Everything is coming up daisies

The walls of Jaq’s bar have seen a lot over the years, but nothing quite like the fresh white daisies on a sky-blue background that now covers them. The bar stools have made way for a new kid on the block – Fresh as a Daisy – Kate Monks’ new commercial laundry.

Kate and husband Bill Butzbach opened their laundry on 1 December last year in the former New York Street West bar, which has also served as a sawmill, engineering workshop, brewery and country market. Since then they have been working seven days a week with a small team to get the business launched.

Kate’s daisy branding – in blue, white and yellow – sits alongside big safety signs and gas pipes on the walls of the renovated building. It’s a reminder that a commercial laundry has a lot of grunty plant behind its fresh facade. Her daisies are also on her laundry van and car that pops up all over town collecting used linen and towels from resorts and B&Bs and taking them back to base to make them – well – ‘Fresh as a Daisy’. And the laundry team is decked out in white, blue and yellow too.

Kate and Bill have been living in Martinborough for nearly seven years and, like many others, they drove over the hill to work in Wellington, come back only for holidays and weekends. But Kate wanted to set up a business in the town she loves. She looked for an opening and realised that every guest who came to stay in Martinborough left a trail of damp towels, crumpled sheets and used table linen.

She found her gap in the market – “a high quality commercial laundry that could service one-bedroom home stays, like we have on our own property, as well as resorts such as the wonderful Peppers Parehua and Brackenridge and all the accommodation in between”.
As well, their customers also include hairdressers, cafés, restaurants, butchers, workshops, factories and the winery and wedding venue market. Fresh as a Daisy also provides table linen hire to save people having to go to Wellington or Masterton.

Bill is in charge of the plant and is the engineering brains behind the large-scale operation. He also happens to be local volunteer Chief Fire Officer. More than once he and the tradesmen upgrading the building had to down tools when the fire siren sounded, which didn’t help the laundry to open on time. And it’s still not finished although progress is made each week.
“I couldn’t have done it without Bill, as he has given up a lot at this time of our lives to take a leap of faith with his laundry lady wife.” 

Kate says they are very grateful to the community for supporting the venture “and for patience with unavoidable delays and teething problems, particularly during building upgrade and fit-out stage”.
“No business succeeds without the town behind it,” Kate says. And she feels she now has a whole new network of friends.

“We wanted to change the perception of a laundry being a big grey factory. Ours was to be a well organised, fun place with an emphasis on professionalism. We aimed to build an innovative brand,” Kate says.

“Trying to think of a suitable name for the business, I sought my good friend Robyn Slater’s advice.  I said it needed to make people think of blue sky, crisp clean white sheets, lemon scent and white fluffy towels. ‘Easy peasy’, Robyn said, ‘Fresh as a Daisy’. 

“We are thrilled we can help business owners, managers, homeowners and cleaners alike to make their lives easier to welcome visitors to town.”

Bill and Kate plans are to expand to supply South Wairarapa and eventually further afield. Additional services Kate plans by next season will include cutlery, crockery and stemware hire and also a self-service laundromat for seasonal workers, tourists and locals without dryers. Dry cleaning will follow and already the Daisy team are putting the Daisy love into feather duvet inners, blankets, rugs and curtains.

Kate’s team is 10-strong at present but she has plans to employ more local people. Included is one special remote worker Kate’s sister Judy McLean working from Amberley. Kate says “All my study of business start-ups and my past management experience has taught me you need the very best person you can looking after financial operations. Fortunately for us that person is definitely Judy.

The special part of my day is getting in very early to our portacabin office before we start the shift and looking out at the picturesque vineyards – it’s such a privilege to now be able to walk to work in this beautiful part of New Zealand.”