A CFO asks a CEO: What happens if we invest in developing our people and then they leave us?

The CEO responds: What happens if we don’t, and they stay?

 — Peter Baeklund

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In 2019, Stanley Chen saw an opportunity: to create a purpose-driven enterprise focused equally on quality, profitability, and people, an enterprise now known as BerryClean.

Based in San Francisco and founded in 2015, BerryClean is a residential and commercial cleaning service company that combines premium quality with digital convenience and eco-friendly cleaning practices, a one-of-a-kind in their industry. Stanley acquired the company in 2019 with a vision to build something that would truly make an impact for customers and employees alike:

“I looked at all kinds of small businesses—retail shops, gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants and cafes—and I decided to work on BerryClean because I really loved the employees and how hard they worked. It reminded me of the restaurants that my extended family and my parents ran when I was growing up, working with a lot of low-income service workers and immigrants.”

Under Stanley’s leadership, BerryClean has more than doubled its revenue, expanded into new markets, and developed a strong foundation for scalable growth, evolving from a locally focused operator, to now one of the largest cleaning companies in the Bay Area. ICA is proud to support this vision with a term loan investment to support BerryClean’s geographic expansion and customer acquisition.

Stanley prioritizes a people-first management style, seeing the inextricable connection between employee performance, culture, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, business success. When asked how he prioritizes creating good jobs while driving business growth, Stanley expressed:

"People are your most important asset.  Labor accounts for over 50% of our business costs, by far the largest expense in our company. For BerryClean—and really any service-based company that relies on labor—prioritizing employees is that much more important. We make sure we are spending wisely by investing in our staff.”

BerryClean makes good on its mission to prioritize its employees through offering high-quality, fairly paid jobs, robust with 401K benefits, annual bonuses, and advancement opportunities — notably, the company holds weekly “BerryClean University” sessions that focus on professional development and upward mobility. Currently, BerryClean employs 34 people across the Bay Area and has provided jobs to more than 140 employees since 2019 — all of which are W-2 workers with access to benefits, training, and performance-based activities, an uncommon standard in the cleaning industry, typically marked by an extractive labor environment that leads to high turnover rates. 

Stanley got involved with ICA Fund in 2021 when he participated in one of ICA’s flagship programming opportunities to dial in business financials and get investment-ready. Stanley has since been an active member of the ICA Community, and is currently a member of the ICA Founder Forum:

“The Founder’s Forum was a great place to share and connect with other founders. It’s encouraging to be able to provide each other with advice and get tactical takeaways that I was able to implement later on in my business. It was helpful to share a business challenge I was facing and see what others would do if they were in my shoes, and constructive for me to think about what I would do in their shoes.”

For Stanley, mission-alignment and flexibility from a capital provider is a non-negotiable: 

“I really trust ICA Fund — they are actually our only investor. I have had investors that I have turned down because it didn’t feel like the right fit, but there was total alignment with ICA in terms of our mission and our values.”

ICA is excited to continue a mission-aligned partnership with BerryClean, and support its future growth with this new investment as they expand into Southern California to continue building community wealth through good jobs.

Whether you are an aspiring, emerging, or established entrepreneur, take it from Stanley’s key lessons learned about building a scalable and values-driven business:

"The best time to raise capital is when you don’t need it. I acquired BerryClean in 2019, 6 months before the pandemic. If I hadn’t racked up capital at our initial acquisition of the business, we would have been done."

"If you are a leader, you are working for everybody else. It is a position of service, and to be an effective leader, you need to constantly give and not take."

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