Laundry King – End-to-end app ecosystem for business expansion
Digitising laundry services through multi-interface laundry management system for mobile, web, and staff.
About Laundry King
Laundry King is a small but successful business operating three laundromats in Brooklyn. Known for their attention to customer preferences and high-quality service, they handle everything from everyday washing to delicate dry cleaning. Until recently, their customer base was limited to local foot traffic. With ambitions to grow, Laundry King sought a solution to upgrade their service and reach a wider audience, without compromising the hands-on, personalised experience they were known for.
Expertise
Scope
Vertical
Challenge
Laundry King wanted to grow beyond its neighbourhood clientele but was limited by its walk-in-only model. They needed a way to offer their detailed, preference-based service through a mobile app—without losing the personal touch.
Solution
Altamira developed a mobile app for iOS and Android, along with an employee interface and admin panel. The platform allowed customers to place orders, set laundry preferences, schedule pick-up and delivery, and track orders in real time.
Results
4.5 rating in the App Store.
1600 active users (and the number is growing each month).
The app recouped its costs in less than 6 months.
01 The Challenge
At its core, Laundry King had a clear vision: turn the dependable, detailed in-store experience into something customers could access from their phones. No compromises, no shortcuts — just the same trusted service, now digitized and ready for expansion.
But that wasn’t a simple task.
The offline flow was packed with nuance. Staff had to inspect every item, decide whether it needed to go to an off-site location, flag stains that might not come out, and talk customers through their options. Should their clothes be washed separately? Any detergent allergies? Should items be hung or folded? Each decision affected price, processing, and logistics.
The business also had limited reach. Without delivery, their client base was mostly walk-ins — people who lived nearby or were willing to make the trip. To grow, Laundry King needed a digital product that did more than take orders. It had to replicate — and even improve — the way they worked.
Together, we broke the challenge into three goals:
- Let people place and track laundry orders via mobile
- Expand reach with delivery and pick-up scheduling
- Keep all the custom, customer-specific details that made the service personal
From day one, the Laundry King team stayed engaged in the process by mapping out workflows, identifying edge cases, and walking us through every customer conversation they’d had a hundred times before.
The project went through six main design stages.
| Stage | Processes |
|---|---|
| Discover | Stakeholder interview
Competitors analysis Secondary research |
| Emphasize | Personas
Surveys In-depth interviews |
| Define | Problems to solve
Hypotheses |
| Ideate | Brainstorming
Prioritizing solutions Dot voting |
| Prototyping & design | User flow
Information architecture Wireframing Design |
| User testing | Writing scenarios
Usability testing |
They knew their service inside and out. Our job was to make sure that expertise translated into every tap, swipe, and screen of the new app.
02 The Solution
Altamira built a full suite of tools to bring Laundry King’s service online — without losing its soul.
Customer Mobile App (iOS & Android)
We created a mobile experience where anyone could recreate the in-store order process in minutes:
- Sign up and profile setup
Customers could register, save their address, and store laundry preferences — from detergent brand to softener type, drying temperature, folding preferences, and allergy warnings.
- Order creation
Placing an order felt natural: pick your service (laundry, dry cleaning), set a pick-up and delivery time, and let the app handle the rest. Before confirming, customers could double-check preferences, write special notes, or choose where to leave their laundry (curb side, lobby, front door).
- Real-time updates
Push notifications kept users informed at every step: picked up, processing, ready, out for delivery.
- In-app payments
No need to dig out a credit card. Payments were fast, secure, and handled directly through the app.
- Feedback and referral system
Users could rate their experience and refer friends for discounts — a small touch that helped fuel organic growth.
Employee app interface
We also built a dedicated employee-facing app, allowing Laundry King staff to:
- View incoming orders
- Check special instructions
- Tag items by client
- Track which orders required off-site handling
- Update order status throughout the process
This brought structure and visibility to a process that previously relied on clipboards and memory.
Admin web panel
To keep everything running smoothly, we created a web-based admin dashboard where Laundry King’s managers could:
- Monitor all customer orders and employee activity
- Adjust pricing based on service, preferences, or delivery zones
- Set and update working hours and service areas
- Review performance and customer feedback
It gave the team control over the entire operation, with data to back decisions and the flexibility to grow.
03 The Result
What started as a local business rooted in foot traffic is now a modern service with city-wide reach — all without losing what made Laundry King special.
New customers
With pick-up and delivery enabled, the app opened Laundry King’s doors to all of Brooklyn. People who had never set foot in the laundromat could now use the service and quickly became repeat customers.
More orders
Mobile access made it easier for customers to send in clothes on their own schedule. Many started using the service weekly. The stored preferences meant reordering took less than a minute.
Smooth internal operations
Laundry King’s team processed orders faster and with fewer mistakes. The employee app streamlined workflows, and the admin dashboard gave the owner a full picture of the business, anytime.
Better experience for everyone
Customers liked the convenience and appreciated the control. The ability to set detergent preferences, avoid allergens, or request clothes to be folded a certain way made the app feel like more than a transaction. It felt personal.
By translating real-world processes into intuitive features, our team helped Laundry King keep up with trends and even lead with them. The app became more than a digital tool, but an extension of the company’s core service promise: clean clothes, done your way, on your schedule.
