In this Allcare employee feature, you’ll get to know Chris Kandelas, who founded the company and who adamantly cares about clean.
Chris Kandelas started Allcare Maintenance Services nearly two decades ago, and has since been able to see his unique vision come to life: a unique green cleaning company in Toronto that cares about clean.
Chris has been in the industry for 32 years, having started his first company when he was 18 while a business management student at Seneca College.
After considerable success over about five years in business, he eventually sold his business and went on to hold positions of increasing responsibility and challenge in the cleaning industry as a salesman, team manager, and regional manager. This helped him learn the ins-and-outs of the industry. It also helped him understand what he wanted to change when he would eventually open his own company.
When Chris left this environment to found Allcare Maintenance Services, it was a starting over of sorts. “I started with basically nothing,” he said, “and I basically haven’t looked back since then.”
Just like when he set out in the cleaning business, he was now managing all the everyday business responsibilities, getting his hands dirty, and working long days. But this time around he had lots of experience and was really prepared to start a company.
Allcare has since grown to serve 260 buildings in the GTA. Just over three years ago, Allcare rebranded around the phrase “Care About Clean” to reflect the company’s focus and direction. “We branded ourselves as the company that cares about clean,” he said. “Whether it’s the way we treat our employees, or the way we use green cleaning, it’s all about caring about what we do and why we clean.” The motto stuck.
Caring about clean for Chris has meant continuing to improve Allcare’s services including the addition of CleanTelligent software. “CleanTelligent allows Allcare to collect data to track performance building by building, crew by crew,” said Chris. This gives Allcare the ability to have a clear impression of its services, and make changes where they’re needed.
Chris also led Allcare green cleaning efforts when the very idea was only in its infancy in the Toronto region. “A lot of companies didn’t understand the advantages of green cleaning,” he recalls. Since then, green cleaning in workplaces has become known to improve the health of workers and cleaners in workplaces and Allcare as one of the leading practitioners and proponents of green cleaning. Allcare has, for instance, committed to using the EcoLogo or the Green Seal, which are both internationally recognized programs that show that cleaning agents meet stringent environmental requirements.
But asked what really makes Allcare successful, Chris said it’s all about the employees: respecting them, taking care of them, and helping them do their jobs. “The reason why we’re successful is that we take care of them. That’s the bottom line.”
In the next employee feature, we’ll find out about Corinne Traplin, who has worked at Allcare for 10 years, and recently became a company partner.