How Moon Kim Built a Modern Coinless Laundry Business

In early 2024, Moon Kim and her husband took the leap into entrepreneurship, founding Leaf Laundry, a business that breathes fresh air into the traditional laundromat experience. With two thriving locations and a tech-forward approach, they’re redefining what it means to run a modern laundromat. From implementing coinless payments to tackling industry challenges, Moon Kim shares the inspiration behind Leaf Laundry, the lessons learned, and advice for aspiring business owners.

The Spark Behind Leaf Laundry

SBS – What inspired you to start Leaf Laundry?

Moon – After COVID, I started exploring different things I could do as a secondary job. I’ve always wanted to do something on my own, but I wasn’t sure what, so I did some research and stumbled upon the laundry industry. I reached out to distributors (people who sell the equipment, help you set up the stores, etc.) and met up with a couple of them, and one pointed me on the right path. He taught me how a store works, how the equipment functions, and about the industry overall.

I’m very good with numbers, and when I looked at the whole laundromat concept, I realized it just comes down to numbers — how many people in an area need a laundromat? How many competitors are there? What is the return? It’s pretty straightforward and predictable in that sense. We all wear a similar amount of clothing every week, and we all have to wash them. When it comes down to your customer base, those would be people who don’t have washers and dryers (mostly renters and lower-income people). Also, some people, including us, occasionally use laundromats to wash blankets or other bigger items. 

However, laundromats are very difficult to open in the US. It’s very cost-prohibitive, which is why there’s a very limited number of laundromats in any given area. It’s so expensive that it’s not even worth it, and you’ll never recover that money.

Choosing the Locations

SBS – How did you choose the locations for your two laundromats?

Moon – We opened the first one in January 2024 and the second one later the same year. I learned there are two ways to do this business. The first is buying an existing laundromat, taking over their employees, and continuing their day-to-day operations. However, that wasn’t the right path for me because I wanted something entirely mine. My husband and I created the entire branding for our business. Our color schemes and our logo are all made from scratch.

The route we took was looking at different stores, hoping we’d find one getting sold — and that’s how we ended up with our first location. We looked for a run-down place that we could get for a very low price. In our case, the previous had a great career in this industry, but he was in his seventies, and his health was failing, so he decided to retire. That location in West Sacramento was completely beat up, with very old equipment that no longer worked. Many transients were also hanging around and causing trouble, which made people stop going to that laundromat. When I walked into that store, the owner happened to be fixing a washing machine, and I asked him whether he was interested in selling. By chance, he was. That was super fortunate! When we looked at his numbers, we saw his expenses were through the roof. He’s a very nice guy who loves fixing machines, but did not run the business side well. When I ran the calculations, I saw there’s a good chance we can quickly turn this around.

Our second location wasn’t planned. It is what we call a “free location.” About six months after we opened the first store, I was driving around and noticed that one laundromat in Foothill Farms was closed. They were looking to sell, so I contacted the landlord’s agent. It turned out that the old tenant had moved out because he didn’t like the lease terms. I told the agent I wanted to take over the space, revitalize it, and bring in new equipment. That place was in a similar situation to our first location. There were also a lot of transients around. The agent told me quite a few people were trying to get the space, and she explained what the landlord wanted. They didn’t want people hanging outside and inside, using the bathroom, and causing trouble. I put together a business proposal, telling them everything I did for my first store (which was in much worse shape) and that I’d do the same for this one. We ended up getting the second location without paying anything for it! We refreshed the space, painted the walls, brought in the new equipment, and opened our doors in October 2024.

The Shift to Coinless Convenience

SBS – How did you decide to implement the coinless payment system at your locations?

Moon – There has been a lot of talk about laundromats in the past couple of years, and one of the things you hear a lot on YouTube and social media is that this is “passive income.” That’s nonsense. But I thought about it and realized there was a way to make this business more hands-off (it is, after all, my secondary source of income). One of the biggest barriers I thought would be coins because, in a typical laundromat, you must collect coins two to three times a week, depending on the season. You’ll spend two or three hours opening boxes, pouring the coins into a bucket, weighing them, and pouring them back into the changer. Along the way, you will encounter coin jams, or some boxes or the coin changer might not work, you might spill some coins, etc. I did this with the old owner to check on his numbers when we were making the purchase, and I already knew that it was not something I wanted to do because it was time-consuming. Laundromats are more expensive now. A wash could be $12 or $13, so we’re talking about 50 quarters, which means it takes time for the customers, too.

Then, there are some indirect side effects that we did or did not anticipate. If you don’t take coins on site, you won’t have people break into your boxes and take your money. A box holds about $30, but a burglar will have done $300 worth of damage to your machine trying to take these boxes out. A laundromat that takes coins also attracts people who bother your customers by asking for some change.

Additionally, a coinless system gives me the opportunity to track everything a machine makes. Also, when customers have problems, they can easily contact me. Most laundromat owners don’t answer the phone because they don’t know how to deal with the customers. For example, if a customer says they tried putting in $4 worth of quarters, and the machine didn’t start, how could the owner validate that? With my system, I can check immediately if I want to and put the money back on their card.

I also wanted to do something different with my business. I think only three of us in all of Sacramento use the coinless system, and we are the only multi-store owners. You can use our card at both locations.

Technology Revolutionizing Laundry Services

SBS – How has technology affected your industry, and how do you see it advancing?

Moon – The first advancement is us going coinless. We’re not cashless, though. Many of our customers get paid in cash, so they also need to pay in cash. The card system is also a huge indicator of technological improvement in the laundry industry. 

We also use AI for the phone service. We launched that in November 2024. For most of 2024, whenever customers had problems or wanted to contact me, they would call the number, and I’d answer, but to free up my time, I needed to reduce the number of customer calls, so I looked towards AI. Because this business is quite simple, the customers usually call to ask about our working hours, say a machine is not working, inquire about the balance on their cards, etc. We are able to use AI to answer most of those questions. When, for example, a customer asks about the balance on their card, AI sends them a link to check the balance themselves.

We also have an app our customers can use. When you have the app, you can get a text message telling you when your wash or dry is done.

Ours is a so-called unattended laundromat. The doors open in the morning and lock on their own at night. We have cleaners that come in throughout the day and at night, but by and large, everything is automated — from the door locks to the lights to the music to the announcements to shutting off the machines to reimbursing customers remotely. If customers have a problem, they can go online and fill out a form for a refund or check their balance. They can also see the instruction videos online or in-store on our TVs. We also put promotions on our TVs, and that’s also done remotely. 

You can also install the autoinject technology for detergent and make extra money on that, but we haven’t looked into that yet.

Overcoming Challenges

SBS – What are the biggest challenges in a laundromat business?

Moon – There are a lot. It’s becoming more and more difficult to get into because it’s too popular. I wonder if it’s even possible for first-timers or smaller players to make an impact. There are also a lot of bad deals out there. Many people are selling their laundromats for high premiums with no numbers to show, and buyers think that’s a passive income, but the reality is far from that. I have two essentially brand-new stores, and something always comes up, even though we’re very streamlined and efficient and have largely eliminated typical day-to-day issues. 

In this industry, many big players have been in the business for 10, 12, or 15 years, and for them, it’s really easy to scale. I can tell you my second store was much easier to open than my first one, just due to my experience, so imagine somebody who’s been in the business for a decade or longer and has six, seven, or eight stores — their ninth store is going to be a piece of cake! While big players have the money to absorb any losses and the expertise to open a new location quickly, that’s a challenge for the small guys.

Balancing Costs While Delivering Top-Quality Services

SBS – How do you manage all the costs of running those two locations while providing the best possible quality of your services?

Moon – Again, we wanted to be different. In typical laundromat stories you hear, the owners open the store, redo the equipment, charge coins, offer wash and fold, drop off laundry, keep the place clean, make it fully attended, etc. We’re not doing any of that because of the cost and time it takes. 

When you eliminate the stuff typical laundromats offer, you limit the things that can cause you trouble. We don’t take coins. We don’t have a bathroom on-site (by chance, we were not allowed to open it because it wasn’t ready). Yes, we had some pushback, but now our customers see the positive results of not having some of these amenities. We have brand-new equipment. We maintain a really clean place. If you look at all of our reviews, most of them mention how clean we are. In typical laundromats, the equipment is crammed, and there are no folding spaces or seating. On the other hand, we offer a ton of space even if we don’t have big stores, so people naturally feel more comfortable. Plus, there are no transients around. That’s our value proposition.

We do charge higher than average. I think lowering the prices in hopes of attracting people is another mistake that many laundromat owners make. Well, if people weren’t coming when your prices were average or higher, they won’t come because you’ve lowered them. If people aren’t coming to your store, there’s something fundamentally wrong with how you run your business. We are above average; if you look at all our bad reviews, we have only a handful, and they are all about our price. There will always be people who feel like we’re not worth it, and that’s okay because there will always be somebody cheaper that they’ll like. 

One last thing — the broken window effect or the broken window theory: a broken window is more likely to cause a second one; so, if a place looks like a slum, it will get worse over time. Even though it’s unattended, our store has to be nice and look like it’s attended. It has to look inviting. At the front of the store, we have a bookshelf for kids. We have a little kids’ table. There’s also a big easel. Our neon signs are bright. The whole idea was to make it look like a family-friendly place because it decreases the chances that you will have trouble. People who want to cause trouble are less likely to come into a place that doesn’t look like it’s been left alone.

I think it’s important to realize you need to think about your business in the long term. In the short term, if you lower your prices, you’ll gain some customers, but in the long term, you’ll lose the ones that bring you value. We have been open since January, and we bumped up our prices after 10 months. We haven’t heard a single complaint from customers, and that’s because of the value we offer. It’s not about being expensive or cheap. If you’re going to charge more, you need to determine what you must give the customer in return.

Marketing That Makes Waves

SBS – How has your marketing evolved with your business, and what marketing tactics have proven the best for attracting customers?

Moon – For this industry specifically, I feel that word of mouth is the best way to attract customers. Obviously, we have social media, and we rely on Google and Yelp reviews, but the customer base is so tight-knit — they usually live in communities where everyone knows each other. I think it just comes down to what you do to entice customers to come and how you give them such a great experience that they recommend your business to others. I think it’s less about posting on social media or blasting a Google ad. 

Reaching people through Google and social media also depends on the location. For one of our stores, I think we reach more people through Google, and for the other, we reach customers through Facebook. I also noticed that one of our locations gets more younger customers.

Future Plans and Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

SBS – What are your plans for the future of your business, and what advice would you give someone who wants to start this business but doesn’t have much money?

Moon – In terms of my plans, I just want to ensure that both stores are running well. Our second store is only a couple of months old, so we’re still far from being at the point where we want it to be. Remember, we never considered opening the second location; we were just focused on making the first one good, and the second one came along. We plan to keep the first one running as well as it was on day one and continue to work on the second one the same way. Then, if and when the opportunity comes, we can go for a third or fourth, but I’m not going to rush.

Regarding my advice for future entrepreneurs, I have two things to say. First — don’t fall into the trap. Don’t fall in love with anything and think you must do it. I missed many deals before I got my first one, and in hindsight, it was great. When the time comes, I think you will understand whether it’s a good opportunity or not.

The second advice is to find and learn from somebody experienced in the industry. I was very fortunate to have met a mentor who was a giant in this industry about a decade ago. She’s ready to retire, but we became friends, and she taught me a lot about the business. While I think I could have done this without her, I know I wouldn’t have been able to do it as well. I know for a fact I would have made more mistakes and spent more money. We still talk on a weekly basis and meet regularly. Having a mentor helps, especially if you’re new to the industry like I was. I knew nothing. I never used a laundromat prior to opening my first one.