FabricareCanadaJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 – VOL. 57, NO. 1

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2013 Canadian Associations Guide

Passion Worth Passing OnPassion Worth Passing On2013 Canadian Associations Guide

In 1994, Tony Lo Scerbo’s daughter Lisa, 19 at the time and a part-time employee at his dry cleaning store,asked her dad if he’d one day consider selling her the family business. He gave her some solid advice, and itdidn’t fall on deaf ears.

IT JUST KIND OF GROWS ON YOULisa began her career as a Best Care kid before she could even walk, and once she finally mastered that, shesettled into the daily routine of toddling around the call office, pretend-waiting on customers. Over theyears, Lisa ventured further into the depths of the dry cleaning plant to watch, mimic and learn from herparents and their staff. By the time she reached her late teens, it became obvious Lisa was falling in love –not only with clothes and the business of keeping clothes clean, but also with a young man from Steinbach, MB.

A PASSION WORTH PASSING ON

8 FABRICARE CANADA January/February 2013

Second generation working smart, working hard, and loving it

“It’s easy to attract customers, but not easy to keep them. That you do with skill and deter-mination, because all the fancy equipment in the world won’t do it for you. You’ve got toknow how to do everything you expect your employees to do. And you can’t be afraid toget your hands dirty.”

– Tony Lo Scerbo, founder, of Best Care Dry Cleaners Limited (1970), Winnipeg, MB.

92013 January/February FABRICARE CANADA

A PERFECT CATCH, A PERFECT MATCHKevin Hiebert ran the servicedepartment at his parents’motorcycle dealership, and ifhe wasn’t assembling Hondasor rounding up parts, he wasspeeding to Winnipeg for adate with the dry cleaner’s

daughter. Unable to resist aguy who was both handsomeand handy, Lisa soon expand-ed her repertoire to focus onduties at home, school andwork, as well as courses at theDry Cleaning & LaundryInstitute in Silver Spring, MD,and on marrying Kevin (notnecessarily in that order). In1998, when the Hiebert fam- ily business was promised tohis o lder brother, Kevinapproached his in-laws andasked to become part of theirbusy Best Care team.Lisa was quick to point out

that because of his keen inter-est in things electronic, herhusband would be especiallyvaluable in programming andmaintaining the plant’s recent-ly installed Point-of-Sale drycleaning computer system.Kevin was hired. Tony andIrene gained an on-site com-puter techie who was eager tolearn how the entire businessfunctioned.

LOOKING BACK AT THE FUTUREBest Care’s history is a humbleone. Tony first operated in

rented premises, where hemanaged every aspect of thebusiness almost single-hand-edly. Irene did the bookwork,banking and payroll. In 1976they purchased an old glovefactory, which they renovated,customized and modernized.It became Best Care’s new

home and Lisa’s eventualtraining ground. It’s a challenge running any

dry cleaning business, but run-ning it in a 100-year-old build-ing and making it a huge suc-cess will put anyone’s patienceand ingenuity to the test. Tonyaced it, using the space andresources available to providehis customers with qualitycleaning for a reasonable price– no bargains, no frills, noexceptions. In 2001, Lisa and Kevin

offered to purchase the busi-ness . They were a lreadyactively involved in its day-to-day operations. They agreedto make monthly paymentsover a five-year period, duringwhich Tony would performequipment maintenance andremain on-call if he was need-ed in any other advisorycapacity. Irene would act asconsultant for accounting,customer service and publicrelations.

THE TRIALS OF TRANSITION“Where’s Tony?” Customerscontinued to seek the familiarface of ‘the owner’. Frustrated,

Cover story by Irene Lo Scerbo

It’s a challenge running any dry

cleaning business, but running it in

a 100-year-old building and making

it a huge success will put anyone’s

patience and ingenuity to the test.

Continued on page 10

OPPOSITE PAGE: Lisa Hiebert, surrounded by the rustle of success. THISPAGE: Top, Tony Lo Scerbo in the early days. Middle, Mom Irene and Lisa.Bottom, Tony spotting a wedding gown in the 1980s.

10 FABRICARE CANADA January/February 2013

but ever smiling, Lisa assuredthem that she and Kevin hadbeen taking care of their needsfor many years behind thescenes, and would continueworking hard to please them. She printed detailed check-

lists so employees could assessthe quality of their own workand improve it when necessary;she taught clerks to bring toher personal attention anyclient requests, special orders,problem garments, or re-dos. Afirst-rate seamstress, she tookover the repair department

with its assortment of commercial sewing machines. Kevin supervised the dry cleaning, laundry and finishing

departments, managed the pick-up and delivery routes and, withTony’s help, kept the machinery in good repair, and prepared theboilers for annual inspection.Hands-on, or not at all became the new owners’ motto. And it

wasn’t long before they earned the trust of even the mostdemanding customers.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PAYOFFThe young entrepreneurs kept a record of what worked andwhat didn’t. In the beginning, their objectives were to preservethe existing client base, grow the business and make paymentson time. So they concentrated on raising their children, satisfyingcustomers and meeting their financial obligations. After Lisa and Kevin made their final payment in 2006 to the

former Mr. and Mrs. Best Care, they began allocating funds forequipment purchases and minor renovations to the premises.Forced to work around the limitations of an old building and askimpy budget, they weighed the pros and cons of each project.Will it fit? Will it speed up our workflow? Can we afford it? Willit be profitable? Tony had asked himself the same questions, and though a pio-

neer for his day, had kept things simple. Kevin pulled out his tapemeasure, sized up the options, and set out to prove that not-so-

simple is good, too. He andLisa attended trade shows andconferences , fami l iar izedthemselves with advancementsin the industry, and formulateda plan: “We’ll use the latesttechnology to our advantage.Everywhere. Eventually.”

AND THEY DIDLisa’s face lights up as shetakes a customer on the ‘BestCare tour’, who ‘oohs’ and‘ahhs’ as together they trackthe progress of his garmentsaround the plant . He’simpressed with the 40- and 60-pound Firbimatic dry cleaningmachines, three new wet clean-ing machines, two new dryers,a tensioning shirt/blouse/jacketfinisher, YAC shirt unit, andvarious steam presses. Hidden from his view are

strategically positioned secur i-ty cameras, which monitorworkstations, offices and theparking lot. In the basement, acustom-designed water-recov-ery system collects and storesspent coolant water from thedry cleaning machines for lateruse in the laundry department.Oblivious to the presence ofthese innovations, Lisa’s clientnonetheless appreciates theresulting increase in efficiencyand the savings reflected on hisdry cleaning bill. When they approach the

new SRS assembly conveyor,Lisa explains the implementa-tion of heat-sealed bar codetags in conjunct ion withupgraded CSI textile manage-ment system software, iAssem-ble , new auto twis t - t iemachine, and the SankoshaAuto Bagger – which she refersto as Kevin’s favourite newemployee . “I t never ca l l s in sick!” They return to the counter

area where Lisa shows the gen-tleman how quickly and effi-ciently her state-of-the-arttracking system can locate andretrieve his completed order.He pays and thanks her for ajob well done. Like her dad, Lisa doesn’t

believe much in formal adver-tising and allows quality tospeak for itself. That’s not tosay she doesn’t promote thebusiness whenever possible.During a recent WinnipegExecutives Association meet-

ing, she illustrated how BestCare has kept the city’s busi-ness community c leaned,pressed and presentable for thelast 43 years: “What sets usapart from our competitors isnot just the fact that we’reexceptionally good at what wedo. It’s more about our will-ingness to deal with matters asthey arise, and we try to do itin a t imely manner. I f weencounter a problem, if one ofyour i tems requires extraattention, or if you have a con-cern about some aspect of ourservice, we make sure you (andyour belongings) are takencare of.”

IT’S IN THE GENESTony has officially retired, yetoften drops by to press hispants or check out Kevin’snewest piece of equipment.Long-time customers greet himheartily and never fail to singthe praises of Lisa, Kevin andtheir conscientious staff. Theyapplaud the couple’s sincerity,honesty and dedication, andrecognize, too, that their ever-increasing commitment to theenvironment will ultimatelyenhance the qual i ty of analready superior dry cleaningproduct. At Best Care, an excellent

reputation is in the safe handsof the next generation. �

Irene Lo Scerbo is a freelance writer,the wife of Tony Lo Scerbo, andproud mother of Lisa Hiebert.

Above, sharp couple, sharp graphics.Lisa and Kevin Hiebert.Left, Lisa adds a professional touchto every order.

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