Business View - August 2015 193
necessary deaths that occur in America’s healthcare
facilities, every year.
Westport Linen Services, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
is a healthcare laundry that specializes in providing
reusable linens and uniforms to hospitals, clinics, sur-
gical centers, and nursing homes. The company was
founded 15 years ago by partners, Eddie Lefeaux and
John Landry. Lefeaux details Westport Linen’s begin-
nings: “Around 1999, the company we were working
for [Kean’s Healthcare Linen Services] was owned by
Cintas Corporation, and they decided to sell to a com-
petitor - a large, national chain. But it was too large of
a company. It didn’t have the regional, corporate cul-
ture that we had built over the years, running our little
company.
“We saw a niche market in serving the healthcare in-
dustry in South Louisiana, so we decided, with our pre-
vious contacts, that it would be a great opportunity for
the two of us to leave corporate America and start a
small, local company that would grow and become a
regional provider. We did not want to expand into in-
dustrial uniforms and the other segments of the indus-
trial linen industry. We wanted to focus exclusively on
healthcare. We started with ten employees and three
customers.”
Today, Westport Linen is the largest, exclusive health-
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Westport Linen Services
WHAT:
A healthcare laundry that offers rental
linen service to hospitals, clinics, surgical centers,
and nursing homes
WHERE:
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
WEBSITE
:
HEALTHCARE
