84 | Business World Magazine |
January 2014
ship goes back to day one for AmeriPride,
as well.
All the way back, in fact, to 1889.
STARTING A FAMILY
Founder George Steiner got his start while
working his way through school deliver-
ing towels for a local laundry in Lincoln,
Neb. He ultimately purchased the com-
pany for the then-princely sum of $50,
and, when he and his brother, Frank, part-
ed ways and moved to Minneapolis and
Salt Lake City, respectively, each opened
a branch of the company – then known
as American Linen Supply – in his new
home.
Expansion into Canada as Canadian
Linen and Uniform came in Vancou-
ver in 1925, and, 23 years later in 1948,
the international entity that had grown
to 19 branches was consolidated into a
single integrated corporation. A rebrand-
ing effort in 2000 changed the corporate
name to AmeriPride and Evans was later
brought in as the first non-family CEO.
“I give former CEO Bruce Steiner and
the family leadership tremendous credit
for recognizing that some changes need-
ed to be made in order to sustain,” Evans
says. “The company was growing, but it
