Did you know Andalusia, Alabama, is home to the World Championship Domino Tournament?  I didn’t either until I met Riley and Reid Taylor at Provision in Fairhope a few weeks ago. Since 1976, the Andalusia Rotary Club has sponsored and produced the event. If you want to match your wits and Domino skills against the best players in the world, you can register here to compete on July 11 and 12 at the Kiwanis Fair Complex in Andalusia.

Dominos is a good social game to play with friends. Because our lives are all about fun and games, Linda and I have logged many hours playing dominoes.. Reid Taylor, VP of the Andalusia Rotary Club, is this year’s 49th Domino’s World Championship Chairman. His grandfather, Riley R Taylor Sr., was president of the Andalusia Rotary club for the 1st tournament. Since then, the club has donated over $2 million to local charities from monies earned by hosting the tournament. First prize is $5,000! If you enter, let us know, but you'd better represent Scenic 98 Coastal well!

So, why are we talking about dominoes in Andalusia? Because Riley and Reid, along with all the siblings in the Taylor family, own one of the largest independent laundry service businesses in the area, Taylor Linen Services. We like to support small businesses, and family-owned companies are predominant in the Scenic 98 Coastal area. Helping to promote and market them is a big part of what we do. 

Family businesses come with an entirely different set of issues than publicly owned businesses. When I worked for the business school at the University of Alabama, we held a conference every other year to address family-business concerns.. It’s not an easy task building a small company into a large one without incurring unusual difficulties along the way.  If you enjoy fine dining or an occasional massage, you have most likely used an item from Taylor Linen Services. 

“Much of what we provide: cloth napkins, tablecloths, aprons, kitchen towels, and chef’s uniforms, supports the restaurant industry,” says Riley, the patriarch of the business. “Food and beverage, hospitality, light medical, that’s us. You may not know us by name, but more than likely, you’ve used one of the products we provide.”

Today, Taylor Linen Services serves over 750 clients from the Gulf Coast north to Huntsville. I asked how it all began and what the future looks like. In 1997, after its owner died, Riley and Beth purchased Mann Laundry, a local laundry and dry cleaning business, and changed the name. With four young children to support, Riley focused on the food and beverage industry as his primary customer base and began knocking on doors.

“From the beginning, we worked the panhandle from Mobile to Panama City. Our goal is to provide our customers with good quality products and outstanding service. Most of our business is by referral. We have a lot of long-term relationships with independent restaurants, including 30 to 40 country clubs. Often, assistant managers and chefs move on to start new ventures and need the services we provide, and they bring us along with them.

With service centers in Pensacola and Birmingham supported by the production facility in Andalusia, Taylor Linen has grown across the Florida panhandle, central and south Alabama, and most recently, Huntsville. Regardless of the “class” of restaurants, fine dining or casual, they need uniforms, tablecloths, napkins, bar towels, mats, aprons, janitorial supplies, and even sheets for massage tables. “We service 50 to 60 towns and cities in our territory,” says Reid, who is head of Customer Relations.

When you think about the linen business in the context of demand, it can be a bit overwhelming. “No one considers where the tablecloth and linens come from when dining out, but we have five sets dedicated to each client with a four-day turnaround process. We offer linen to fit all sizes of tables and twenty napkin colors.” 

Various clients choose different cloth napkins and tablecloths, most coming from Milliken Napery in Spartanburg, South Carolina. “We process approximately 400,000 pieces per week, which equals about 200,000 pounds of laundry. When we started, we could do about 20,000 lbs per week in 50 hours. Now we can process that in about 4 or 5 hours,” Riley says. “Technology trumps everything.” With Radio Frequency Identification in each item, they know who gets what and where it is in their inventory at all times. 

When Riley started Taylor Linen Service, demand flourished in the height of summer along the Gulf Coast and would go dormant in the off-season. “We needed to insulate ourselves from the peaks and valleys of the seasonal business, especially during hurricane season. The BP Oil  Spill along the coast decimated our customer base. We decided to expand north.”

Riley tells me that they do things others don’t want to do. “We’ve learned, in good times, there is always a demand. Holidays used to be brutal. Every restaurant would increase its orders by three, all at the same time. We’d run hard all summer, and then scale back down through the winter.”

In April 2020, during COVID, everything stopped. By Fall, they were bursting at the seams as restrictions were lifted, and everyone wanted to get out, see friends and family, and have fun again. With 90 employees, Riley emails a monthly newsletter reminding them that they work for “the most important industrial laundry in the world!” Treat each other, our customers, and our assets as such, and it will take care of you!’

He’s thankful he didn’t build a new plant in Andalusia just before the pandemic. “We were 18 months into the design and planning when the pandemic happened. I’m glad we held off a bit before starting in March 2020. Today,  we are in the same 20,000 sf plant, but with new technology and more capacity.  He says they are eco-friendly and provide a recyclable product, which is important to them.

Taylor Linen Services is a member of an independent trade organization, CSC, that meets frequently. “The big national laundry services have contracts with the big chain restaurants. We are regional and rely on relationships. It’s nice to be associated with successful businesses and get to know the owners personally. The best part is being able to sit down with our customers and build relationships over a nice meal.“

With all four of their grown children, all Auburn University graduates, now involved in the family business, what is the succession plan, I ask? “Reid and his brother and sisters have sweat equity in the company and will soon be owners. We are a one-and-a-half generation family operation, and we are ten years into a 5-year transition plan,” he laughs. “We are a small part of our customers’ business operations, but to each, we are a big part of their customers’ and employees’ experience.”

When not providing essential laundry services, like fresh, ironed, clean napkins and tablecloths for your favorite eatery, Beth and Riley enjoy family time with some or all of their 13 grandchildren at Navarre  Beach. “While the children are running the day-to-day operations, I am still daily involved.  I like to hunt, fish, golf, and do grandfather stuff these days, and the children's contributions now allow more free time for that," says Riley. 

Sounds like a succession plan to me.