How a cleaning business grew into a detergent brand and a supply company.
Hello, My name is Rick Gelinas;
30 years ago - in the spring of 1982, I started a cleaning business in St Petersburg Florida. The original cleaning business (Pioneer Maintenance) grew and was later renamed KleenStep to more clearly reflect the companies focus on commercial carpet care.
During our first twenty years in business we encountered many challenges cleaning commercial glue down carpets (such as recurring spill stains, and carpets that "ugly out" rapidly). And as we went to the carpet cleaning industry looking for answers we found there was nothing that could successfully resolve these issues 100% of the time.
Being a bit of a perfectionist, I kept on searching. After two decades of trying everything in the industry I learned about emerging polymer technologies that could effectively encapsulate soil. Voilà! The long quest was over. The challenges of commercial carpet maintenance could now be eliminated. Carpets could now be cleaned more efficiently than ever before, recurring spill stains and "wicking" could now be eliminated, and carpets could now stay clean longer between cleanings.
I shared what I had discovered with others in the industry and "Encapsulation" quickly became an industry buzzword. In fact, I was the first person to use the term "encapsulation" to describe this cleaning process.
Being a true entrepreneur at heart, I next partnered with some very bright chemists and together we developed the Releasit line of encapsulation products. Then all of this rolled into a supply business called Excellent Supply. And that is how a cleaning business in St Petersburg Florida grew into an internationally recognized Chemical Line, and a Supply Company.
30 years ago - in the spring of 1982, I started a cleaning business in St Petersburg Florida. The original cleaning business (Pioneer Maintenance) grew and was later renamed KleenStep to more clearly reflect the companies focus on commercial carpet care.
During our first twenty years in business we encountered many challenges cleaning commercial glue down carpets (such as recurring spill stains, and carpets that "ugly out" rapidly). And as we went to the carpet cleaning industry looking for answers we found there was nothing that could successfully resolve these issues 100% of the time.
Being a bit of a perfectionist, I kept on searching. After two decades of trying everything in the industry I learned about emerging polymer technologies that could effectively encapsulate soil. Voilà! The long quest was over. The challenges of commercial carpet maintenance could now be eliminated. Carpets could now be cleaned more efficiently than ever before, recurring spill stains and "wicking" could now be eliminated, and carpets could now stay clean longer between cleanings.
I shared what I had discovered with others in the industry and "Encapsulation" quickly became an industry buzzword. In fact, I was the first person to use the term "encapsulation" to describe this cleaning process.
Being a true entrepreneur at heart, I next partnered with some very bright chemists and together we developed the Releasit line of encapsulation products. Then all of this rolled into a supply business called Excellent Supply. And that is how a cleaning business in St Petersburg Florida grew into an internationally recognized Chemical Line, and a Supply Company.
RICK GELINAS
Founder of Kleenstep, Releasit,
and Excellent Supply.