United Linen Blog

Attending Twitterville's TBash

To all of our customers, employees, friends and family:

Well-known author Shel Israel has a new book coming out this week, Sept 3rd, called TWITTERVILLE.  In the book Shel tells the story of how Twitter came into being and the businesses that have since leveraged the power of Twitter to have a conversation with their marketplace.  United Linen is honored to be one of the many businesses mentioned in TWITTERVILLE.

To cut the ribbon and officially announce the launch of the book TWITTERVILLE, Shel (Twitter handle @shelisrael) held a party at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, Ca. on Aug 23, 2009.  I was one of over 300 in attendance that day and the place was crazy with excitement.  I had never personally met any of the people at the TBash event, but several of us had come to know each other through Shel's blog, Global Neighbourhoods. 

Having decided at the last minute to come to the TBASH event, I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  I had never been to a book launch before, although I had seen versions on TV and in the movies...you know the kind I'm talking about...a bunch of hoity toity, rootin' tootin' high falutin people all dressed up, kissing each other on each cheek when introduced, etc.

Not in TWITTERVILLE.

Shel's TWITTERVILLE Tbash was so cool.  Everyone was generous and engaging.  They were excited for Shel, for Shel's new book and for the opportunity to shake hands, take pictures and rub elbows with Twitter family that geography had kept apart up to this point. 

I thought if I could meet 5 people that early evening, that would be a great.  Instead, once I got inside and tried to get to everyone I had either met or heard about through Twitter, it was time to go.  4 hours.  Boom. (snap) Just like that!   

The energy at TBASH was tangible...I'm still feeling the refreshing breeze from the winds of TBASH against my sails a week later.

Please indulge me as I share pictures and video of the TWITTERVILLE book launch event, below

This is Valerie Kameya, one of the volunteers working the TBASH event.  She was helping iron on Twitter handles on T-shirts (you can see what I mean in the video)

This is Alex Alshvang, owner of Samovar Delicatessen & Catering.  I found it easy to visit with him because of all the caterers we serve in Oklahoma and surrounding areas.  Alex's specialty is Russian-inspired foods.  You can find his business at www.bestrussianfood.com.  He gave me quite an education in a short amount of time about what makes Russian food, Russian. BTW, the food was good.  Not bad tablecloths he was using either.

As I strolled across the room I ran into Beth Kanter (@kanter) who is influential in the non-profit circles and mentioned in TWITTERVILLE.  We donated 5 books for her to give away to non-profit orgs.

After meeting Beth, I turned around to find Catheryn Hrudicka (@creativesage) who has a great story in TWITTERVILLE about using social media to help build a hospital in Castro Valley, CA.  Her hat is her signature. 

I got to visit with Cathryn about her Twitterville experience and this is what she had to say...

If you've noticed people wearing blue buttons in the pictures so far, these buttons said "I'm in Twitterville, and helped identify those who are in the book.

This next segment is a video I took of a visit with Aneta Hall of Pitney Bowes (@anetah) and Tatyana Kanzaveli (@glfceo)

Picture of Frank Barry (@franswaa) and Matt Perez (@matt_perez).  This is an example of what I mean when I say this was a generous group...Matt asked me to sign his book.  How cool is that?  So I said OK and signed his book.  Then I thought I should follow his lead and do the same thing, so I got my book and had him, Frank and a bunch of others sign my copy.  Very cool idea.

This is Arie Ball (@arei_ball), a 30 year veteran of Sodexho and VP of their Talent Acquisition Group.  We share stories in chapter 9 of TWITTERVILLE.  Arie Ball, a class act.

The Twitterati...Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) and Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang).  Frank Barry helped me get this picture.

 

Two great guys from the Dell scene...Richard Binhammer (@richardatdell) and Lionel Menchaca (@lionelatdell) 

 

Jesse Luna (@jesseluna) and I had a great conversation about B2B marketing and how to use Twitter in this capacilty. 

...and last but not least, author Shel Israel, who is one heck of a storyteller. 

I had never personally met Shel up to this point, but like so many others I met that night, we had already become friends through Twitter.  In the 4 hours that we mixed and mingled in the Hiller Aviation Museum, it was great fun to have geography on our side and be able to shake hands, laugh and be excited with like-minded people who shared a a common bond that is Twitterville.

Twitterville comes out Sept 3rd.  Like Aneta Hall said in one of the videos above, every business should buy a copy.

You can Retweet this blog post by copying the following

Rt: @unitedlinen  Attending Twitterville's book launch event.  http://twurl.cc/1j5t

The Greatest Day of the Year...Aaagain!

Mat Saddoris is always reminding us that Aug 8th (that should read, Aug 28th) is the greatest day of the year.  Yeah...that's right...it's his birthday :-).  But it's also Catherine Smith's birthday as well. 

As is traditional at United Linen, birthday boys and girls bring the goodies and we help them celebrate their birthing event.  And so with that little bit of history in mind, enjoy the video of the birthday celebration we had in the front office for Mat and Catherine.  We even had a customer help us celebrate.

Oh yeah, and by the way, Mat's 50.

Why Should Grill Towels and Napkins Be Separated

 

     

Starting this week, you may start to notice signs being placed on some of our soiled linen bag racks.  These signs will be placed in locations where there are high volumes of napkins, grill towels and aprons used.  There are more than a couple of reasons why we will be using these signs.

1. Quality -  It all comes down to product usage.  Napkins are a product that typically get soiled very lightly, (wiping the mouth, scooting bread crumbs, dabbing spills) whereas grill towels and aprons are the restaurant's workhorse when it comes to heavy-duty cleaning and exposure to grease.  And because of the differences in use, the way we process these items are very different as well.  Grill towels and aprons get hit harder and longer in the wash cycle.  Napkins and tablecloths, on the other hand, have a lighter wash cycle and less chemical exposure.    With this in mind, imagine what could happen with a balled up greasy grill towel getting thrown in with a bag full of lightly soiled napkins.  The outcome could result in an entire load of napkins being tainted with either a pervasive greasy smell or actual grease/food still stuck to the linen. 

2.  Increased efficiency - with linen products "pre-sorted" at the customer location, we will be able to sort and process these products even faster and reduce the chance of a load having to be "rewashed".  The goal here is to do it right the first time.  

3.  Controlling costs - You as our customer expect us to watch every penny and produce goods in a manner that saves us money, therefore saving you money.  And although an account could incur charges if they misuse our products, we are more concerned with teaching our customers HOW to get the most use out of our products and controlling your costs.

 

The signs include Spanish phrases for our customers with Spanish-speaking employees.

We are always looking for ways to help simplify our processes and enhance the quality of experience our customers have with our products and services. What do you think about the signs?  Is this something you think will help your quality of products you get from United Linen?  Please leave a comment and give us your feedback.

RT: @UnitedLinen  Product Knowledge:  Why Grill Towels and Napkins Should Be Separated http://twurl.cc/1gc5

Tweets from the Odyssey de Culinaire

Below are the aggregated tweets sent from the Odyssey de Culinaire on Thursday, August 13th in Tulsa, OK.

The theme for this year's Odyssey de Culinaire is Kid's Menu #Ora

Odyssey de Culinaire - The Appetizer: "PB&J" by Chef Robert Black. http://yfrog.com/5j4sbmj #Ora

Odyssey de Culinaire - Soup & Salad, prepared by Chef Brad Evers, Gallardia Country Club http://yfrog.com/6plulmj. #ora

Odyssey de Culinaire - Entree, "Fish Sticks & Tarter Sauce" by Chef David Henry http://yfrog.com/11wmlj #Ora

Odyssey de Culinaire - Entree, Un-"Sloppy Joe" prepared by Chef Christine Dowd, Trattoria il Centro #ora http://yfrog.com/6pskgj

Odyssey de Culinaire - Dessert, "A Modern Rendition of Candy Bars" prepared by Chef Ryan Parrott http://yfrog.com/0lamztj #Ora

I also had the pleasure of getting a picture with Michael Yip, Culinary Instructor at Tulsa Technology Center and Tealor Barton, Pro-Start Student Competitor

AND, below is a copy of the menu from this extraordinary dining experience.

United Linen Sponsors BRCC Small Business Forum

The Bartlesville Chamber of Commerce just posted pics from the Small Business Forum we helped sponsor in July.  Cindy Morrison did a great job talking about how to use social media tools to promote you and your business.  There was a great turn out from area businesses, and there were even some who drove in from as far away as Oklahoma City.

Hats off to the BRCC for doing a bang-up job putting the event together and to Hillcrest Country Club, who are always gracious, helpful and have such nice facilities. 

United Linen in Forbes.com

Last week my friend Shel Israel, author of the upcoming book, Twitterville, sent me an email and suggested that we get in touch with a reporter for Forbes who was doing an article on businesses using Twitter.  The reporter, Dan Adler, was looking to Shel for some direction with the article and Shel suggested he look to several of those businesses Shel had highlighted in his book; United Linen being one of them.

So I got in touch with Dan Adler, based in NY, and we had a great conversation about how United Linen is using the (not new anymore) Twitter tool.  I must admit, I was a bit nervous, knowing I was speaking to a major publication.  I even had to call Dan back to make sure he was able to get anything out of my ramblings.  But Dan was very gracious and was able to sum up better my thoughts than I had said them.  The article is a compilation of ways businesses across the country, are using Twitter.  It was really cool to see us being mentioned along with the likes of Dell, Comcast, Starbucks, JetBlue and Sodexho.  Click here to see the article.

So, many thanks to Shel Israel (@shelisrael) for referring us...to Dan Adler (@adlerdaniel) for looking our way and including us in his article...and to the United Linen crew for keeping us customer-centric in the tools we use and the processes we practice in our linen and uniform business.

Is your business using Twitter.  If so, how?  We would love to hear your feedback and comments.

You can also retweet this blog post:

RT:  @unitedlinen  Forbes.com highlights 21 Top Twitter Tips http://twurl.cc/1dg3