Washstation

By Emma Sheppard

Katy Mitchell didn’t ever imagine she’d buy a laundry company. So, in June 2019, when she took control of the keys and cash boxes for 270 student laundry facilities around the UK, she could be forgiven for wondering what she’d just done. Fast forward five years and she’s doubled the turnover of the business, built a team of 25, and been named Laundry Solutions MD of the Year in SME News' Managing Director of the Year Awards 2024.

“It was a complete surprise,” she says of the award. “And absolutely brilliant to have some recognition – as a small business manager you’re so far away from being on a Forbes list or on the front page of MoneyWeek. We’re just really proud of what we do.”

Mitchell didn’t take the most direct path. As an accountant turned consultant, she had spent most of her career working for global giants such as Virgin Mobile, Vodafone, RBS, Lenovo and BP. But she found herself dissatisfied at being at arm’s length from the nitty gritty of running an actual business. "Every time we executed a deal at RBS, I was a bit bereaved. The management team of the business we were funding would go off and make plans, while we’d be onto the next project.”

From cash to digital

One of the first things Mitchell and the team did was to pivot away from accepting cash. They also abandoned Washstation’s laundry cards that users had to top up before they could use the machines. By January 2020, the company had its own app through which students could pay, as well as adding functionality such as the ability to remotely reserve a machine.

The business also moved to a new gateway payment provider that could accept mobile payments and waited patiently for additional and much-needed functionality to be introduced – but it never came. “The level of account management we were getting wasn’t great,” says Mitchell. “It was hard to find the person who was responsible for you and get an answer on things.”

So, Mitchell’s team decided to switch back to Elavon, a payments provider they had been with previously, and they’ve been impressed by the difference. A subsidiary of U.S. Bank, Elavon has been working in payment processing for more than 30 years and has more than two million business customers across 36 countries, of all sizes and in all sectors. It processes more than six billion transactions, worth almost $550 billion (£430 billion), every year.

“The Elavon pricing structure is more competitive and we have named account managers that are so responsive,” Mitchell says. “They seem to have their hands on the right information at the right time. I can’t find fault with them.” 

Payments innovation

Elavon has also been open to innovation, which has allowed Mitchell and her team to explore more capabilities. “Customers don’t have any idea how their payments are getting processed, but one of the amazing things we’ve been able to do is automate refunds. Elavon has some really smart people, and have been so amenable to some of the creative things we’ve wanted to do. They've worked with our development team to make that happen.”

As for what the future holds, Mitchell says there are plans in the pipeline to expand into the leisure sector, such as campsites and holiday resorts. But above all, she’s focused on making Washstation’s customer experience the best it can be. “There’s nothing more satisfying than knowing that the service that you’re providing is as frictionless as possible.”