Tide rolls out dry cleaners

Procter & Gamble Co. is no longer content just to sell detergent to wash your clothes - it wants to dry clean them, too.

The world's largest consumer-products company plans to roll out franchised Tide Dry Cleaners across the U.S. The strategy could be a hit, says one franchising veteran.

Andrew Cherng, founder of Panda Restaurant Group Inc., which operates Panda Express Chinese fast-food outlets in malls around the country, says he plans to open about 150 Tide-branded dry cleaners over the next four years.

Cincinnati-based P&G wants to put its brands to work selling services as a way of boosting U.S. revenue and increasing awareness around Tide and its other products. Three years ago the company launched Mr. Clean Car Wash; nine franchisees are now in business. In 2008, P&G opened three test Tide dry cleaners in Kansas City. Having fine-tuned the concept, the company is now going national.

P&G is moving into services "that are virtually unbranded," said Michael Stone, head of The Beanstalk Group, a New York-based brand-consulting firm. "One would think consumers would trust a Tide Dry Cleaners because they know P&G is behind it," he said.

The Tide and Mr. Clean concepts sprang from P&G's FutureWorks unit, which identifies and develops new businesses. Nathan Estruth, who runs the division, said his staff must get "comfortable with ambiguity" and accept that most projects "get shut down."

P&G executives say not just any brand can be hitched to a service. They look for a fragmented market where consumer expectations aren't high. Companyresearch showed that both cleaners and car washes fit the bill.

P&G lacked franchising experience so it broke its decades- old practice of promoting from within and recruited William Van Epps, who had managed franchising at PepsiCo Inc..

Van Epps's team put a premium on consumer convenience. Each dry cleaner features a double-lane drive-through and lockers accessible for after-hours pickup.

Opening a Tide dry cleaner costs a franchisee about $950,000; a Mr. Clean Car Wash up to $5 million.