March 2014
| Business World Magazine | 137
Going forward, expansion is the buzz-
word – both in terms of capability, and ge-
ography. HLS is considering imminent in-
vestment in a garment-sorting system that
would incorporate RFID (radio frequency
identification) chip technology, an improve-
ment Romeo says would be “very robust”
and intended to encompass all of the com-
pany’s OR scrubs and uniform operations.
Its ongoing mission, he says, is “to con-
tinue to be known as the premier laundry in
North America” while continuing to focus
on customer service and quality to grow the
business – an objective that includes a desire
to be recognized as a “one-stop shop” for ex-
isting and new customers.
And if that means crossing the interna-
tional border into the U.S., Romeo says, so
be it.
“There is opportunity,” he says. “We have
a unique geographic location. Ogdensburg
(N.Y.) is 45 minutes away and Watertown
(N.Y.) is about two or three hours. There’s
definitely an opportunity, but obviously the
concern is one of time. There’s only so much
time to be focused on certain markets, but
it’s definitely one that raises possibilities.
“It’s something that we haven’t ruled out
and it’s an area that we may go into in the
future.”
