recession, the commercial cleaning segment is one of the few to emerge
mostly unharmed, says Adam Povlitz, Vice President of Operations for
Anago Cleaning Systems. Facilities always need cleaning regardless of
the economy, and he says many veteran white-collar workers downsized
throughout North Carolina during the period are now viewing the
industry for its franchising and profit potential, as opposed to the
"less than glamorous" work perceived as involved.
Anago Master Franchise Owners are not in the cleaning business – they
are in the sales and marketing business. The Anago Master Owner has
the exclusive developmental rights to sell Janitorial or Unit
Franchises in a defined territory. Simultaneously, the Master sells
cleaning contracts, business to business and assigns them to those who
purchased a Unit Franchise.
Sheldon Mellon and Houston Harris are entrepreneurs who decided to go
into business for themselves, while not by themselves.
"I explored many franchise opportunities and landed on Anago for a
wealth of reasons," said Sheldon Mellon, co-owner of Anago of
Charlotte. "Anago had availability in my target area, it is in a
recession resistant industry, and it offers great scalability."
"With Anago, the business is owned and operated by real people who
actually do care about each of their franchisors and franchisees. It's
not just lip service with Anago; they mean what they say and say what
they mean," said Houston Harrison, co-owner of the Anago of Charlotte.
"We had a six month courtship and were won over to become the master
franchise of the Charlotte territory."
Prior to joining Anago as master franchise, Harris worked in the
advertising industry for several years and Mellon worked extensively
in the telecom industry. Both have started and bought companies in
their careers, and together, they've become business partners in
several ventures, such as advertising, marketing, graphic design,
mosquito control, real estate, and now commercial cleaning.
"We are thrilled to have Mr. Mellon and Mr. Harris join the Anago
family," Povlitz said. "Their strong experience in business
development and passion for success are qualities we look for in every
Master Owner who joins our system."
With over 30 locations and 2,200 Unit Franchises, Anago has somehow
remained under the radar. This has been a critical piece to the
brand's success. One prime example of the under-the-radar growth has
been in South Florida, where the brand has over 180 Unit Franchisees,
and in cities like Nashville, where the Master Franchisor awarded over
50 Unit Franchises in 2011.
"We plan on experiencing the same level of growth in Charlotte," said
Judy Walker, Vice President of Marketing. "We plan on making
Charlotte's offices cleaner, while adding more jobs and business
ownership opportunities."
According to Walker, only about 2 percent of all commercial cleaning
businesses are franchised operations, while the rest are "mom and pop"
firms lacking efficient systems, experienced management, and support
for field teams—if they even become that large. And while few small
cleaning firms see the benefit to switching to a franchised brand,
Facility Managers are eager to have insured professional crews that do
the work well on a consistent timely basis.
ABOUT ANAGO
Anago Cleaning Systems is a commercial cleaning franchise system
supporting over 30 Master Franchises and over 2,200 Unit Franchisees
in the U.S. and internationally. After years of refining procedures
and creating duplicable systems created in his conventional commercial
cleaning service, David Povlitz founded Anago in 1989 to help other
entrepreneurs open their cleaning businesses. Today, its program sets
the standard in U.S. commercial cleaning. Anago was ranked the fifth
fastest-growing franchise by Entrepreneur magazine in 2010 and 2011,
and ranked by Franchise Business Review as one of the best franchises
in franchisee satisfaction. Inc. Magazine has also listed Anago as one
of the top privately-held companies in the U.S. For further
information, visit itswebsite.
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