By Timothy Oommen, Owner — Laundini Laundromat | laundinilaundromat.com
I want to tell you what’s coming.
Not in the vague, corporate “exciting things ahead” way. In the specific, here-is-what-I-am-actually-working-on way that I’ve tried to maintain throughout this blog. You’ve been reading the real version of this story. You deserve the real version of what comes next.
Some of this is confirmed. Some of it is in progress. Some of it is the direction I’m moving in without a final answer yet. I’ll tell you which is which.
The South Shore Location Gets the Attention It Deserves
Status: In progress. Non-negotiable.
Spin Dry Laundromat on 75th Street in South Shore is a commitment I’ve made to a neighborhood that deserves better laundry infrastructure than it currently has. I’ve been honest in this blog about the fact that the South Side operation has presented challenges I’m still working through. I’m not done working through them.
Year two is the year South Shore gets the same level of operational attention that Evanston has. Same standards, same machine maintenance, same cleanliness, same care. The pickup and delivery coverage that serves the North Side and suburbs needs to serve the South Side properly too.
The South Shore community will not be an afterthought. It will be a priority.
The University Discount Program Expands
Status: Confirmed direction, timeline in progress.
The Northwestern student and staff discount — $1.00/lb, first pickup free, no minimum, preferences saved on file — exists because I went to UIC and I know what it means to be a student managing a full life on a limited budget.
Northwestern was first because our Evanston location is positioned perfectly to serve it. The capacity is there. The logistics work.
UChicago, DePaul, Loyola, and UIC are next. Each one comes online as we build the capacity at the right location to serve that school’s community properly. I’m not going to promise a date I can’t keep. What I will promise is that it’s coming and that students at every major Chicago university will eventually have a laundry discount that makes the service genuinely accessible.
If you’re at one of those schools and you want to be notified the moment your university goes live — email info@laundinilaundromat.com with your school name in the subject line. We’ll reach out the moment it’s ready.
The Senior Living Partnership
Status: In active development.
The 140-bed subsidized senior living facility directly across the street from our Evanston location is the most obvious community partnership opportunity I’ve ever seen. I’ve written about it in detail elsewhere on this blog.
The conversations are happening. The goal is a discounted, scheduled, human-first laundry service for residents who need it — heavy fragrance-free defaults, standing weekly pickups, a real phone number that reaches a real person, no app required.
This will happen. The question is when and in what exact form. I expect to have an announcement before the end of the year.
100 Free Loads — And More After That
Status: Committed. In motion.
The pledge is real. 100 free loads of laundry for people in Cook County who need it and cannot afford it, delivered through partnerships with shelters, transitional housing programs, and social service organizations.
The organizations are being identified. The logistics are being worked out. The commitment doesn’t change.
When we hit 100 loads I’ll write about it in detail — who it helped, what we learned, what the next number is. Because 100 is the starting point, not the destination.
The Team Grows
Status: Actively hiring.
We are looking for a General Manager — someone who wakes up in the morning genuinely wanting to run the day-to-day operations of a multi-location laundry service. Pragmatic, calm under pressure, good with people, experienced with the kind of chaos that comes with older equipment and high-volume operations.
Natalia is building the social media presence that Laundini has needed since the beginning. Farhan is bringing operational structure to the parts of the business that needed it. Sonu continues to be the person who answers messages at 11:47pm on a Sunday and somehow has ideas at the same time.
The team that exists now is better than the team that existed six months ago. The team that exists six months from now will be better than the one that exists today. That is the direction.
The Website and App Get Smarter
Status: In development.
The booking experience at laundinilaundromat.com works. It books orders. But I know it can do more — saved preferences surfaced more prominently, easier recurring plan management, better communication throughout the order cycle so customers always know exactly where their laundry is and when it’s coming back.
I built the first version of the digital infrastructure myself, the same way I built the BiteBring platform. The second version will be better. It’s being worked on now.
Commercial Laundry Grows
Status: Actively pursuing.
Tony’s five bars were a proof of concept. A business owner with multiple locations, a real operational laundry need, and a previous service that wasn’t fully solving the problem. We solved it.
There are more Tonys in Cook County. Restaurants, bars, hotels, Airbnb operators, gyms, spas — anywhere that generates commercial-grade laundry volume and needs a service that picks up from every location, delivers back on schedule, and treats the laundry with the process it actually requires.
If you run one of those businesses and you’re reading this — email info@laundinilaundromat.com. I’ll come see your operation. For research purposes, of course.
The Blog Keeps Going
Status: You’re reading it.
This blog started as a content strategy. It became something I genuinely look forward to writing — or rather, something I look forward to having conversations that turn into writing, with the help of someone who makes the words do what I want them to do.
Fifty-four posts in and I feel like we’re just getting started. The origin story is told. The how-it-works is documented. The standards are published. The community commitments are out there.
What comes next is the ongoing story — the South Shore progress, the university expansion, the partnerships, the team, the problems that will arrive before breakfast and get solved before dinner. All of it, told honestly, the way this blog has tried to tell everything.
You’re not just reading marketing. You’re watching a business get built in real time by someone who is figuring it out as he goes and refuses to pretend otherwise.
That’s not going to change.
A Note to Everyone Who Has Read This Far
If you’ve been reading this blog from the beginning — thank you. You know more about Laundini, about how it works, about why it exists, and about the person behind it than most customers know about most businesses they use.
That’s intentional. I believe that transparency builds the kind of loyalty that advertising can’t buy. Not because transparency is a strategy — though it is effective — but because it’s the only way I know how to operate.
You’ve watched me describe the overnight Subway shifts, the BiteBring hustle, the restaurant sold at a loss, the laundromat buildout that almost broke me financially and physically, the contractors, the 60-pound machine installed wrong twice, the aggressive customers, the gas money days.
And now you’re reading about what comes next. Because there is a next. Because the ship is still sailing. Because the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is real and I intend to get there.
Year two starts now.
Book your pickup at laundinilaundromat.com. All of Cook County, $1.50/lb, free delivery, 24-hour turnaround. If you want to be part of what’s coming — university discount notification, community partnership inquiry, commercial laundry conversation, or just your first pickup — we’re here. Email info@laundinilaundromat.com. Sonu will answer before you expect it.
Timothy Oommen is the founder and owner of Laundini Laundromat, with locations in Evanston, Bucktown, Skokie, Wheeling, and South Shore, Chicago.