Mike Ivers and Casey Ruff's Better than Mom's Laundry & Dry Cleaning offers next-day delivery on most garments.
The best business idea is often the one sitting right under your nose. Sometimes, you can even smell it.
Casey Ruff and Mike Ivers were juniors at Rutgers when they saw opportunity in dirty laundry. That year, they founded BTM Laundry & Dry Cleaning. The company will pick up your laundry, wash it at the laundromat, and return it to you the next day.
At first, they targeted fellow college students who yearned for the conveniences of home — “BTM” stands for “Better than Mom’s.” They knew students don’t like to do laundry. The question was why all students didn’t already pay someone else to do it for them.
The reason, Ivers says, is that most laundry companies charge by the pound, meaning that unless customers weigh their laundry beforehand, they won’t know how much the service costs until they receive the bill. This uncertainty does not sit well with often broke college students.
So Ruff and Ivers took a different route. Customers who would rather not pay by the pound can stuff their clothes in a big, blue “BTM” Bag, and pay a flat rate of $25 to get them washed. Like the per-pound option, this rate includes color separation, fabric softener, and next-day pickup and delivery. Stuffed to capacity, the bag holds about 30 pounds of laundry.
BTM picks up hundreds of these bags from college dorms, but they have also branched out to serve local businesses. Doctors’ offices, nail salons, and barbershops all need lots of sheets, towels and aprons cleaned every night. Several in the New Brunswick area have contracted with BTM to take care of it.
The company will also have customers’ clothes dry cleaned, a service that has become popular with families and young professionals in greater New Brunswick.
Since launching in 2006, Ruff, Ivers and their team of three employees have served nearly 1,000 customers. Their website is http://www.btmlaundry.com.
