{"id":67722,"date":"2025-12-22T18:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/67722\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T18:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T18:07:10","slug":"dempsey-uniform-linen-supply-family-owned-business-in-nepa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/67722\/","title":{"rendered":"Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply\u2014Family-Owned Business in NEPA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly a century ago, sometime in the 1930s, a decade or more before washing machines and electric dryers became common household appliances in the postwar years, the Dempsey name was already tied to laundry service in Dunmore, Pennsylvania<\/a>. The family\u2019s first venture, Mother\u2019s Laundry, located where CVS currently stands, was a modest home-laundry operation run by three brothers.<\/p>\n

As home appliances became more accessible, the future of laundry wouldn\u2019t be found in neighborhood washrooms \u2014 it would be found in serving businesses. Seeing that potential, the next generation acted, and in 1959, brothers Patrick and Richard Dempsey opened a small commercial laundry business known as Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"AA black-and-white photo outside Mother\u2019s Laundry in Dunmore hangs in Dempsey\u2019s corporate office in Jessup, PA.
\nBuilt by Family, Shaped by Generations<\/p>\n

Today, siblings PJ Dempsey and Kristin Dempsey lead the second generation of the family business, carrying forward the work their father, Patrick Dempsey, helped begin in Dunmore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sometimes talk about this as being like two-and-a-half generations,\u201d said PJ Dempsey, President. PJ\u2019s grandfather encouraged his sons to look toward the commercial side of the work \u2014 renting and supplying textiles to businesses instead of households.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so they are the two co-founders of the business that we\u2019re in now, which is Dempsey Uniform and Linen Supply, which supplies businesses in manufacturing with uniforms, food service with tablecloths and napkins, and healthcare with sheets, gowns and lab coats, all on a rental basis,\u201d said Vice President Kristin Dempsey.<\/p>\n

\"HistoricPhotos from the early days of Mother\u2019s Laundry are displayed in Dempsey\u2019s corporate offices in Jessup, PA.
\nWhere It All Started<\/p>\n

They started small in 1959 in Dunmore. \u201cMy dad worked inside. My uncle drove the truck and sold,\u201d PJ said. \u201cThey were the little dynamic duo.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the beginning, the family business was about more than linen service. It was about people. And while not every employee shares the Dempsey last name, many have shared the work \u2014 and the story \u2014 for decades. In some cases, their connection to the company spans generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a lady who lived behind the laundry that they built a flight of stairs for her to come to work,\u201d PJ recalled. \u201cShe was the first employee. And she worked for us for 40-some years.\u201d Helen\u2019s daughter later came to work for the company, met her husband there, and the connection continued \u2014 eventually helping shape leaders who mentored PJ and others as the business grew.<\/p>\n

In the early years, business depended on the season. \u201cBack then, the business really focused on washing linen from hospitals and the Pocono resorts,\u201d PJ explained. \u201cSo in the summer, the place would be packed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winters, though, were quiet. To survive and grow, the family needed a steadier, year-round model. That turning point came in the late 1970s and early 1980s. \u201cThey kind of pivoted and got into the uniform business,\u201d PJ said. \u201cThat really steadied things, and it became much more of a year-round focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, Patrick and Richard continued to grow the business customer by customer, route by route. \u201cThe goal was always to pass it on to the next generation,\u201d PJ said.<\/p>\n

\"AA mural in Dempsey\u2019s corporate offices in Jessup, PA.
\nA New Chapter in the Family Business<\/p>\n

By the early 1990s, that next generation of Dempseys was ready to step in.<\/p>\n

A key moment came in 1994, when the company purchased a business in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. It would become Dempsey\u2019s first major geographic expansion and a proving ground for the second generation, as Kristin relocated to Sunbury to lead the operation.<\/p>\n

Sunbury became Dempsey\u2019s second production plant. The next step was Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where PJ took the lead after another acquisition. Those moves changed the scale of the company.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019ve grown organically every year,\u201d emphasized Kristin, \u201cthe big leaps have been as we\u2019ve acquired other businesses. And that\u2019s how we\u2019ve geographically expanded. Every geographic expansion we have has been through some acquisition that we had in that area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply serves customers across seven states with three production facilities and three distribution centers.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorDempsey Uniform & Linen Supply\u2019s Jessup, Pennsylvania, facility.
\n\u201cThe right answer to every question is, \u2018What would you do if Pat Dempsey was standing behind you?\u2019\u201d \u2014 PJ Dempsey<\/p>\n

In the late \u201990s, PJ and Kristin\u2019s dad bought land in a new industrial park near Scranton. He was thinking ahead \u2014 about space, about growth, about what the business would need next. And around that same time, PJ\u2019s uncle stepped away from the company \u2014 a quiet turning point in a family business.<\/p>\n

For nearly nine years, growth and acquisitions took priority, delaying construction. As Sunbury and the original Dunmore facility filled up, it became clear that Scranton needed a new, modern home. When the time came, PJ was the one driving the project. It was also a moment of trust from first generation to second.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad, who\u2019s this industry icon, finally has a chance to put his mark on it, start from scratch, and build the plant that he always knew that could set the standard for the industry,\u201d PJ said. \u201cBut I think he just had the confidence to know that this is going to work and encouraged us. And there\u2019s something about a big empty building that creates some sense of urgency to fill it. And that\u2019s what we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dempsey moved into its current flagship facility in January 2006, a plant designed for automation, efficiency and growth.<\/p>\n

\"AutomatedInside Dempsey Uniform & Linen Supply\u2019s Jessup plant, automated systems move thousands of rental garments through the laundering and finishing process each day.
\nServing Fine Dining & Healthcare<\/p>\n

In 2019, Dempsey acquired a plant in Clifton, New Jersey, just outside New York City \u2014 an operation that supports fine-dining linen service for restaurants in and around the city.<\/p>\n

Closer to home, the Sunbury plant \u2014 where Kristin first helped lead the company\u2019s expansion \u2014 shifted after Covid to exclusively handle healthcare laundering.<\/p>\n

\u201cSunbury became a dedicated healthcare facility,\u201d PJ said. \u201cWe got certified and accredited by some healthcare laundry associations and that turned out to be really, really, really great. We became the first supplier for UPMC in Central Pennsylvania for all their outpatient facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DempseyA mural in Dempsey\u2019s corporate offices in Jessup, PA.
\nFamily First: Six Siblings & Sunday Dinners<\/p>\n

Behind the business is a large, close-knit family. Patrick and his wife, who both passed between 2024 and 2025, raised six children in Northeastern Pennsylvania<\/a>. Kristin is the oldest; Katherine is the youngest. Today, the family\u2019s mix of careers \u2014 including a doctor, a lawyer and an architect \u2014 quietly supports the business in different ways. PJ serves as President, Kristin as Vice President, and Kat leads technology and talent initiatives, with her husband also working in operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re all still together on Sunday nights,\u201d Kristin said. \u201cMy parents always had us for dinner on Sunday nights, and even though we lost both of them this past year or year and a half, we\u2019re still all together on Sunday nights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA restored antique truck, gifted to Patrick Dempsey, resembles the company\u2019s signature trucks displayed at the Jessup plant.
\nBuilding for the Third Generation<\/p>\n

Between Kristin, PJ, Kat and their siblings, there are 14 grandchildren in the extended Dempsey clan. Some are already getting experience in the family business.\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019ve been working here for a few years and getting their hands dirty, doing the worst of the jobs,\u201d PJ added.<\/p>\n

\u201cPJ\u2019s kids cannot get here fast enough,\u201d Kristin joked.<\/p>\n

One of Kristin\u2019s daughters is especially interested in technology. \u201cOne likes to code, so I had her here this summer with our IT guy for a big project,\u201d Kristin said. \u201cI told him, \u2018Please show her that laundry can be interesting for computer science. We do cool computer science stuff here in the laundry business.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That focus reflects where the company is heading, with an emphasis on data, systems and scale.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got two or three other prospects that really look good,\u201d PJ said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve decided to look beyond the Mid-Atlantic. We\u2019ve broadened our horizons. And again, that\u2019s next-gen stuff \u2014 it\u2019s not necessary for us, but a bigger company with more kids coming in creates opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Dempseys, it comes down to staying steady \u2014 making the choices that keep the business strong not just for today, but for the family coming up behind them. \u201cWe\u2019re here. We\u2019re going to make this work,\u201d Kristin said.<\/p>\n

And as PJ explained, when you\u2019re thinking about who comes next, it changes how you look at everything. \u201cIf there\u2019s another generation coming in, you see things very differently.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly a century ago, sometime in the 1930s, a decade or more before washing machines and electric dryers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-67722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}