Growing a Franchise
Schneider has helped transform Tide Services’ development strategy, driving record franchise signings while positioning the platform for intentional, sustainable growth.
Franchise Sales Leader: Emily Schneider
Brand: Tide Services — Tide Cleaners & Tide Laundromat
Over the past several years, Emily Schneider has helped turn Tide Services into one of the most active growth stories in the out-of-home laundry space.
As vice president of franchise development for Tide Services, which includes Tide Cleaners and Tide Laundromat, Schneider has helped shift the organization from what she describes as “reactive growth to intentional expansion.” The results have been significant: Over a 28-month period, the company signed 236 units for development, compared to just 18 during the previous 28 months.
For Schneider, however, franchise development is about much more than adding dots to a map. It is an opportunity to help entrepreneurs build valuable businesses while bringing greater scale, technology and professionalism to two highly fragmented industries.
“I’m drawn to franchising because of its ability to create generational wealth and long-term opportunity for families,” Schneider said during a recent interview. “It’s also one of the most collaborative industries I’ve experienced; people are open, generous with insight and genuinely invested in helping one another succeed.”
Schneider’s approach to franchise sales starts with being deliberate about where, how and with whom Tide Services grows.
Rather than pursuing expansion for expansion’s sake, she has helped create a strategy designed around alignment among leadership, franchisees and prospective operators. That has meant bringing stakeholders into the conversation early and making sure everyone understands not only what the organization is trying to accomplish, but why.
“When people understand the ‘why’ and see their role in the outcome, change becomes energizing rather than intimidating,” Schneider said.
That philosophy has helped Tide Services accelerate its development across markets including California, Florida, Texas and the Midwest while attracting sophisticated multi-unit operators and investors.
It has also supported a broader strategy around acquisitions and adaptive reuse. In industries still populated by independent dry cleaners and laundromats, Tide Services sees an opportunity to modernize existing businesses and bring them under a nationally recognized brand rather than relying exclusively on ground-up development.
“There is so much opportunity in our industry, and we are just getting started,” Schneider said. “With laundromats and dry cleaners being a very fragmented industry, it is ripe for consolidation.”
While Schneider leads franchise development, she views franchise sales as inseparable from the performance of existing operators.
“A profitable franchisee is a growing franchisee,” she said. “Growth across the system requires innovation. If growth slows, it’s often a signal that systems, offerings or strategy need to evolve.”
That mindset is particularly important as Tide Services targets experienced multi-unit operators looking beyond traditional restaurant franchising.
Schneider believes the essential nature of laundry can make Tide Services an attractive diversification opportunity. Tide Laundromat is focused on bringing cleaner, safer and more comfortable experiences to a category where the consumer experience can vary widely, while Tide Cleaners combines professional garment care with conveniences such as delivery and 24/7 access.
“For multi-unit operators, it can be a powerful diversification play and a way to balance their portfolio with a category that isn’t as volatile as food,” Schneider said.
At the same time, Schneider believes innovation cannot come at the expense of what consumers already associate with Tide.
“For Tide, that’s trust, superior clean and dependability,” she said. “Any innovation must reinforce that promise. For more than 75 years, if it’s got to be clean, it’s got to be Tide.”
Schneider describes her leadership philosophy as “HOT leadership”: honest, open and transparent.
Those principles have become especially important in franchise development, where candidates are making substantial financial and professional decisions and need to understand both the opportunities and realities of ownership.
“I lead with honesty and transparency because that’s how real trust is built,” Schneider said. “I learned early that credibility is earned, especially when the truth is uncomfortable.”
Her philosophy was shaped in part by leaders who extended that same trust to her. Roughly 18 months after Schneider joined Tide, she developed an idea for a strategic partnership and brought it to then-CEO Katie Kool-Wray. Kool-Wray leveraged her network to secure a meeting with the potential partner’s CEO, but when it came time to present the idea, she handed the meeting directly to Schneider.
“That moment showed me what great leadership looks like: trust, advocacy and making space for others at the table,” Schneider said.
Today, Schneider tries to extend that same sense of ownership to her teams and the franchise system. When implementing changes, she emphasizes early stakeholder involvement and franchisee feedback rather than simply announcing decisions after they have been made.
“I start with the ‘why’ and lead with transparency,” she said. “Purpose creates alignment, and transparency builds trust.”
For Schneider, becoming an effective franchise sales leader has also required knowing when not to pursue an opportunity.
Franchise development teams face constant pressure to generate leads, sign agreements and enter new markets. But sustainable development requires ensuring those short-term wins fit the larger vision for the system.
Schneider said she balances those competing priorities by anchoring decisions to shared principles and “having the confidence to say no to projects, partnerships or opportunities that don’t align with the long-term vision.”
That lesson is also the advice she would give her younger self. “Understand the power of saying no,” Schneider said. “Every yes that doesn’t align with your values takes time and energy away from what truly matters.”
It is an approach that has helped Tide Services move from reactive franchise sales toward a more intentional development strategy. As the platform continues expanding, Schneider sees an opportunity not simply to sell more franchises, but to help consolidate and modernize an enormous, fragmented industry while creating long-term opportunities for franchise owners.
“Be relentlessly consistent,” Schneider said. “Your values, behavior and decisions should always align. That consistency is how real culture is built and sustained.”
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