CUSTOM MAIDS INCORPORATED

Dana Anderson-Breau, President, and Des Breau, Vice President

For the first two years Breau worked by himself, all the while accumulating more information about this new industry. In the fall of 1980, he asked his wife Dana and his brother Andre to join the business. With Andre and Dana alongside, Des Breau decided to take full advantage of his innovative approach to this relatively open field, and the three partners incorporated the business in January, 1981.

The gamble paid off. With no initial capital to work with, both brothers spent the next year delivering brochures door-to-door every night and then joining Dana at the office during the day to handle the telephone calls that would follow. Growth was slow but consistent during 1981. Dana at first handled many of the cleaning jobs herself, but soon new employees were added to the staff every month. By the end of 1981, Dana was able to relinquish her cleaning mop in exchange for the position of chief administrator for the twenty cleaning people they now employed.

By the end of 1982, that figure had doubled. A year later, the number of employees had nearly doubled again, with seventy cleaners employed, and the forecast for 1984 promising that it would be the best year yet. At this point growth was rapid. The company moved into new corporate offices on Eglinton Avenue in Toronto, computerized all office and scheduling operations, and decided to launch the most aggressive advertising campaign its now considerable resources would allow.

A market research firm was hired to develop a demographic profile of a typical "maid service user" using Custom Maids' client files, which numbered in the thousands. From this research a complete mailing list was developed, consisting of 400,000 Metropolitan Toronto households. Upon completion, Custom Maids commenced their mail campaign. As Andre recalls: "Our telephone rang off the hook. We went from three telephone lines to seven and our office staff went from three people to six just to handle the influx of calls."

Utilizing all the revenue that this campaign generated, the company placed all its resources into other forms of advertising. Custom Maids' advertising appeared on billboards in every Toronto subway station, on the Toronto Transit buses and it could be heard on various Toronto radio stations. As Des Breau explained, "We wanted to wage a campaign that would ensure the highest possible awareness level for Custom Maids in Toronto to ensure our longevity in the Toronto marketplace."

And that is exactly what they did. By the end of 1984 the company had popularized its logo in Toronto and had etched a permanent place for itself in the ever-growing maid-service industry. Dana recalls that "By the end of 1984, advertising companies were coming to us. We received calls from radio stations, billboard companies, product manufacturers who wanted to do promotions with us, magazines, newspapers, even television stations." By 1985 Des and Andre had appeared on the John Gilbert radio program; Andre had appeared on CTV's national television program Canada A.M.; and the company was written up in local Toronto newspapers, magazines and the national Financial Post.

In 1985, with revenues soaring and 150 full-time housecleaners on staff, Custom Maids began looking for out-of-town expansion. Montreal, the only other Canadian city large enough, was ruled out because of language difficulties. Therefore, they hired a research company to find the company another market that would fit its demographic profile. In September, 1985, Custom Maids went international with the opening of its first U.S. office in San Francisco.

While the past few years have seen a proliferation of maid service companies selling franchises all over Canada and the United States, the Breaus have not chosen that route for themselves. "When you cannot rely on a constant flow of cash from the sale of franchises, you've got to be good," Des explains. "From the beginning we have generated all our profits from cleaning revenues alone. If we let down on our quality, our revenues will go down. From day one, our overriding objective of quality over quantity has worked for us and we're not about to change that formula by selling franchises and losing our sense of control."

Although impressive financial figures have prompted recent buyout offers from a large Canadian-based company and an offer by a major American company to take the operation in the direction of a national franchise, there are no plans to accept either of these offers. However, a new market for Custom Maids is being considered as the next logical step in its growth.