Dedicated to food: when cleaning runs through your veins

Cleaning food companies with 70 people every day, washing 500,000 crates and 12,000 pieces of company clothing every week, taking over extra tasks from your customers with a smile, continuing to optimise your business and having ambition. That requires pure dedication, a good team and fine partners.

Entrepreneurial couple Patrick Vendrig and Gosia Wrobel have their hands full. They have been used to hard work since childhood. First at the poultry shop, where they met. Later as cleaning contractors. When the owner of the poultry shop stopped his business, he advised Patrick to register as a cleaning company at the Chamber of Commerce: "Working at a poultry shop means a lot of cleaning, you can do that and that's how you keep your job". Their initially wait-and-see attitude, 'we'll see how this goes', didn't last long. Within two months, there were 11 cleaning clients in the meat processing industry that was so familiar to them.   

Total supplier 

Over the years, PG Cleaning has grown into a total supplier with 70 employees, specialising in cleaning and disinfection in the meat-processing industry, janitorial services, supply of cleaning materials and disposables. Due to their dedicated commitment to customers, Patrick, Gosia and their staff received requests for additional work: crate washing and, later, washing of company clothing. A challenge for regular laundries because of meat and spice stains. Sister company PoulServices was founded. Patrick proudly says: "We now clean around 500,000 crates and 12,000 pieces of clothing every week."

from left to right Gosia Wrobel, Anthony Hendriks and Patrick Vendrig

Partners in cleaning

"What do you charge for washing clothes?" With that question from one of PG Cleaning's customers, the adventure of clothes washing began for the cleaning entrepreneurs. A great addition that they were keen to fulfill properly. So they searched for a party that could think along with them about the specialist cleaning that corporate clothing of meat processors requires. They chose Christeyns. A close cooperation started, in which different types of difficult stains were critically assessed and the washing processes were further optimised to achieve the desired result.Optimising together
"Washing goes on almost 24 hours a day, we change every day at the customers' premises," Patrick explains. "With this quantity and frequency, you have to look carefully at what agents you need and how you use them," continues Anthony Hendriks of Christeyns. "Detergents can be bought anywhere. It's about the right guidance to achieve 'low impact washing'."
"That means using the right detergents to ensure minimal use of water and energy and also minimise wear and tear on textiles," says Patrick. "A combination of knowledge, experience and the right chemistry, which makes the clothes last many washes longer."
Anthony: "From our Christeyns Consultancy department, one of the ways we help our relations is by training their employees. This can be from basic to very advanced. For example, we teach participants what is important when washing their specific parcel, how to handle the professional equipment safely and what they need to do to ensure that the washed clothes remain hygienically clean even after the washing process. This is why we also advise on laundry equipment at the earliest stages. We understand what is involved in delivering a clean and hygienic garment. There are no worries about hygiene in PoulServices' laundry. Thanks to the right washing processes, regular hygiene checks and, of course, their own cleaning knowledge, it is optimal."

More challenges

Anthony likes to think about issues in the laundry: "For example, we helped Gosia with her question on how to tackle ISO9001 certification." "Within six months we succeeded," laughs the entrepreneur. "It took me a lot of time and energy, I am proud of it." There is truly dedicated work here, hygiene is number one and the laundrette only works for food companies. According to Anthony, this is what sets PoulServices apart from other washing companies. And Patrick and Gosia also pass on this dedication to work to the next generation. Their children are already lending a hand.  

Into the future together

As partners, it is important to be able to rely on each other. Patrick: "We have to be able to switch quickly, we cannot stand still. That's why we have short communication links with Christeyns." "It really is thinking and doing together," adds Gosia. "Acting together, unburdening, optimising, solving problems and learning from each other," Anthony also reveals. Plans for the future are shared with confidence: "We now wash crates at three locations, and want to add another branch in the Oudewater region. Actually, we want to set up something new every year; respond to what's going on in the market."

www.christeyns.com

Photos: ©Herbert Wiggerman