By La-Keasha M. Brown
VALDOSTA — Quitman has a new name in town catering to local and surrounding businesses, Crown Healthcare Laundry Services, with a projected employment of 200 benefiting the Quitman area.
According to the company Web site, for over 49 years, Crown has served healthcare markets, and currently has operated with three processing facilities serving the Panhandle of Florida, south Georgia, south-central Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The company provides that their rapid growth can be directly attributed to the quality of products and excellent customer service.
Located at 604 N. Highland St., the company recently hosted the grand opening of their fourth plant. The plant has been opened for a month with only 45 employees, and has plans of opening 200 positions once full production is reached.
Speakers for the opening ceremony were Brooks County Development Authority Vice Chairman Van Murphy, County Commission Chairman Curtis Pickles, and Don Haferkamp, President of Crown Healthcare Laundry Services.
“We had a great crowd with about 100 people in attendance including state and local folks,” said Director of Brooks County Development Authority, Tina Herring.
Considering the nation’s high unemployment rate, the plant will be an asset to the city of Quitman putting the unemployed to work and ultimately putting money back into the city.
“This is huge, considering the City had a difficult time after the loss of over 1,200 jobs as a result of local textile industries closing and other major local businesses,” said Herring. “So, the community was hit hard before the current economic crisis. Everyone is suffering but we were fortunate enough for Crown to pick our city to locate in.”
Initial estimates called for the hiring of 140 employees, but before long there were additional positions planned, so the plant will hire at least 200 workers to meet it’s expected demand.
“We learned that the plant has had such good response from potential customers,” said Herring. “And the plant is expected to clean over 30 million pounds of laundry by July 2010 and so there is a need to employ 200 workers for that. That’s 60 more than initial expectations.”
Positions are being filled quickly, but the plant is still seeking associates and all interested persons are encouraged to contact the Department of Labor or visit the plant. All applicants will undergo a certification process before being considered for employment.
The Quitman plant offers to clean and rent lines to facilitate to hospitals and nursing homes for the north Florida-south, Georgia area. This will include areas between Atlanta and Orlando.
“My expectation for the plant is that it will become a community partner and remain recession proof because of the need for hospitals,” said Herring. “Hopefully, healthcare will continue to be more important, and so we fully expect Crown to be a community partner for many years to come.”
For additional information, visit the website at crownlaundry.com or call Tina Herring at (229) 263-9085.
