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Laundromat and Suds ‘n’ Duds
Matt
Rasor
By Barbara L. Roose
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 In
his youth, Matt Rasor believed that there were only
two ways he could make a lot of money: “...I
thought the only way I could make a lot of money was
to be a doctor or a lawyer. I knew there was no way
I could be a lawyer, so I thought I could be a doctor.”
After graduating from high school in Lima, Matt went
to Bowling Green State University and obtained a pre-medicine
degree. He planned to go to chiropractic school, however,
Matt’s hometown roots and homebody attitude
changed his mind. Opting out of a pager-dependent
career in medicine, Matt went back to school and obtained
his Executive MBA from BGSU.
During his college years, Matt managed student housing,
but a few years after completing his graduate degree,
Matt left that position to work with a friend in the
construction business who wanted to expand into some
new ventures. Matt took a position directing company
operations. At times, the workload was overwhelming
was company sales were going so well. Matt focused
his efforts on improving construction and increasing
profits.
In 2004, Toledo’s Campus Village needed to be
renovated, so Matt’s company was brought in
to do the work on 170 apartments. Campus Village is
a multi-unit campus housing provider based in Rochester
Hills, Michigan. There are ten Campus Village complexes,
including a location near the University of Toledo.
Matt’s father-in-law was managing Campus Village
and the sequence of these events opened up an opportunity
for Matt to return to his campus housing roots and
he went to work for Campus Village in facilities management.
A year later, he was promoted to Director of Facilities
and Maintenance for all ten of Campus Village’s
locations. Two and one-half years ago, Matt was promoted
to the Vice President of Operations.
As Matt rose within Campus Village’s management
ranks, he began thinking more ways to solidify his
family’s future, one that new included a wife
and young child. “Although I was happy in my
work relationships and trusted the people I worked
for, I never wanted to put my family’s future
in one basket. I wanted to make sure I had an out
in case of the worst case scenario.” Matt figured
the best way to do that was to own his own business
and so in April 2004, Matt purchased his first laundromat
on Reynolds Road in South Toledo. Eventually, he would
purchase two more laundromats, one in Oregon, Ohio
and another in Michigan. While the machines do all
of the work, there’s more to laundromats than
just collecting the quarters at the end of the day.
“People think owning a laundromat is a great
side project and doesn’t take a lot management,
but that idea is completely wrong. My wife and I thought
we could cut checks once a week and make deposits
twice a week. However, staffing is quite a challenge
and turnover can be an issue…it’s not
been a bad experience, but it has been a learning
experience.”
Managing utility costs is very important to the laundry
operator. However, instead of just raising the cost
of service, Matt concentrates on finding more customers
to offset the increasing utility costs. While he hasn’t
had to raise the cost of doing laundry, he knows that
the increasing costs might force him and other laundry
operators to do so in the future.
While laundry services are offered onsite, Matt has
contracted with an area dry-cleaner, to pick up customers’
dry cleaning and deliver the serviced items back to
the Laundromat. It is an opportunity for Matt to offer
his customers a value-added service at a very attractive
price.
Matt’s wife, Kristie and extended family are
involved in the Laundromat business with him. He and
his wife have two children, Dillian five-years old
and Jackson five-months old. They also had another
child born between those two Tylor. When Tyler was
seven days old, Matt and his wife noticed substantial
bruising in the child’s midsection. The next
72 hours were filled with hospital transfers, testing
and heart-wrenching fear. Sadly, the Rasors lost their
baby, ten days after birth to brain cancer.
Matt depended on his faith to get him through such
a devastating loss. “I’ve been in church
as long as I can remember,” smiles Matt. “I
remember crawling under the pews in the Presbyterian
church and getting in trouble…Family and friends
have been vital and our faith has been tremendous.
I have had a good relationship with my family, but
sometimes, tragedy brings people even closer together.”
At the beginning, owning a laundromat started out
as a way to make sure that Matt and his wife could
provide a college education for their children. Now,
Matt realizes that owning those businesses provide
him with an opportunity to make an impact in so many
other ways.
“I look at our laundromats not just to do something
for the next generation form my family, but also I
want to create a positive environment for my staff
and my customers…do offer something nice for
my employees from time to time. We try to incorporate
those things when and where I can.” Reynolds
Laundromat
521 N. Reynolds Road
Toledo, Ohio 43615
419.531.4720
Website: www.reynoldslaundry.com
Duds ‘n’
Suds
3251 Navarre Avenue
Oregon, Ohio 43616
419.691.5652
Website: www.dudsnsudsonline.com
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