June 21, 2016
Brian Schwenk/for PhillyVoice
Ken Hantman, founder and CEO of 1-Less Chore, a pickup and delivery dry cleaning service in Philadelphia and the Main Line.
For the decades he worked in corporate America, Philly native Ken Hantman begrudgingly hauled his dry cleaning to and from the cleaner's, even as it ate into evenings and weekends with his family.
"I was a big, big dry cleaning customer, and I would have loved to have a service to pick up from and deliver to me because I was the kind of guy who had a lot of clothes," Hantman told PhillyVoice. "I would put a bag in my trunk to go to the dry cleaner and drive by 30 times before I ever went in because I always had something else to do.
"Turns out, a lot of my customers have signed up for my service for the same reason."
Hantman launched the Wynnewood, Delaware County-based 1-Less Chore in 2009, a dry cleaning business that handles the pickup, delivery and, yes, cleaning portion of the service. Customers leave a bag, provided by the company, outside of their door to be picked up, with the promise of a three-day turnaround.
Clients, he said, range from the busy-bee workers in Montgomery County to theaters in Villanova and Philadelphia (someone has to clean those costumes), but will soon include the broad swath of residents and cubicle inhabitants in Center City and the Main Line.
The decision to expand to Center City, he said, came after his mother, who lived in a senior housing building, suggested doing business with her building's residents. Following that experience, he realized what an untapped resource Center City was, with its dense population of well-dressed office workers.
"I found a nice business in Center City, even though I was reluctant to do it, and I really want to focus a lot of what we’re doing in the next few months in Center City," he said. "I really want to dedicate a full-time driver, a full-time van to Center City and I want to do it every day — to do a completely different business model for Center City. And when I say Center City, I mean Center City."
He's also recently started a wash, dry and fold portion of the business, operating with the same pickup-and-delivery concept, the only catch being a 10-pound minimum bag weight for pickup. In the months ahead, 1-Less Chore will also make coordination less of a chore by launching a customer-managed phone app.
The expansion also reins new towns of the Main Line into his service area, including Newtown Square, West Chester, Malvern and Exton, where he contends he's more affordable than his competition.
Hantman's journey into the laundry biz started when he got laid off in 2006; at 55, finding new work proved near impossible after two years of looking, so he opted to kick off his own business — inspired by pickup-and-delivery dry cleaning services he'd discovered but felt could be better. He worked with a local cleaner who showed him the ropes ("I knew nothing," he said) and grew the business over the years to now include five employees and clients in condo buildings, offices, theaters and residences outside the city.
"We're not perfect," he said. "But we really try. Anything I can do to improve, I do."
1-Less Chore will begin pickup and delivery in Center City starting July 1.
