AUBURN, Maine — The year was 1976.
The United States of America celebrated its bicentennial. Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the presidential election.
And Barry Morrill’s future in-laws were growing Childs Linen Service in Auburn, Maine.
“At the time, they didn’t have the building or anything,” he shares. “They would drive around during the day to local customers they had in Lewiston-Auburn-Hicks.
“They would sort at night in the driveway and then go into a laundromat overnight that they had an agreement with.”
Eventually, the couple saved enough money for a building and commercial laundry equipment.
But by the time Morrill married their daughter in the 1990s, his father-in-law had retired, and the operation wasn’t working to gain new clients or even retain customers.
“I think we might have had around $196,000 in revenue when I bought it,” he says. “We turned it into running two shifts seven days a week within the first six months and just kept going from there because I went out did sales and grabbed everything I could.
“We went in the direction of healthcare because healthcare doesn’t move up and down like restaurants do. They were only doing restaurants, and we expanded it.”
Since then, Morrill has worked to grow the business, overcoming every laundry business obstacle.
But he couldn’t foresee the run of disasters headed his way starting in 2019.
Over about four years, Childs Linen Service endured, and overcame, fire, pandemic and flooding.
PANDEMIC
However, another challenge was on the horizon soon after Childs Linen Service’s facility was operational after the fire: COVID-19.
“As soon as we opened back up, we’re now in COVID protocols,” says Morrill. “We all got hit with that.
“Of course, our restaurants, anything with bar mops and towels and things like that, went drastically down because they were only doing take-out. They only needed a few, and some just said I don’t need any right now. They were hurt, and that trickled to us.
“The only thing that really kept us going during that time was medical. When we diversified into that area, that doesn’t go away, so all of our medical was still there.”
Another way Childs weathered the COVID slowdown was by providing linen for ship fleet trials conducted at the nearby General Dynamics Bath Iron Works.
“We used to deliver all that in bulk,” shares Morrill. “We wrap those in sets now. That started in COVID, so nobody touched anyone else’s bedding, and they liked that so much better than going around and delivering a pallet full of sheets and just throwing a sheet on the bed.”
He points out that he did have to cut back staff hours, but everyone got paid.
“I only took from PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) what I thought would get us through on payroll,” says Morrill. “I did around $30,000 twice, and both rounds of the PPP loans were forgiven.
“That, along with the medical, kept everyone getting a paycheck every week. We made it through and then everyone opened in 2021.”
He points out that all of Childs’s clients came back, and they took on a few new accounts from hotels that opened.
“2021 ended up being our highest-grossing year to date,” Morrill shares. “We have since every year gone over that, but 2021 was our highest-grossing year since we’ve been in business.”
Click HERE to read Part 1 about how Childs Linen Service overcame a devastating fire. Read the conclusion Thursday about last year’s flood.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
