The plant, which processes and cleans linen such as towels, sheets and other fabric used for hotels and the rest of the hospitality industry, was commissioned on October 1 at Trincity Industrial Estate, Macoya. Renee Zamore, managing director at the company's launch last Thursday at the Hilton Trinidad hotel, St Ann's, said this new company is the sister company of Chem Clean Ltd.
It was inevitable that we go one step further and go directly into the laundry business, catering for the hotel and hospitality industry." Zamore said this is something they have been working on for several years, but "officially" started getting it off the ground about nine months ago. "We started to run the first set of sheets and linen recently. We measure in poundage, so basically, as the linen comes in, we weigh it in poundage. We are starting off doing about 3,000 pounds a day. Right now, we have about 10 employees."
New business in a slow economy
One of the main challenges Top of the Line faced was getting started in the middle of the current economic downturn. "In the middle of this downturn, we will have to work that much harder to get the business up. We did consider the downturn in the economy, but we thought it would put us in a position where we would be ready when the economy is up. "With the recession biting into T&T, there was those who kept telling us the time was not right for such an investment. They said to wait until the economy picks up." She said they were able to source a loan from DFL Caribbean Ltd and Republic Bank. "The actual physical structure of the plant was there. The machinery and refurbishment of the plant cost $7 million. We took about nine months to actually set everything up."
Tourism, hospitality industries
She believes the tourism industry in T&T needs a service like theirs to enhance the quality. "This project was conceived five years ago when we approached the leading hotels with our business plan. We noted the downturn in the world economy in late 2008 to 2009 and the sudden drop on tourist travel world wide and its crippling impact on T&T. "We noticed that our hotels were not meeting the standards of the new world order and sought better quality of services. The two conferences in 2009 showed the glaring needs for first-class hotels."
Given the external factors, she believes that Top of the Line is well poised to contribute to the sector. "We realised the time was right to move ahead with our project by providing a first-class linen service to the hotel industry. This will boost their standards and add further value to this sector. "We took all these into consideration as well as the availability of materials, labour and, to some extent, financing, and we proceeded."
More help needed for SMEs
She asked the Trade Minister Stephen Cadiz, who was present at the company launch, to facilitate the needs of SME sector to help prevent problems. "We made an application for a gas line and the National Gas Company (NGC) advised us until February next year 2011 that we would be able to get a connection to a gas line that is 40 metres away from our gas plant. Something must be done with respect to these monopoly industries. We incurred considerable expense in having to install a liquid propane facility in the intervening period."
She pointed to other problems that also inhibit business activity. "Then there's the delays of VAT refunds, which continue to choke the cash flow, particularly towards the end of projects when funds are running low. Then there's the perennial problem on the docks/port creating delays in clearing shipments." Despite these challenges, Zamore remains optimistic about the economy improving and business taking off. "We are confident that as the economy improves, business will get better."