“Next year we want to strengthen the business and we plan to invest EUR1 million in a tunnel washer, some equipment that will triple the washing capacity of the industrial division. Hotels and hospitals now generate 60% of the business,” owner Ion Darie Grigorescu told ZF.
Eco Clean is held by entrepreneurs Ion Darie Grigorescu (50%) and Adrian Gheorghe Radulescu (50%). The company ended last year with RON22.2 million revenue, up from RON15.5 million the previous year, according to public data.
Public data show that in 2022 the company had 145 employees, compared with 130 employees the previous year and a profit of RON333,000 compared with RON3.4 million the year before, according to mfinante.ro.
“We have now reached 160 employees, of which 25 are Nepalese. For nine months we have been waiting for another 20 employees to come from Nepal, but it takes a long time for the formalities to get the company into the country.”
Ion Darie Grigorescu is an economist by profession and in 2000 he set up his first laundry with $50,000. He opened most of his laundries in shopping centers such as Promenada, Veranda, AFI Cotroceni.
The investment in a laundry amounts to 300,000 euros.
“We are experiencing a delay and even lack of payments from public hospitals at the end of the year but we are also seeing a decrease in purchasing power among individuals. Since the fall demand has decreased but the average individual customers’ bill has decreased, as well.”
He says that although he budgeted for 10% growth in business in 2024 he sees a tough year ahead amid the reduction in purchasing power and the government’s tax measures for businesses.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)