In 2011, then-19-year-old Yaakoub Hijazi lost his father to lung cancer in 2011. His life changed, and he had to leave his studies at Montclair State University. Soon, he came to discover that his father’s business was on the edge of bankruptcy. However, Hijazi decided to not let that happen, as he did not want his “father’s name to be tarnished.”
Now 27 years old, Hijazi ensures his father’s legacy and carries his name on by turning the family business into the biggest commercial laundry in the New York City area. He has turned the struggling business into a $150 million company. Star Laundry now serves many clients in NYC, including some of the major hotels like Conrad New York and the Westin Times Square.
Thanks to this spectacular turnaround, Hijazi was named Forbes 30 Under 30 Manufacturing & Industry. His enterprising business model earned himself a place among young entrepreneurs who create models based on the methods of tomorrow.
Yaakoub Hijazi grew up right outside of NYC looking in
Hijazi grew up in Montclair Heights, 20 minutes away from Star’s headquarters in Paterson, New Jersey. His late father came from Lebanon at the age of 17. He first opened restaurants in Brooklyn. Later, he shifted into the laundry business and moved from Brooklyn to New Jersey to lower labor costs.
When he had to ditch school to rescue Star Laundy, Hijazi – the younger – knew that it would pose a challenge, both professionally and personally.
“I threw my textbook out, which was a little overboard,” Hijazi recalls. “I told my mother there is no way I can go back.” At first, it was a lot. “When you’re 19 years old, people are not going to listen to what you say,” he says, thinking back on those early days.
Yet, he used his youth and made reasonable decisions to get Star going. He lured in new clients by being on call himself, signing on the DoubleTree on Lexington in 2012, then using this as a stepping stone on their way into other hotels. “Our selling point is quality,” Hijazi says, who cites this as the reason why they have no salesmen. “Hotels realized they were cutting costs and getting crap service.”
Turning Star Laundry from the brink of bankruptcy
Prior to a rapid turnaround, though, Hijazi had to make some difficult decisions and tweaks to the family business. Low on cash and liquid assets, the company faced a lot of tax liens and fines. He had to borrow money to pay everything off, and to jettison the middling dry-cleaning operations.
Commercial laundry is a very competitive sector. Prices range between 30 cents to 45 cents per pound in New York. As a source who spoke to Forbes Magazine notes, the entire market is “fighting over the same 200 hotels.” So many companies try to cut prices until they can drive competitors out of business and raise them back up again.
Thanks to Hijazi’s presence and active management, though, Star soon acquired high-profile new clients. Before the pandemic hit, roughly 40% of the laundry from New York went through their business. Hijazi drove this growth through his commitment to quality services, his personal involvement, and his availability – sometimes beginning work as early as 3:30am.
Yaakoub Hijazi turns a family business into a $150 million one
According to Forbes, Hijazi took the company’s sales revenue from around $4 million, to around $140 million. Despite commercial success and rapid growth, though, Hijazi has always kept the family at the forefront of Star Laundry. The loads, arriving from hotels in bins of 800 pounds, are labeled “Star Laundry Baba Joe 1948-2011” in memory of his father.
Ironically, Hijazi’s father never preferred his son to take over the family business. “He didn’t even want me in it,” Hijazi says. Hijazi may be in talks to sell Star, but his “biggest fear,” he says, “is selling what my father started. It’s an emotional fear.”
See Hijazi explain how the pandemic has affected the laundry business in the video below:
