AmeriPride Services
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Service industries / hospitality / healthcare / automotive / manufacturing |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Headquarters | Minnetonka, Minnesota |
Key people |
Bill Evans, President and CEO Bruce Steiner, Co-Chairman Gary Van Ness, Co-Chairman Dan Lagermeier, CFO Andrew Steiner, VP of Customer Operations John Sutherland, SVP of US Operations Naiem Nairouz, SVP of Canadian Operations Brian Keegan, SVP of Plant Operations Curt Gray, SVP and CAO |
| Products | Rental work apparel, hospitality service products, direct purchase apparel and accessories, facilities services products, flame resistant apparel, protective accessories, controlled environment products |
| Website | Affiliated companies Canadian Linen and Uniform Service and Quebec Linge |
AmeriPride Services is a uniform rental and linen supply company in North America. Operating more than 115 production facilities and service centers throughout the United States and Canada, AmeriPride provides linen, uniforms, floor mats, restroom products and facilities services to nearly 150,000 customers every week. The organization supplies local, regional and national companies in industries, including automotive, manufacturing, service, hospitality, food processing, technology and research, and pharmaceutical.
Founded in 1889 by George and Frank Steiner, the privately held company is still owned and managed by the Steiner family. Company information can be found online at www.ameripride.com.
History
As a young man, George Steiner worked as a towel delivery boy for Johnson's towel route in Lincoln, Nebraska. When Johnson lost his contract to have his towels laundered by inmates at the state penitentiary in 1889, he offered to sell to George his towel route for $50.80- half down, half later. He purchased the towel business and as his business grew, George turned for help to his younger brother who he made an equal partner. Together they made deliveries from a green and white hand cart they pushed through the city streets. It wasn't long before the hand cart was upgraded to a horse-drawn wagon. George named his business Lincoln Towel and Apron Supply Company and later became known as American Linen. Business continued to grow and the Lincoln business expanded to Salt Lake City, UT and Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late 1800s and Vancouver, British Columbia in the early 1920s establishing the Canadian Linen Supply Company. Today the American Linen Supply Company is known as AmeriPride and serves over 150,000 customers daily.
Timeline
- 1889- company founded by George and Frank Steiner in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States.
- Late 1800s- expansion and opening of Salt Lake City and Minneapolis branches
- 1925- expansion into Canada with Vancouver branch
- 1935- Minneapolis Linen Supply Company’s uniform-manufacturing plant opens
- 1948- consolidation of 19 branches into one corporation under the American Linen Supply Company
- 1960s and 1970s- multiple acquisitions made across the U.S. and Canada
- 1989- customer Oriented (COSy) route accounting system implemented to improve and streamline billing and reporting processes
- 1997- Superior Apparel Management (SAM) with Radio Frequency (RFID) chip technology introduced in Vancouver, Montreal, and Los Angeles to assist in improving garment accountability
- 1998- company name changes to AmeriPride Services Inc. in the U.S., Canadian Linen and Apparel Services in Canada, and Quebec Linge in the province of Quebec
- 2000- national and major regional accounts program established with dedicated account management teams
- 2003- Superior Apparel Management (SAM) and RFID technology implemented in all branches across North America
- 2007- company opens Toronto Central facility
- 2009- Bill Evans appointed as first non-family CEO
Innovative technology
AmeriPride uses the Superior Apparel Management (SAM) system which uses radio frequency chip technology (RFID) to monitor and control garment service. The SAM system tracks each garment in service to ensure maximum garment accuracy, accurate inventory control and improvement in the speed and response time to clients. This technology is able to provide the clients with a computerized inventory, processing equipment, route efficiency systems and accurate accounting.