The Folde

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The Folde Eliminates Labor Constraints and Achieves Sustainable Growth With On-Demand Labor

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“Veryable allowed us to take the governor off our marketing because we knew we could fill demand as it came in,”

Mark Vlaskamp - Managing Partner & CEO

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Background

In the highly competitive laundry industry, maximizing equipment utilization and managing demand volatility is critical to profitability. The Folde, a laundry delivery service in Austin, TX, had been operating for five years and wanted to continue growing, but consistently had to turn down orders due to labor constraints. In fact, they had to turn off successful marketing campaigns because they couldn’t fulfill any additional orders. The owners and managers were already folding clothes until 3am some nights to keep up. This led to burnout and retention issues among both employees and management.

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Despite their best efforts, labor constraints limited The Folde’s capacity to retain customers and expand. Their machines were running nearly around the clock—22 to 24 hours daily—to keep up with demand, and the need for continuous folding by dedicated workers was critical.

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Seasonality further complicated operations; during the school year, demand surged as parents sought help with laundry, while summers typically saw a slowdown unless the company secured high-volume clients like hotels. This start-and-stop demand cycle, combined with the necessity of full machine utilization, resulted in burnout among managers and key employees, creating a significant obstacle to sustainable growth and cost efficiency.

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Maximizing Throughput and Scalability

Recognizing the need for a more agile and scalable solution, The Folde turned to Veryable. After collaborating with the Veryable team to develop an implementation plan, they began utilizing Veryable operators for routine, straightforward tasks such as folding laundry. This allowed full-time employees to focus on more complex duties. Over the course of a few weeks, the Folde built a pool of trusted on-demand workers, enabling them to bring back familiar workers as needed, which further enhanced consistency and quality. This approach provided significant operational flexibility; managers could now wait until midday or late afternoon to assess real-time order volumes and adjust headcount accordingly.

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As Mark Vlaskamp, Managing Partner and CEO, explains, “On a typical day, we know around 8 a.m. how many orders are coming in, but we don’t know the full scope until about 3 p.m. and Veryable gave us the ability to wait until the last minute to decide how much labor we need.”

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The Folde also employed a pairing strategy, integrating on-demand workers with full-time staff to facilitate training and uphold quality standards. Vlaskamp describes this process: “Our first step was pairing a Veryable worker with one of our full-time employees to act as a bar back to the bartender. The Veryable workers handled the easier parts of the laundry, while our full-time team worked on more complex items. Over time, they learned how to fold the more intricate pieces, increasing overall throughput.”

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During slower summer months, when residential demand declined, the company shifted focus towards larger commercial accounts such as hotels and Airbnb management. The flexibility afforded by Veryable allowed The Folde to pursue these bigger clients without overburdening full-time staff with late-night shifts, significantly reducing burnout and boosting morale. Vlaskamp notes, “Whereas one employee can typically handle one residential order, it might take ten employees to manage a large hotel order. Veryable enabled us to pursue these bigger accounts and fully utilize our capacity, filling all slack with just a few clicks to bring in additional help when needed.”

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Vlaskamp also praises the platform's rating and review system, which has helped the team confidently select reliable workers who are ready to perform from day one. “It's like fantasy football,” he says. “Our managers can sort and see stats and performance metrics to pick the best ‘players’ for each shift.”

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Reaching New Levels of Efficiency and Profitability

In summary, The Folde’s strategic adoption of Veryable has proven to be a game-changer in overcoming operational constraints, managing seasonal fluctuations, and fueling sustainable growth.

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In just two months, the Folde achieved the following:

• Improved gross margin per order by 36%

• Improved net revenue per order by 13%

• Increased gross revenue by 15%

• Eliminated all overtime costs

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‍In just six months using Veryable, the Folde achieved the following:

• Increased gross margin per order by 93%

• Increased net revenue per order by 44%

• Increased gross revenue by 59%

• Kept overtime costs at 0 (New company commitment to full-time employees)

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Given these results, The Folde leadership team has recommended Veryable to countless other local businesses and suppliers they work with. "Everybody's dealing with labor issues these days, and we found with some of the third parties we work with, they were delayed on our service because they didn't have staff. So everywhere we can recommend Veryable we have. We've seen those third parties' performance improved because they now have enough labor and bodies to help out fill our orders. So not only are we using it in-house with our staff, but some of the outsourcing we do and some of the partners we have are using it now as well."