Calderon Textiles Interview with Ammar Khan

Listen to the Interview:

Links Mentioned:

Free On-Demand Training

Universal Unilink Program Pricing

Contact Calderon:

Phone: (888) 742-1998

Calderon Textiles Web Site

Transcript:

Marty Hartman:
Welcome to the Supplier Spotlight interview. We are thrilled to have Ammar Khan with Calderon Textiles. Ammar is the vice president of sales and marketing. Ammar, welcome to the interview.

Ammar Khan:
Thanks so much for having me, Marty. I look forward to our conversation today.

Marty Hartman:
Well, we are looking forward to talking to you because I know our members here are huge fans of your products. And I’m sure they’re going to want to know more about the company behind them. So tell us about Calderon. How did it all begin?

Ammar Khan:
Well, Calderon Textiles’ story is really interesting and not just for me and because I’m super passionate about it and you know one of the owners of the company but also because it’s truly the American dream. So my father Azher came over to the us in the mid-’70s. He pursued his higher education. And after that, he wasn’t really able to land himself a job that was commensurate with education levels. So he was actually working in a food court at the mall and serving frozen yogurt to different customers.

Ammar Khan:
So he developed a kind of relationship with one guy who used to come in every Sunday, looking really dapper in a suit, and every Sunday ordered the same thing. So one day, Azher approached him and said, “Hey, I’ve got a business idea for you. And what do you think about partnering up? Let’s bring textiles over from the country that I’m from, from Pakistan, and then we can sell them here in the United States. And I think we’ll have a competitive advantage.” So that was kind of the Genesis. That’s really where the story all starts.

Marty Hartman:
Oh, I see. I love that. It’s the American dream story and it happened in your own family. I love that. So what was the business environment like at Calderon when you first started on the textile rental team?

Ammar Khan:
As I mentioned, in 1983 Azher started the company, and they started in my parents’ garage at the time, and they continued to grow and grow and super happy and humbled by their success. And I actually came out of school with a degree in supply chain and international business and had been working at Calderon for most of my life and everybody thought that I was going to join the company, but in fact, I had no intention to do so. So I ventured off into working in the oil and gas industry. I was based in Houston, Texas. And it’s funny because my mom was the one that recruited me back and looking at it now, I don’t think those were for reasons because of business, although she positioned it that way. She said, “If you ever want to look at entrepreneurship, you should join the company,” but she really just wanted her son closer to her.

Ammar Khan:
So that was 11 years ago, and I would like to say it’s very similar environment to now it’s just a little bit of a different focus. I joined the company, like I said, 11 years ago but really started looking after the laundry space five years ago. And since the beginning, Calderon has always been focused on competitive advantage and how we add value for our partners. We don’t look at it as customers, per se. Even others notorious for saying in a meeting, “We don’t want customers. We want partners,” so we need to be adding value. So I really took that to heart and was thinking about how do we continue to add value and push value for people that we partner with together. So ever since I began to look after the side of the space, I’ve been really promoting that ideal of let’s identify how it can add value and really push that for our partners.

Marty Hartman:
How has the transition been from old processes to new processes at Calderon? And how are you adding value?

Ammar Khan:
Interesting question. So, yeah, we all work differently. We all approach problems differently. I think there’s like a little bit of a new school or old school thought. I don’t believe in that as much as per se, we all have our unique way of looking at those problems. And for me, I’m really process-driven, right. So an example would be, when I first joined the company, 70% of all of our orders that we received from our customers were through a phone. Now you could take that directly and flip it on its head. Today, 70% of our orders are received from an automated means, electronically. That means like our website or an FTP server, or automated order-entry kind of spreadsheet. It’s just various ways of electronically being able to harness that information. And so like technology implementation has been one of those things that’s been at the forefront of what we’ve been looking to do.

Marty Hartman:
Right. So keeping up with the times, innovating. How has the company sales process changed?

Ammar Khan:
I think the main way that our sales process has changed is what I spoke about earlier about trying to add value. It’s really changed with the creation of the market. When we first were creating the business justification for adding resources and new team members, we had to look at it and say, “Our marketing team is not to create pretty flyers or graphics or to enhance a website.” While we have done those things, that’s not the main focus that we’re looking to do. We look at it to say, “What are the demographics like. Who is a good fit for us to be a long-term partner?” Well, before we may have been trying to go after all the laundries that exist. Not everyone is a great partner for us, maybe somebody has a different strategy. They’re more transactional and we’re more long-term focus.

Ammar Khan:
Maybe they don’t align well with the products that we have. So our marketing has really been instrumental in making sure that we align our long-term approach and the value-adds that we provide to the customer base that we’re pursuing so that we can fit together. And ultimately, that’s why we really liked working with independent laundries and Universal Unilink members, because they often share the same ideals. We have similar strategies. We can talk directly with the business owners and the people who are making those decisions, and collaboratively do so and develop ideals, and again, long-term partnerships together.

Marty Hartman:
So you mentioned value-adds, what do you see as the value-adds that Calderon promotes?

Ammar Khan:
Biggest value-add I would say that we’re currently rolling out to our customers is on the educational side.

Marty Hartman:
Oh, right.

Ammar Khan:
Education is so important for us, and I’ll give you an example. Early on in my career, we often had customers come to us and say, “Hey, we’re bidding on a project. We want a 25 x 50 inch bath towel. It should be 10 pounds and 100% cotton. Give me the best price you have.” And I was always perplexed on how to answer that question. With a textiles background, it could be 12 different ways that the price point could be from $6 to $25 and up. It just really depends on those intricate specifications details. You know I don’t want to go back to them and say, “Who’s your target market? Are you trying to sell it to the Ritz-Carlton or the YMCA?” But, you know it goes beyond that.

Ammar Khan:
It goes beyond that. Because buying products that way is one thing. The laundries are savvy enough to figure out what the product demographic, and if we ask the right questions, and they can provide us enough feedback to where we’re giving the right product. But if a member is selling the product the same way, then are we really just competing on price with, let’s say the national chains. And is that a game that we want to be into? If we don’t have the education of, “Hey, this is ranged on. It’s going to be softer. It’s going to be wider. It’s going to be more absorbent.” Can you really compete against somebody else who’s providing a lower specification product? Education is really our emphasis, and not just to the people responsible for the merchandising at the laundry level, but also all the way through to who’s on the route, who’s responsible for selling, and how do we as a value chain, Calderon involved, our partners at the membership level involved as well.

Marty Hartman:
You’re exactly right. I mean, the people on the front lines dealing with the end-user have to understand all of those things that you mentioned. And that’s why you mentioned education, we’re really excited here at Universal Unilink to see that you have introduced a textile training video series. Can you tell us a little bit about that and any other education opportunities that you are offering?

Ammar Khan:
Yeah, it’s taken us a while to put together, but we definitely had this vision of being able to roll out an educational series that was web-based. It’s all hosted on YouTube. So the access is really easy for somebody to get ahold of. I’m sure Marty, you’ll do a little plug and send out a newsletter, and let members get into that. So that series is called The Fundamentals of Textiles. And in that series, we cover some of those basics. There’s five different videos. They’re all about two, two and a half minutes long so nothing too arduous.

Ammar Khan:
And along with that, there’s some study guides and some quizzes, and you can follow along or get in touch with a Calderon rep who can guide you through the process, and make sure that you get your final certification. Once you pass through all those different videos, all the quizzes, there’s a final exam and that’ll help you earn your certificate in the fundamentals of textiles training. I think it’s really great opportunity to be web-based, and Marty I’m sure your members will like the fact that it would be good for somebody whose operations within their plans, but also for the people that are outwardly facing, and you know involved with each of their customers to be armed with some of those details of textiles.

Marty Hartman:
Absolutely, and the price is right. It’s free. And also, you have to mention that I believe there’s continuing education credits if you get your certification.

Ammar Khan:
That’s right. Thanks for mentioning that. There’s a one and a half continuing education unit credits that are available through ALM right now. You can certainly provide your certification and hopefully be easily granted those CEUs that are so hard to come by with everything being remote these days. So hopefully that’s a really good opportunity.

Marty Hartman:
I think so. Well, let me switch back a little bit. We were talking about products earlier and Calderon being known for durable and high-quality goods, but what about high-loss situations that need a more economical approach?

Ammar Khan:
Yeah, absolutely. As you mentioned, Calderon has long had a reputation for high-quality, durable products, great longevity, and high-end in some instances, but we wanted to make sure that we were hitting the market right. And of course, that’s why our marketing team is so instrumental. We identified that there is some product lines that we may not have had the full breadth on. So we did a introspective look and said, “Why aren’t we carrying these items? Just because they are economical doesn’t mean that they are not for our target market, because there are varying strategies on why you should carry one product versus the other.” Here’s an example. So we found that in urban environments, fast-paced urban environments, obviously there’s more loss and damage, but then in order to get ROI, you should have a lower cost of acquisition on those items. They’re great.

Marty Hartman:
Right.

Ammar Khan:
High-durable product is awesome for when you’re getting let’s say more than 15, 18, 25 turns, but if you’re only getting six to eight turns, you shouldn’t invest in a high-durable product because that’s going to be a higher cost. You should get something more economical so you can get your return on investment quicker. It was a really interesting exercise for us and after this exercise, we come out of it and said, “There is no preferred bar towel that Calderon has. There is a preferred bar towel based upon what your target demographic is. What are your customers like? Do you have customers that are in urban environments or do you get lots of turns? Do they value how they treat their product? And there’s a couple of different ways that you can identify what are better suited products for you. So this started in bar mops with this conversation is kind of rapidly rolling out across, you know, just the way we do product offerings in general and how we align with our members.

Marty Hartman:
Oh, I agree. You’re Grab-A-Rag product, for example, is very popular with our members and for good reason, it’s a great value.

Ammar Khan:
I think Grab-A-Rag is probably one of the more fun products that we’ve done, you know, innovative products are great, and they’ve got to make sense. So Grab-A-Rag makes sense and especially since it’s a direct sale item it can open doors for members of every type, whether they be a laundry or a direct sale company. Aside from that, we’ve got a couple of other fun products that may unlock doors like our Breeze Napkin, which if you don’t have an ironer on site can still be processed effectively to the quick and easy, and then allow you to provide a napkin to a customer base who may be using paper. So that also hits on the sustainability trend if you will.

Marty Hartman:
Right. Those are great examples of innovation. And I love the fact that Calderon is an innovative leader, two examples of how Calderon has been able to innovate in the marketplace.

Ammar Khan:
Yeah. I mean, I get excited about textiles all day. So somebody is saying, “You can’t innovate in textiles.” It gets me really sad but it’s something that we are completely immersed in. We’re always looking at R&D but sometimes they don’t make sense. Somebody asked, the other day if we could do a gravity blanket. Have you heard of one of those, Marty?

Marty Hartman:
Oh, yeah, like the weighted blankets.

Ammar Khan:
Yeah, exactly. Now imagine that blanket, it’s 20 pounds or 25 pounds, something like that. Per each processing, that would be a nightmare. So we’re trying to keep the lid on stuff that would not process well and be well suited for our laundries but continue to stay on-trend, like sustainability trend which is really popular. We’re investigating and all sorts of different ways that we can potentially repurpose plastic bottles into our different products. So not just from a trends point of view but also good for the environment.

Marty Hartman:
Oh, I love that that you’re looking towards the future. So speaking of the future, what do you see as the biggest challenge for Universal Unilink members, that they’ll face in the new day.

Ammar Khan:
As a small business owner, I guess I can say that the problems are ever-present and ever complex and constantly changing. I mean, sitting in the first half, still of 2021, we’ve all experienced lots of change over the past couple of years and there’s more change to come. Specifically, in the laundry space, I think a couple of pressures that are facing is there’s a lot of potential for independants consolidation. I think it’s important to be members of a broader group and to be able to say, “Hey, we’re all kind of a united front that can support each other against that mounting pressure from acquisition as well.”

Marty Hartman:
Right. So what are you currently emphasizing with the company?

Ammar Khan:
One of the biggest things that we try to emphasize and not just from, “Hey, this is a company mantra and it sounds good,” but really to try to emphasize throughout our company, in our company and our company culture is to be good stewards. We’ve got a number of different sales reps that live in different parts of the United States. We’ve got a number of different warehouses that are also scattered around the United States, but we feel like we are members of those communities.

Ammar Khan:
And if last year taught us anything, it was when people needed products, we try to quickly pivot so we could help support those communities. We’ve took on a number of different initiatives but at the same time, again, try to be good stewards. So if somebody in New York City, wanted to order all of our existing product in bedsheets, per se, we try to hold on for some because the City of Houston may also be in demand of the same products. So that’s just one way of trying to be cognizant about it. And again, it’s not something that just sounds like good PR. Our big emphasis this year is trying to help navigate and be supportive of bringing our economy back, bringing our country back, and hopefully navigating through this all successfully together.

Marty Hartman:
I think that’s a great mission. And I think you guys have the team to do it. So as we’re getting ready to wrap up, what else would you like to mention that you think our members need to know?

Ammar Khan:
The way that most of our innovations occur is really from helping laundries to problem solve. And we want to be involved in that conversation and helping the members become more successful and in turn, we become more successful, stronger, and can continue to develop and innovate when together, hopefully creating those mutually beneficial long-run partnerships. So that’s what I would continue to say, and we hope to continue to do that work.

Marty Hartman:
All right! So the best way to learn more about Calderon, what should members do if they want to find out more?

Ammar Khan:
Well, I want to start with you, Marty. I mean, I think you’re the first good line of defense. Universal Unilink is doing a great job with newsletters and websites, and really concerted effort to be more involved with helping to provide more information to that end. Not to put you on the spot but aside from that, our website’s a great tool, got a lot of information specifically to the laundries that you can go to www.cauldrontextiles.com. And you know our biggest asset at Calderon is our team. So if you know one of them, definitely reach out to them. We have contact information all along the way. You can call 1800 numbers are directly, and our internal team can route you to the best people to talk to. So our biggest asset is definitely our team to find out more.

Marty Hartman:
Well, I appreciate the nice things you said about Universal Unilink. We try to get as much information out as we can to members, and this is just one of the ways that we do it. But Ammar, we also appreciate the time you spent with us today and we hope our members will take advantage of all the new and exciting things coming through Calderon today.

Ammar Khan:
Well, awesome. Thank you so much. It’s actually been fun and not as stressful as I thought it was going to be. So thanks for making this a great format, Marty.