ZIPS Cleaners announced that Leda Peterson and Diego Osorio, a mother-in-law/son-in-law team with ties to the chain, are bringing the franchise to Lancaster.
Operating as KATLEX LLC, the franchisees have signed an agreement and secured space at 1631 Manheim Pike and look to open this year.
According to a release, ZIPS Cleaners provides consumer and commercial garment care centered around low-cost, in-by-9-out-by-5 dry cleaning as well as Wash N Fold laundry, pressed laundry, alterations and cleaning of linens, comforters and other household items.
Peterson and Osorio co-own ZIPS of York, in partnership with several other investors including Osorio’s wife, Michelle (Peterson’s daughter), and Peterson’s ex-husband, Carlos Cadenas. Osorio had managed that location before he and Michelle became co-owners in 2013. He and Peterson will share the manager role at the Lancaster location.
“I love it. It’s the perfect partnership,” Peterson stated about going into business with her son-in-law. “It’s good to have someone you know you can trust as a partner.”
Osorio agreed. “We know we’re capable of doing this,” he said. “We’ve been working at ZIPS for more than 20 years combined; we have a lot of experience, and we know the market and the area. This has been something we’ve been thinking of doing for years but we never really took the plunge until now.”
Peterson and Osorio chose to open their first partnered franchise in Lancaster in response to mounting requests to bring the brand back to the market after a previous location closed due to the pandemic.
“When that Lancaster store closed, a lot of people asked if we would open another location. They’re very loyal,” said Peterson. “I believe in our system. We saw that we needed a place in Lancaster and signed a new agreement.”
Peterson and Osorio are looking forward to opening their first location as sole partners and to adding more sites to their portfolio in the future.
“I think it’s good timing,” said Osorio. “I can’t wait to start.”
ZIPS Cleaners serves residential and commercial clientele, providing six services – dry cleaning, pressed laundry, Wash N Fold laundry, alterations, cleaning of comforters and other household items, and laundering commercial items like linens, uniforms, and other materials – under one roof. Most locations now offer 24-hour “EZ Drop” receptacles.
ZIPS Cleaners launched in the early 2000s when eight of the Baltimore-Washington Metro Area’s premier dry cleaners banded together as a unified brand.
