AmeriPride takes a bite out of grime

One of the top five uniform and linen service companies in the United States and Canada got its start in Nebraska 120 years ago, and it still is owned and managed by the family that founded it.

Now based in Minnetonka, Minn., AmeriPride Services has grown from when high-school student George A. Steiner delivered towels for a Lincoln laundry to a company that makes millions annually by cleaning and providing uniforms, table linens, mops, gloves, hairnets, caps, soaps, hand towels and aprons.

AmeriPride serves more than 150,000 customers in restaurants, factories, hospitals, laboratories and even car repair shops.

Its 6,200 employees work in more than 150 laundry and distribution facilities. A separate U.S. division formerly made uniforms, but over the last 30 years most of that work has been outsourced to overseas firms.

AmeriPride's plant in Omaha at 7515 D St. along Interstate 80 employs about 100 people and serves Omaha, Lincoln, Des Moines, Sioux City, Iowa, and surrounding areas.

Company trucks deliver the items straight to the businesses' doors, including Roberts Dairy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and the Brother Sebastian's and French Café restaurants.

Terry Reeg, plant supervisor at Roberts Dairy in Omaha, said AmeriPride provides more than 200 uniforms and cleans them each week for factory and distribution workers in Lincoln, West Point, Neb., Omaha and Salina, Kan.

The service is good, Reeg said.

“You get a blip once in a while, and they are right on it,” he said.

Mike Shearer, AmeriPride area sales manager in Omaha, said the company values its employees and its customers.

“We have several people here in Omaha who have worked for the company for over 20 years — including one employee whose grandmother and mother and father worked here. It's a unique environment to work in, to be sure, especially these days.”

Shearer said the company is quick to innovate to help its customers, including placing radio frequency chips in garments to track inventory.

Andrew Steiner, 31, said he is the fourth generation of Steiner owner-managers. He is in charge of the company's service and catalog divisions and hopes in time to run the firm.

“I would very much enjoy that,” said Steiner, whose uncle, Bruce Steiner, retired last year as president and CEO.

Bruce Steiner turned over operation of the company to Bill Evans, marking the first time a Steiner wasn't at the helm of AmeriPride.

“With the right experience and hopefully the right aptitude for performing well, I would be offered that opportunity in the future,” Andrew Steiner said.

George A. Steiner founded AmeriPride as American Linen Supply Co. in 1889, purchasing the local laundry after working there helped get him through high school.

Steiner formed a partnership with his brother, Frank, and they delivered goods by pushing a green and white handcart through the city. Soon, the handcart was replaced by a horse-drawn wagon and the business was off and running.

By the late 1890s, the company had branched into Salt Lake City and Minneapolis and members of the Steiner families moved to those cities, Andrew Steiner said.

George Steiner had honeymooned in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in 1925 established a branch in that Canadian city.

In the late 1950s, the company split in two, with one half taking the name Alsco in Salt Lake City and continuing to be run by cousins of the AmeriPride owners, Andrew Steiner said.

AmeriPride doesn't release financial information, but Andrew Steiner said it is No. 5 in the industry, behind G&K Services of Minnetonka, Minn., which had $936 million in revenue last year.

The top uniform and linen services company in North America is Cintas, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with annual sales of $3.8 billion.

Contact the writer:

444-1117, joe.ruff@owh.com