Pitching to local restaurants

[ascrubabove]

Going to make appointments and meet with the dozen or so we have in this area. Would like some input from u guys about:

1. How often do I recomend cleaning thier carpet? (I only do HWE for now)
2. Price per sqft .25 .30????
3. Does price include minor spotting, all spotting, or none?
4. Should I throw in deoderizer to sweeten the deal?

 

[Doug Cox]

Off the top of my head, I think that .25- .30 is going to turn most off. I gave up on commercial because its too much work for the money unless you turn to other processes (other than HWE).

 

[Joel D]

What Doug said


im doing the same you are now and getting discouraged

last winter i got a big tile job and one carpet at restaurant and thats it
many were getting them done extremely cheap the one i just measured came out to $350 at .20 a ft
they get it done monthly now and i doubt their payin that much im trying to figure a way to get the price lower by getting some kind of system down but theres too many tables and chairs and no where to put them

i think some are doing a section each month instead of the whole thing to get the price down to $125 or so and not telling the restaurant. thats the only thing i can come with on how they are doing it

go after tile or keep digging to find the ocassional that will pay right

 

[ascrubabove]

I've spent money in all of them! Some I wished I had'nt!!

 

[bob vawter]

Doesn't matter....when they get a NEW manager...you'll be hit.....anyway!

 

[ronald pantelas]

Going to make appointments and meet with the dozen or so we have in this area. Would like some input from u guys about:

1. How often do I recomend cleaning thier carpet? (I only do HWE for now)
2. Price per sqft .25 .30????
3. Does price include minor spotting, all spotting, or none?
4. Should I throw in deoderizer to sweeten the deal?

Set the cleaning freguency to every 4 to 6 weeks, your price should reflect making 100 to 150 per hour per two man crews, include all spotting all the time, forget about the deodorizer. I use an enzyme prespray spiked with citrus (bridgepoint products), rinse with judsons o2. These guys have had others clean for them, they are aware of shoddy work. Remember you are working at night. Get paid for it. Give them a yearly schedule and stick to it. I love restaurants. Ron

 

[Steve in Omaha]

Going to make appointments and meet with the dozen or so we have in this area. Would like some input from u guys about:

run, don't do it. Get the phone book out and contact all the cpa offices in your area. They are about to get very busy and typically have money to spend. And don't forget to bid the chairs in the reception area.

 

[Nate The Great]

Going to make appointments and meet with the dozen or so we have in this area. Would like some input from u guys about:

run, don't do it. Get the phone book out and contact all the cpa offices in your area. They are about to get very busy and typically have money to spend. And don't forget to bid the chairs in the reception area.

Now why would you want work from a Certified Pain in the A$$ office?

 

[Jeremy]

Flat Rate based on whaat you need per hour & how long/what it will take on average. Include everything from vacuuming to moving furniture & spotting. Be prepared to make less profit/money per hour but get steady cash flow for your efforts. Also remeber the first 2-3 trips can be a bear until you have them whipped into shape. Try to get a key. It'll make life easier.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

James Holland. No offense, but what makes you think restaurants are going to stop using the companies they are presently using. Some of the restaurants you pitch to may have been using the same company for years. Soon you will be trying to underbid the other companies. I don't know why every new carpet cleaner wants to clean restauants and apartments. Focus your time on cleaning big nice homes. You will have a lot less competition and your business will grow much faster.


As far as the restuarnts are concerned. Never tell a restaurnat manager/owner you can do a job cheaper. Ask them if they have somebody cleaning the carpet. Then ask if they are happy with the work (drying time, reliablility, price). If they are then don't solicit business there. I recently got some calls from a couple of restaurants to do estimates. The first question I asked them is why are you not using the company that has been doing the carpet anymore and how much were you paying them. After determining that the restuarant was clearly not paying enough, I convinced the owners that the companies doing the work were not charging enough to do a quality job. My quote was double what they had been previously paying. I told the owner if I did the job for the same price as the last company, I would not be able to do any better work. My point is there may be a few restaurants that will pay good money, but the majority only want it done cheap. If you go around trying to underbid the other cleaners, you will always be a hack cleaner.

I am not trying to offend you. I'm just telling you from my personal experience, that the longer you are in this business you will not want to target the same jobs every other cleaner does. Again, build your business through referals by doing awesome work and target big nice homes.

Remember that the restuarants already have somebody doing the carpets. It is very unlikely that they will start using you unless you offer to do the job way under what they are curently paying. You have a nice clean machine. Focus on the high end residential market and you will have lots of prosperity.

 

[BradFenstermaker]

Figure how long it will take and charge what you need.

A row of tables gets pulled just enough to pretreat and clean then pull row back over.
Preteat several hundred sqft at a time. Remember dwell time helps on the grease.

Make sure they get all debri off carpet and they stand the chairs on the table.

Use a good cleaner and rinse. I have found most new places will take several cleanings to bring back to life.

The hours are terrible but the mailbox money is nice.

 

[rhino1]

Price for monthly cleaning of restaurants here is about .15 sf. I dont do them, figured out after a couple of months cleaning for some of the chains that it wasn't worth it

wait until they close and last customer leaves, move chairs & tables, look at piles of food under tables that has been there since the last time you cleaned, vacuum with a vacuum that you will never be able to use anywhere but restaurants (employees never vac, vac is always broken, etc...) and manager or probably assistant is dying for you to hurry up so he can go pound a few beers, wait on check up to 90 days (unless they close their doors in the meantime, in that case you may never get paid)

 

[ascrubabove]

Daniel Costley, you did not offend me, but I did feel the need to explain. I do not go around under pricing my competition. I quote my price and stick to it. I have been told (several times) that I am more expensive than my competition and that I am worth every penny!!! I get alot of referrals. I clean carpet in million dollar beach houses. I have realitors that wont use anyone else but me. I don't want to offend you either, but I did do over $100,000 in sales in 2008 and only started in march part time, full time in june, and untill Dec 30th I did it all with a portable. IMO I don't realy have competition in my area. Out of the 12 - 13 restaurants around here, I was hoping to get 1 that actualy gave a crab about its carpet and by the end of the year I would get 2 or 3 more with referrals. I don't want them all, just my share!

 

[Blue Monarch]

Damn computer must have a virus. I keep typing in mikeysboard.com, but ICS pops up frequently. Really annoying.

 

[daniel@procarpet]

James. I am not going to debate you on this issue. However, if you grossed 100k in your first year and there are only 13 restaurants in your area and you aren't cleaning any of them, then you made a ton of money doing residential and you already know what you are doing and you are on the right path. My question is if you are making that kind of money doing residential, why even bother with the restaurants? They must have somebody cleaning them. If the other cleaners are doing poor work and you can do a better job and still make decent money, then get all of the accounts you can.

Best wishes to you in 09.

 

[Jimmy L]

100,000 a year with a porty.......yeah right.


One year in business?


aRE wE fOOkeN stuPId?

 

[Ramon Allones]

100k your first year with a portable you gringos don't know how to work that hard


EL Guapo

Ramon

 

[ascrubabove]

We (wife and I) run a cleaning service, not just carpet, I clean carpet, she runs the cleaning side, she has anywhere from 10 to 20 employees depending on the season, summer time they clean beach house rentals ( about 100 houses, not all rent each week), all year long she does move-out cleanings for the marines who get orders to a new duty station, I clean carpet in all of the beach houses and move outs, I also clean carpet in beach houses that she does not have on her cleaning schedule. $100,000.00 sounds like alot but it isn't, employees get paid hourly on move-outs and by the job on beach rentals, labor is expensive on the cleaning side of our company, but on the carpet side we have heavey profit cause I am the labor and I am on salary. I have the new truck mount and want to expand the profit side of our business as any company wants to do.

 

[Farenheit251]

As for waiting to get paid. why? There is money in the register. Nobody eats and mails a check later. A few solid chains I wait for my money 30 days max. If a local owner needs to hold onto my money that is the first sign they are in financial trouble.

 

[Curtis Pennington]

here is a great idea

do you eat at any of the places your trying to market to.

In these tough time they are more likely to do business with you if you do business with them



T

Free marketing tip right there........


and it works/helps.

 

[hogjowl]

LOL at Dirk!

 

[Greg Loe]

Our Marie Calenders is owned by an out of area owner that owns 8 or 9 restaurants in northern California.
Talked to one of his managers, manager told me how they are to look for carpet cleaners. Find a new company and have them clean the whole restaurant for a very cheap price with a promise of future cleanings, and cleanings at his others restaurants if they like his cleaning. Their willing to pay up to $150 for 2500 sq ft. HWE only!

Seller beware!

 

[Craig Lindquist]

Restaraunts have the dirtiest carpet, most furniture to move, and expect to pay the lowest prices.

The only difference between cleanng restaraunts and cleaning nothing is how quick you go out of business.

 

[rhino1]

Guys on here with TONS more experience and intelligence have helped me and others like me more than they will probably ever know. Why would you mislead people on here with some BS about how great you THINK you are and then you must believe that they are too stupid to go back and read the posts where you claimed to have made 100K with some POS porty in just a few months.

Please show a little more respect for these guys in the future.

 

[Rex Tyus]

You guys can say what you want but after last year I wish I had some of those freaken resturaunts I let go in the past back. You can make money you just have to know what it takes to be profitable. Don't do the ones that are slow to pay or refuse to pay what your minimum is. I don't see what the drama is about.

As far as how much someone is or is not doing in a year with a portable.....I would have to care to be willing to debate it. :|

 

[Dolly Llama]

I'm curious if Dan remembers his first years in biz

when ever i see comments like his, (and I see them often from some) I suspect they had/have a wife that has a good job and bennies to carry the load the first few years.
Or
they started out with a boat load of money to market exclusively to "nice big" homes
or
both

that's "IF" they never set foot on a carpet for less than "hi-roller" prices

I can appreciate some of the veteran owner/ops advise as well.
if you notice, some "quit' doing that kind of work.
leads me to surmise they (we) all did them at one time to keep the wand moving to pay the bills
(especially in winter)
As biz increased along with more profitable jobs, the less desirable/less profit jobs can be dropped
"IF/when" the owner/op is as busy as they can or wants to be.

simple fact of life is, we all paid dues the first few years in biz
or we had other income sources to draw from

lets not forget that when the veteran owner/op is telling some newbie they should be doing this or that instead.
cause even a razor thin profit, is better than no profit when the house payment is due


'Cut, you're going to have a hard time getting anywhere near .25 to 30 cent-o-ft in the typical restaurant.
If you know your production times, price it by time it takes to do.
You know your costs and how much you need (or want) to gross an hour
Start at that number and test the waters


..L.T.A.

 

[hogjowl]

As a general rule, I have stopped cleaning restaurants. However, I do have one that I still clean for. I guess there are exceptions to every rule, and I still clean for that one.

I even imagine there is some hotel, somewhere, that pays well and will pay a good price for cleaning.

Ya think?

 

[The Cleaning Artist]

I cleaned a restaurant back in November. Started at 9pm and finished at 2:30 am! 600+ gallons of water, a full gallon of concentrate pre-spray, 9 lbs of rinse powder and 1/2 tank of fuel in 2700 sqft of carpet. All areas had to be cleaned with the rx as straight chems and the wand wouldn't touch it. The price, well I wanted to walk out of the job after the first 30 min and cut my losses for no charge. BUT I gave my word that I would clean it and so we did. Oh the price, $300! I hope that was the last one I ever clean! The only way I'll ever take another one is a yearly contract to clean monthly at my regular sqft rate.

Also, all my equipment had to be cleaned the next morning and the truck smelled of nasty grease for a solid week. Very hard on your machine that grease is.

 

[Greg Loe]

"I have stopped cleaning restaurants" " I do have one that I still clean for"

Make up your mind Prattville!

 

[Mikey P]

I have five soon to be six, regular restaurant accounts, all of which pay .50 to be graced with my Vatitude.


Successful joints will pay for good work.