Editor's Note: In a laundry under decoration, we find a thin man who holds a tapeline in hands covered in dust, with his eyes focusing on each construction detail. He is neither like a boss who comes for inspection nor a busy worker, but is more like a respectable scholar than a boss. He is a silent person, who, however, has developed a laundry into 500 branches all over China. He is also a person who is more prone to challenge himself, and it is just his pursuit that builds a brand.

Interviewer: You don’t look like a businessman, could you talk about your understanding to service industry?

Mr. Bai: I was major in oil painting in Academy of Fine Arts, but I have never taken up painting brushes since graduation. I began my business career from a restaurant with my belief on painting, which has been operated for forty-three years and until now the annual turnover has been increasing continuously. There are 1,200 kinds of different French wines collected in the bodega of the restaurant, which had ever achieved the certificate of merit of the best wine list awarded by France Agricultural Products External Trade Development Corporation. It was the first time that the Corporation awarded the honor to a foreign restaurant. The restaurant was appraised as the best foreign restaurant last year by two magazines with largest circulation in Belgium. And then I went for laundry and enjoy it so much all the time, which seems so inconceivable when I think of it…
I always feel lucky for choosing a subject in art. On the way of pursuing perfectness, you need to create constantly and your life will then never be blank. Every time when the inspiration comes, the passion will burst from your inner heart, which is such a fantastic feeling. Under the situation, you will really forget food and sleep, and all the things in your mind are the career you indulge in.
In a long period, whenever I arrived in a city, the first thing appeared in my sight must be a laundry. Nothing will be missed from my eyes even just a clothes-receiving store in small scale. In a remote small village in Germany, a famous textile research center is located, which is also a research organization to formulate textile standards and became a new museum to me, if time and chance permit, I would go there to have a look.
The career for over forty years on service industry makes me understand a simple truth that if you carefully do business for meeting customers’ demands every day, your business will stand the test of time and thus retaining customers for ever.

Interviewer: How did you begin your business with laundry?

Mr. Bai: Regarding the Fornet project, it was due to an accidental experience ten years ago. One day, we entertained a director from Beijing Winery Plant in a cafe of Paris, and the guest spilt a whole cup of coffee on his body by accident. When everybody is embarrassed and didn’t know what to do, the waiter helped us out. He said there was a laundry next to the cafe which can wash the cloth quickly. Less than one hour later, the well-ironed suit was sent back to the guest’s hands. From the surprising eyes of the guest, we can’t help thinking: “why not bring this kind of laundry into China?” Through the investigation for more than one year, I had found that the domestic clothing industry has been very developed. There were many kinds of clothes of foreign brands in shopping mall, but the laundry industry didn’t much keep pace with the whole clothing industry. Walking on street, most people can see is small laundry house just equipped with a simple ironing table. The great disparity between the laundry in China and foreign countries firms our confidence and decision in investing on the project. However, anyone of us hadn’t dealt with laundry. As the common saying goes, "an interlacing as foster ", so it is difficult to bring the mode completely into China.
Luckily, we met with Mr. ALAIN LEBOULANGER who had done business in washing and dyeing in France for thirty years. Mr. ALAIN LEBOULANGER knew laundry equipments inside out that had provided the new requirements of the novel washing mode in France on equipment to manufacturers continuously and the manufacturers from Italy who would like to accept these suggestions gradually dominated the global market of washing machine through continuous improvement. Mr. ALAIN LEBOULANGER was also one of the persons who found and promoted the cold-board ironing table technology that widely adopted by the laundry in Europe.

Interviewer: Why didn’t you consider joining in an existing brand then, but choosing to create a brand of your own?

Mr. Bai: Originally, we wanted to purchase a franchising brand and directly bring it into China. However, through in-depth market research, it is found that the laundries in France have been using the laundry mode of “store prior to factory, quick clothes taking, simple pricing and paying in advance” for nearly 30 years. The washing and dyeing training system in France had been developed very perfectly, and most part of staff training all relied on the vocational college in France and training school opened by the France Washing and Dyeing Association. Seven or eight famous brands had no training bases of their own, and the design of their stores was not what I like. Under the suggestions of Mr. ALAIN LEBOULANGER, we decided to integrate the advantages of these brands to establish our own laundry in China-the laundry mode of “store prior to factory” and the “quick and automatic clothes-taking” system.
He named the laundry with “FORNET” which means ‘very clean’ in French, which was used to register a company in Paris, and then the issue on preparing the business of setting up stores as a joint venture with North Portugal was started. At the same time, he also applied to provide the opportunity of receiving whole-process training in the original Washing and Dyeing Association in Paris to three employees of North Portugal. Mr. ALAIN LEBOULANGER also recommended a young man who had grew up in laundry from childhood-------Mr. FABIEN LAFOURCADE. With his guidance, we started to translate and edit various teaching materials about the work flow in laundry and planned to assign him to direct the work in laundry in China.
In the following days, Mr. ALAIN LEBOULANGER led us to visit laundries of different brands one and another, and adsorbed and digested all the details in running the laundry. We went to all the equipment manufacturers in Italy, visited and observed, and discussed with the suppliers of each equipment and accessory. During the laundry design, I found the feel of drawing again. In order to find the color which can reflect the cleanness and brightness of the laundry as well as choose and buy the decorating materials which can keep the environment of the laundry clean and tidy, all the things, from an unregarded stainless doorknob to a rivet for hanging the Notes to Customers, had became my excitements.
The opening of Fornet Laundry in Xidan was very different from other laundries in Beijing at that time. A lot of people stopped to watch, which is still like a scene whenever I recall. The novel and fashionable service also attracted the sight of Medias and the professions. The success of laundry in Xidan laid a better foundation to the development of Fornet in China, but in the following years, Fornet has gone a lot of hardships. Facing to the large investment and the long-term higher salary of two French employees, the earliest initiator of the project couldn’t stand the long-term waiting for return of the investment and left us. Under the continuous deficit situation in earlier stage of the company, I had to add on investment for times to save the project and thus began to take the position of the president, which I didn’t like at all originally. Until now, giving a speech to the franchisees every year is still one of my least favorite things. But thankfully, we gathered a group of friends with same interests and never lost confidence on the project in those tough days.

Interviewer: It is really hard to strengthen and expand a newborn brand in a few short years, how can you make it?

Mr. Bai: In 1998, we were lucky to meet a person who can lead a team to walk to a set goal in an orderly way. That is Ms. Zhu Liyun, the present CEO of Fornet Company. She is the MBA graduate of Peking University. Led by Ms. Zhu Lijun, the company also started new trek in franchising field. Although the operation and development of European Franchise had been well developed, the relevant materials in the French profession were very poor, which is caused by the strong automaticity of French staff and storekeeper who wouldn’t far deviate from the track of franchising. While in China, there was still a large gap on the environment of laws with Europe, and the development of franchising is still in its infancy in China, so we can only start the business from basics bit by bit.

Interviewer: Besides a professional work team, the franchisee is also a key factor for building a franchising brand, so how do you make hundreds of franchisees keep unanimous on behavior and concept?

Mr. Bai: In recent years, we had got some achievements in domestic franchising field and were respected by the profession in Europe. I think it mainly lies in the clearer thought of Fornet on interest choice, standardization force and attention on training. There are many people who want to invest on this project, and the franchising is always compared to commercial marriage, which means that just the talented people with same interests are likely to cooperate with each other and if their opinions can not reach consensus, the result also won’t be good. Therefore, we will be careful to choose our franchisees. There are many investors with strong personality, and their thought on operation sometimes is much different with the Fornet’s. Several years ago, a powerful investors found us and hoped to be the regional franchisee of the project in a provincial capital, but after deep communication with him, we found that his thought on operation and many opinions were completely different with the Fornet’s, and we inferred that he wouldn’t be a good collaborator. After careful consideration, we refused his franchising application and he then turned to invest on other projects. After several years, the situation of his business we got is just like our original judgment. Therefore, on the interest choice, sometimes it is painful to give up a chance and the choice may even make us lose a regional market, but we deeply believe that if we don’t insist on our standing, it is possible we will pay more.

Standardized management is likely to be the most troublesome thing for the franchising headquarter, which is also the much more difficult work in the franchising system of Fornet in earlier stage. We can see a lot of good brands, and wherever it is opened, it will provide same service and good association of ideas to customers; there are also some other brands, although they are franchised with the same brand, but the service provided to customer are very different. There are many people with strong economic capability among our franchisees. They have good desires, such as hoping to be able to decorate the laundry into more luxurious and higher standard; there are also some financially difficult franchisees, they always choose some cheap decoration materials to replace the design materials required by headquarter. When a brand is finalized, even a little change will bring obscure and mixed image to customers, therefore, standardized management forms a strict rule in franchising. For a long time, one of our key works is to formulate standardized standard and communicate with franchisees to make them accept the concept and implement completely in accordance with the united standard, Fornet has been walking for a long journey. At present, our standardized test table has been designed very specifically. From the store image, business concept to all aspects of running operation, we have detailed description to each standardized requirement. From establishing franchising system until now, we have removed contracts with more than ten original franchisees; with continuous communication and urged improvement, dozens of franchised laundries have met the requirements stipulated by headquarter. The rule which seems unnaturally strict maximizes the unity of Fornet brand.

Interviewer: As a people-oriented service industry, how does your honored brand realize the specialization and standardization of staff’s skills?

Mr. Bai: The success of franchising is the result of perfect replication of business mode and technical experiences. How to replicate the mode in China successfully? Training is the top priority in our work. When the industry is lack of professionals, the work of training becomes very difficult but more important at the same time.

In 1998, Fornet invited Mrs. ANGELIQUE MARTINEZ, a French laundry expert, came to China to conduct training on laundry skills. She systematically taught the operation skills on removing dirt, ironing, etc in the laundry. After that, Mr. STEKING, the French expert on laundry addition agent and dirt-removing had come to China for three times to conduct training on dirt-removing and wet cleaning skills for our training teachers. In order to strengthen the international communication, Fornet Company invited Ms, YOLANDE TERNUS, the senior laundry trainer of France Washing and Dyeing Association to come to China to conduct the communication and guide on skill improving, renewing training as well as operation and management of laundry, the development trend of laundry in Europe and other aspects to all the training teachers in Beijing and Shanghai.
On one hand we rely on teachers from foreign countries and on the other hand we look for the person with skills and professional experiences in China. Luckily, Fornet also met with Mr. Wu Jingmiao, who was the super-senior laundry technician in China with practical experiences for over thirty years and strong theoretical basis.
We study and grind in at the same time. It is impracticable to completely copy the laundry technology of France. Because the fabric, design, dirty degree and the habit of customer are all different from Europe. Taking the skills of ironing as an example, firstly we use ordinary shot and slow motion to record the operation method of French teachers from each angle, and then compared with our own habitual skills to find difference until the skill is practicable and rational which is then made into standard promotion mode after combining with the skills of French teacher. During the grinding in, it was always found that we also have the methods more rational than the French teacher’s, which we will use in the skills of Fornet.
For another example, to the study on each washing procedure, we operate firstly according to the operation method of French teacher and then combine with the dirty degree of the domestic clothes to make suitable adjustment; through the experiments for times, the washing procedure of Fornet was finalized and promoted. During this period, our cooperation partner helped us a lot, including KPESSLER Company, which is an authoritative and professional washing addition agent company in Germany, and Fornet is the exclusive agent of KPESSLER in China; it is just this company that invented the most important addition agent in dry cleaning - Washing Booster which can make the dirt not adhere again on the clothes during washing. At the same time, they also invented wet cleaning technology which makes the woolen clothes be able to be washed in water. Their washing procedure developed for many years plays an important role on improving the washing cleanness degree of clothes.

Interviewer: Do you have your own training base?

Mr. Bai: Fornet has a professional training center in Beijing which is equipped with complete laundry equipments and facilities. In 2003, Mr. ROMO, the secretary general of France Washing and Dyeing Association, who came to China for study visit, admiringly said when viewing and inspecting:” there is no training base in such scale in Europe and U.S., which is even very rare in the profession field.”

Interviewer: Hearing of your introduction, I have more in-depth understanding to Fornet. I thought clothes washing is a very simple thing before, and we send clothes to laundry just because we have no time and energy. But now it seems a thing full of knowledge!

Today, Fornet attracts customers not only by its laundry mode of “store prior to factory” but also by many elements of its own. At the first time when I introduced Fornet on the International Washing and Dyeing Association, it really made them surprised. Most of the members have never been to China, so their impression of China is still on the backward level, but in the industry familiar to them, we leave them behind. In our professions, Japanese doubted our washing quality more, but a manager from a famous laundry enterprise in Japan had visited our laundry and then called his superior to tell that there is a laundry worth visiting in China. Recently, we attended the 1st “International Franchising Award” Review held in Singapore, and Fornet is the only franchising enterprise to join the election. Two American and Australian reviewers told me that it was hard to grade for Fornet because the score is just a little behind the first and it is really appreciated that a franchising enterprise with less than ten years’ development can reach the international brand with dozens of years’ history.

I have lived in Europe for dozens of years, the rise and fall of China affect every overseas Chinese’s heart. When China is in difficulty, we always offer assistance to disaster area without any hesitation. The rapid development in the past 20 years makes every Chinese get more respects from foreigners, even admiration sometimes. I always feel I am so lucky to participate in the best big environment of economy construction in China. I believe if every overseas Chinese can bring some high-quality project and technology from abroad, good effect will be taken on the national development. In fact, the laundry mode we brought in from France indeed changes and drives the development of the domestic laundry industry.