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Reflections on a Momentous Year Left Behind and a Momentous Year Begun

Friday January 22, 2021

In some ways, turning the corner on 2020 feels like an accomplishment in itself.

And yet, despite the many difficulties – and the pandemic-related challenges we still face – 2020 was a year of more than perseverance for Roscoe and our customers. There were genuine accomplishments amid efforts that made us all a little stronger going forward.

As a family-owned company that will celebrate 100 years in business later this year, we have decades of perspective to draw upon when it comes to navigating difficult times. Previous generations of our family kept this enterprise going through the Great Depression, a …

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Lights, Camera, Laundry! Roscoe Wins Industry Association Video Contest

Monday January 11, 2021

Roscoe takes first place in the annual TRSA video contest for our virtual tour of our state-of-the-art facility.

Dubbed the ‘Oscars’ of the industry, TRSA’s annual video contest is a lighthearted effort to highlight the important role videos can play in educating customers and prospects. And of course, the pandemic has only heightened the need for such communication. When we undertook our video project in 2019, we could not have imagined a year in which a virtual tour of our plant would be the only type of tour we could give.

And while we’re looking forward to hosting live tours …

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Roscoe President Ends Busy Second Term as Industry Association Chair

Monday November 23, 2020

When Roscoe President Jim Buik began his second two-year term as chairman of the industry association for the linen, uniform and facility services industry in 2018, he could not have imagined the challenges that lay ahead.

Buik’s longstanding advocacy of industry collaboration, modernization, strategic planning and transparency, however, proved well-suited to a term in which the coronavirus pandemic overtook the agenda and left no industry unscathed.

But while many businesses struggled just to minimize the damage, just getting through was never an option for an industry built on principles of hygiene and sanitization in the era of a runaway virus.…

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Sloppy Weather Meets its Mat(ch)

Friday November 13, 2020

Ulti-Mat detail

In Chicago, we don’t need a groundhog to tell us if the weather is about to change. It’s always about to change.

And while we had a bit of a dry spell over the summer, it’s already time to start thinking about that wet, sloppy season known as… well you know what it’s known as.

Not to cast a cloud (ahem) over what is shaping up to be a beautiful fall, but if you run a business, it is time to start planning for sloppy weather.

That means having the right accessories underfoot.

Keep Mud, Sleet, Snow &

…

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A Century of Pride: George C. Buik and the Early Years

Friday October 30, 2020

As we approach our centennial anniversary, our blog series, A Century of Pride, details Roscoe’s (almost) 100 years of colorful history through the recollections of modern family members, some written histories and an irresistible trove of faded note cards, old photos and family lore.

In Roscoe’s early years, founders J.P. “Jack” O’Connell and George C. Buik shared the responsibilities of managing their new laundering business. O’Connell handled the day-to-day operations of the plant while Buik maintained his job as a business agent for the Chicago machinists’ union, assisting O’Connell on the side.

In their free time, the two friends chased …

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