Laundry Chain Founder Only 24 : Success Comes Out in the Wash

DES MOINES, Iowa — At age 24, multimillionaire Phil Akin’s idea of a big weekend is trimming the hedge or sodding the lawn.

Akin is a former newspaper delivery boy who parlayed a $500 loan into Duds ‘n Suds Corp., a national laundry chain featuring beer and big-screen televisions.

“I was not poor, but I came from a real middle-class family and a middle-class high school in Waterloo. I just had a little motivation. That’s all it takes. I started with $500. Anybody can do it.”

Duds ‘n Suds, which offers pool tables and pinball machines in addition to beer on tap, now has more than 50 stores nationwide and expects to have 100 by the end of the year.

The company owns eight of the stores--the rest are franchised. Franchise fees are $25,000 up front with an annual fee of $5,200. Total start-up costs, including equipment and real estate, run about $200,000.

Dressed in blue jeans and tennis shoes, Akin looks like most of the customers sipping beer and washing clothes in the local Duds ‘n Suds. Before the interview in a Des Moines outlet began, Akin got down on his hands and knees and tightened a wobbly table leg.

“I feel like I’m 34 instead of 24. It’s kind of like a time warp. Everyone I know from school is still in college or just getting a job. Everyone in our neighborhood is 35 to 40 and they feel strange hanging out with a young guy,” he said.

Akin grew a mustache and gained 30 pounds in an effort to look older. But he said some people still treat him like a misfit in the world of big business.

Akin said his age is one of the biggest obstacles in convincing potential franchise owners to invest their money with him.

“If you want to go with a new franchise owner to get a loan, the last thing the banker wants to hear is you’re going to spend $200,000 on a laundry that sells beer and was founded by a 24-year-old guy from Iowa. This is not a ‘Star Wars’ operation,” he said.

The genesis of Duds ‘n Suds was in 1982, in the basement of a fraternity. Akin then was a freshman at Iowa State University in Ames. The washers and dryers there kept breaking down, so he agreed to split the profits 50-50 with the frat if he would be allowed to put in some new machines under his ownership.

“I had $500 and I borrowed $500 from an Ames bank. In two years, I had 300 machines out on campus. I was making more money than most professors. It gave me a lot of spendable income that people my age are not used to. Once you get a taste of that, you want more,” he said.

Duds ‘n Suds was founded in April, 1983. Akin would not release sales and earnings figures. “It is sufficient to say we currently are pleased with our progress,” he said.

Despite his success, Akin said he has maintained the same group of friends, drives a Toyota and lives in a “real old house” in a modest Waterloo neighborhood. He calls himself “an electronics nut” and says much of his spending money goes for gadgets and gizmos.