Cintas Corporation is an American company with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, that provides specialized services to businesses, primarily in North America. The firm designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs and provides entrance mats, restroom cleaning and supplies, tile and carpet cleaning, promotional products, first aid, safety, and fire protection products and services. Cintas is a publicly held company traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. The company is one of the largest in the industry with 35,000 employees in 2017. Revenue in fiscal year 2016 was $4.905 billion and net income was $693.52 million. Fortune in the United States, named Cintas among its "Most Admired Companies" for eight consecutive years, and Report on Business Magazine named the company one of Canada's Best Employers. Cintas has been featured on episodes of the reality television seriesBar Rescue and Hotel Impossible.
History
Cintas Corporation began in 1929 as the Acme Industrial Laundry Company by Richard Farmer. He collected chemical-soaked rags from factories and washed and returned them to customers for a fee. In the early 1940s, rags were replaced by shop towels—which are uniform in size and shape and much more absorbent than old rags—and tablecloths. By then, the company’s name had changed to Acme Wiper and Industrial Laundry. His grandson, Richard "Dick" Farmer, joined the family business in 1956 after graduating from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Acme had just 15 employees at the time. Dick Farmer helped uniform rental sales increase from $300,000 in 1959 to $847,000 in 1963. He became CEO of the company in 1968. He then put together a business plan to open small uniform rental plants all over the United States. The first opened in Cleveland in October 1968. In 1972, the company changed its name to Cintas and then went public in 1983. Farmer also tried products that were new at the time, such as fabrics that resisted wrinkles and stains, to grow the company to an almost 30 percent market share in uniforms. Cintas' recent growth has been primarily through its acquisition of more than 220 companies, eliminating overheads and cutting costs. Since its inception, Cintas has bought itself into markets such as first aid and safety, fire protection, facility services, and tile and carpet cleaning. In July 1997, Dick Farmer's son Scott Farmer, who has been employed at the company since 1981, became president and chief operating officer. Dick Farmer retired as chief executive officer in 2003, and Scott was promoted to take his place. Dick Farmer remained chairman emeritus after his retirement. In 2015, Cintas acquired Zee Medical from McKesson Corporation for approximately $130 million. In 2016, Cintas acquired G&K Services for $2.2 billion. In 2016, CEO Scott Farmer became chairman of the board. The company is valued at US$12.97 billion.
Products
uniform rental and service of facilities comprises around 80% of the revenue.
Criticism
In 2003, UNITE HERE and the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters have been engaged in a campaign against Cintas, alleging unfair labor practices. Unite obtained license numbers of Cintas workers in Pennsylvania, to contact them at home and has since been ordered to pay the workers $2,500 each. The ruling was subsequently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Following the death of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, worker in March 2007, both unions and several Members of Congress called for stricter health and safety standards at the company's laundries. In May 2007, Cintas hired a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm, the Podesta Group, to manage their relations with Congress.
