting for CCFRS during the transition. He leant his insights as a retail cleaner to Custom Commercial, which only handles disaster restoration and insurance claims.
“I am excited about the opportunity for Custom Commercial,” says Ryan, the Vice President of Northwest Operations. “It allows us to showcase our service features to a broader base of customers. It also gives us a chance to focus on some key areas from a former competitor’s perspective. There were some things he was doing that greatly benefited his clients, and we can definitely learn from those and incorporate them into our customer service philosophy. We continually strive to be the best fabric restoration company, and gaining the wisdom of a good dry cleaner and competitor will only help us achieve our goals.”
