The story
UniFirst was founded in 1936 by the Croatti family, under the name of National Overall Dry Cleaning Company. The company began in a horse barn that had been converted into a makeshift laundry, and its equipment consisted of a single washing machine and a delivery truck. It served Boston area factory workers and other laborers, whose heavy soiled work clothing needed to be cleaned frequently. The National Overall Dry Cleaning Company was incorporated in Massachusetts on October 6, 1950.
In the 1980s, UniFirst was sued by residents of Woburn, Massachusetts in a class-action lawsuit. The residents alleged that Unifirst, along with two other firms, had released pollution that had leaked into the water supply, and that this was a cause of increased instances of leukemia in the town. UniFirst settled with the residents without going to trial, for a sum of one million dollars. This episode was featured in the non-fiction book A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr, later adapted into a film of the same name. As of 2009, UniFirst's environmental record has improved; it has received awards for its water treatment processes from the Missouri Water Environment Association and the Water and Wastewater Utility Special Service Division of Austin, Texas, among others.
In 1991 Ronald Croatti became the chief executive officer of the company. He continued his rise in 1995, when he became the company president, and again in 2002, when he became the chairman of the board. In 2011, UniFirst featured in an episode of the reality television series Undercover Boss.
In May 2017, Ronald Croatti died and Steven S. Sintros became President & CEO.
In March 2026, UniFirst agreed to be acquired by Cintas in a deal valued at $5.5 billion.
From Wikipedia’s article on UniFirst, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7