Franchise Times Spotlights Chem-Dry’s Owner-Operator Business Growth

Latest good press continues a half-century’s worth of positive coverage of this legacy floor cleaning franchise brand that continues to find new ways to grow revenue for owners

As you might expect, there are lots of articles out there about how small businesses fared during the pandemic, and how they are doing as economies begin to reopen. A recent Franchise Times piece took a look at owner-operator setups, and the Chem-Dry floor cleaning franchise opportunity in particular.

The takeaway was that owning a franchise helped many entrepreneurs during the swift economic shutdown in March 2020. They had a proven system to rely on when business got slow, as well as an experienced team to help them navigate a perilous time and find new ways to connect with consumers. The last year also proved to be the right time for many entrepreneurs to launch their own franchise business, the article says.

Demand rose as shutdowns stretched from weeks to months

“Whenever there’s an economic hiccup—or outright disaster —franchising tends to benefit from some extra interest,” the piece says. “A layoff or radical life transformation is a stark reminder that when you work for someone, you don’t have real control of your business destiny.”

The article then went on to talk about how people who wanted to make a change but had a cap in terms of capital availability, looked at owning a Chem-Dry floor cleaning franchise. Why? “A low entry point in a business that is also home based”, said Doug Smith, Senior Vice President of Franchise Development,  which allows new owners to scale up at their own speed and not get too ahead of themselves.

Clear business plans allow for controlled growth

It’s that feeling of growing something yourself that brings a lot of prospects to the company, Smith says, “Especially people that lived through 2008 and 2009, they are just tired of depending on someone else for their livelihood.”

At Chem-Dry, the path to a scaled business is outlined right away, and franchisees spend the first year thinking a lot about it between service calls and talking to their business coach, he told Franchise Times, pointing out that “We have a class called Get Off The Van. It teaches them to go from being in the business, to working on the business, to working on marketing and strategy and getting a shop or adding additional services. But the nice thing about Chem-Dry, that’s if you want it. We have people who come in and say, ‘I don’t want a boss, but I also don’t want to be a boss.”

Chem-Dry is the world’s largest carpet and upholstery cleaning franchise with more than 3,000 franchises in more than 55 countries, serving 11,000 homes and businesses a day. Chem-Dry has been Entrepreneur magazine’s top-rated carpet cleaning franchise for 33 straight years. The Chem-Dry Hot Carbonating Extraction process delivers a faster-drying, deeper and more environmentally friendly clean that appeals to home and business owners. In addition to carpet and area rugs, Chem-Dry provides cleaning and renewal services for tile and stone, granite countertops, leather and upholstery, air ducts and dryer vents.

Learn more about the Chem-Dry floor cleaning franchise opportunity

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