Martinizing Dry Cleaning is a dry cleaning franchise founded in 1949. Martin Franchises, Inc., the parent company, is the largest dry cleaning franchise in the United States, with over 450 franchised stores worldwide. The company is based in Berkley, Michigan.[1]

The concept of One Hour Martinizing was pioneered by a New York chemist named Henry Martin in 1949. At the time, dry cleaning was done with flammable solvents, so the plants were located remotely from the storefronts. A customer would drop off cleaning "in town", the garments would travel to the production facility to be cleaned and pressed, then they would return to the store several days later for pickup. By using a non-flammable solvent, the use of which was discovered by Martin, dry cleaning plants could now be located much more conveniently, and the process could be carried out in a much more timely manner. The use of this non-flammable solvent was adopted throughout the industry and revolutionized the business in that facilities could better serve their customers and provide much faster turn-around on the orders, if need be. Operationally this has been termed "on-site cleaning" (as opposed to the "remote" cleaning of the past).

History

The company was originally known as One Hour Martinizing, because customers could get their garments in as little time as an hour. Martin Equipment Company was founded to produce special equipment to clean garments. Later, Martin Equipment Company became part of American Laundry Machinery in Ohio. The number of Martinizing franchises grew quite large during the 1950s and the 1960s. At that time, there was a flat annual fee that the franchisee would pay. A Martinizing franchisee had to have a certain brand of equipment, and had to follow certain procedures. Phrases such as "Fresh as a Flower in Just one Hour" and "the Most in Drycleaning" were part of the trademarks. In the 1950s and 1960s, two colors, red and green, were part of the OHM scheme. The concept was that by having consistent equipment at each franchisee along with the use of similar methods, the result would be consistency as is seen today with the various food franchisees.

The Huntington Company of Berkley, Michigan, acquired Martinizing on November 7, 2014.[2]

According to Entrepreneur.com, the company has been steadily losing franchises.

Year Franchises
U.S. Canadian Foreign
2001 526 33 192
2002 490 26 204
2003 430 23 201
2004 389 19 214
2005 383 20 244
2006  ?  ?  ?
2007  ?  ?  ?
2008 279 11 219
2009 249 11 219
2010 238 11 219
2011 228 11 219
2012 229 11 219

References

  1. ↑ Martinizing LinkedIn profile
  2. ↑ JC Reindl (Nov 14, 2014). "Metro Detroit firm buys Martinizing dry cleaners brand". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 6 March 2018.
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