Acquisitions in the Uniform Industry

In the business world, acquisitions and mergers are a common strategy for growth and development. For many businesses, they work out for the best, while other businesses must default to acquisition to survive. If you’ve been paying attention, you may have noticed a few big mergers and acquisitions within the uniform rental industry. These are good examples of how these deals may or may not work in the business’ favor. For independent, family owned businesses like Gallagher Uniform, there are pros and cons to going through with an acquisition and/or merger. Every business has its own personal reasons, especially for independent businesses, where there are lot of options to weigh.

One concern for independent businesses is that after time, there may not be a future generation to pass the company off to. For the business to survive, its leaders must look toward the next best option, which oftentimes is an acquisition and/or merger. For those businesses – like Gallagher Uniform – that can keep it in the family, there is strong customer loyalty and a commitment to community and a rich family history that keeps them moving forward.

While acquisitions mean one less competitor in the industry, it can also mean a larger foothold for corporations, which can overshadow the customer-service focused, family companies. There are multiple statistics that show family owned businesses continually outperform national companies in customer satisfaction, which is a big reason to keep things independent.

Our dedication to the Battle Creek community is what helps Gallagher Uniform stand out. It allows us to grow our uniform rental business and be more of a big fish in a small pond. We love getting to know our clients on a personal level. As independent uniform and laundry service leaders in the West Michigan and northern Indiana areas, we have an advantage of having not just close personal client relationships, but close regional relationships. Our clients’ communities are also our own communities.

It’s not just our community dedication that has kept us independent, but a desire to do everything the Gallagher way. By remaining independent, we control every aspect of our business. Decision making isn’t the only benefit to staying independent, however. By choosing this route, we honor our deep history and the family members who have passed the business down to us over the many decades.

While there are similarities in how we began to how we operate now, our goal is to be on the cutting edge of our industry. What will never change is the dedication to family, community and customer service, but in terms of our services, we look toward continuous improvement, whether it’s new thinking, new product or staying ahead of industry trends.

Recently, we rolled out our G-Trak mobile app that helps customers track their orders. An offshoot to our online tracking system, the G-Trak app was modified for mobile use. Now, instead of sitting down at a computer or pulling up our website on a phone, our customers can pull out their phone and track their uniform order in seconds. This is just one of the many examples of how we lead the uniform rental industry in innovation, quality and customer service.