An SME keen on cleanliness

Talking to Business Standard, John Larsen, who floated Mr Keen along with partner Nadeem Sait, said: "The concept, a first in the state, is catching up faster than we expected it to. Spick-and-span homes, clean office spaces and construction sites and dirt-free vehicles are what we promise. We are a company which is into honest, dependable and quality cleaning services".

"Our USP is high-pressure, heavy duty vacuum cleaning equipment operated by a team of 10 employees. We plan to bring in more equipment and recruit more personnel in the coming months. By next month, we will add at least 5 to 6 people to our team," Larsen added.

Elaborating on how Mr Keen works, Larsen said: "Our phone line is staffed with a real live person 24x7 and any client who calls us for cleaning gets our service promptly. One of our representatives first visits the place and does a detailed assessment of the premises to be cleaned. Following this, the cleaning team reaches the place and in a matter of hours the place is dirt-and-dust-free."

The charges are minimal too. While for homes, offices and construction sites the cleaning charges are in the rate of Re 1 per square foot, for small cars the bill comes to Rs 150 and for bigger cars it is Rs 200.

Larsen added: "For residential and cleaning, the package includes cleaning of floor, walls, windows, carpets, air conditions, fan, computer, sofa sets, tables, kitchen cabinets, washbasins and bathrooms, while for construction site clean ups, we focus on cleaning for work finished houses, flats and buildings".

Larsen says: "For office cleaning, we have deployed permanently employed full-time staff, who are trained in the latest cleaning methods. Part-time cleaning is also available. Mr Keen Car Cleaning will clean customers' cars on site, at home or at the office."

The specialised cleaning solutions offered by Mr Keen include jet wash and high pressure cleaning, mechanized cleaning of premises, marble granite floor re-crystallisation and polishing, carpet cleaning and shampooing and upholstery cleaning as well as floor degreasing and decarbonising, Larsen added.

The purely western concept is catching up up in Kerala, with Mr Keen now looking at more offices. "We haven't decided on an expansion, but we are sure we would look at more locations across the state in a few years from now," Larsen said.