Green Cleaning

Today's Commercial Appeal has a nice profile of 2 Chicks and a Broom, a local cleaning service that uses all natural cleaning products. (Remember, there's more info on green cleaning in our archives.

Housework service, 2 Chicks and a Broom, cleaning up nests
By Jon Devin

When Kip and Kelly Uhlhorn go shopping for vinegar, lemon, ginger, basil, lavender and green tea, they're not planning on cooking dinner.

The new owners of 2 Chicks and a Broom plan on continuing the company's legacy of providing cleaning services with all-natural products while expanding retail sales.

The Uhlhorns, who have been married for 31/2 years and residents of Memphis for the last two, bought the Midtown-based company from the original owner, Candace Mills, for $50,000 in September.

Kelly Uhlhorn, 34, had been a close friend of Mills' and worked as a "chick" herself. Mills moved to New York after the sale.

"It's pretty amazing what (Mills) accomplished -- somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 to 1,000 clients without a Web site," said Kip Uhlhorn, 31, who also owns Kip Uhlhorn Investments, a construction company.

The Uhlhorns have already started the company's first Web site, though currently it only lists product lines. By the end of January, they hope to launch a more developed version that will allow clients to pay for services and order products online.

2 Chicks will remain at 885 S. Cooper, but has expanded to include space it formerly shared with Light Years, a vintage clothing store, which has since moved.

Kelly said flexibility is the most important thing the business offers its staff of about 35 male and female employees, called "chicks." All are independent contractors, and many are artists and students whose schedules change from time to time.

"Some go to school, or they'll leave for a little bit, maybe go on tour," said Kelly. "We support a lot of artists and musicians here because they need the freedom to be able to go out and come back. They can basically make their own schedules, if they want to work two days a week or five days a week."

"If I had had this job when I was in my band back in New York, I would have been thrilled," Kip said.

2 Chicks and a Broom offers both residential and commercial cleaning services during the day, at night, or on weekends. The initial service is typically a five- to six-hour deep cleaning, which is followed by two- to three-hour rotational cleanings. Cost is $30 per hour per chick.

The Uhlhorns said they consider corporate franchises their direct competition, but they believe they've got an edge in the green niche with their natural cleaning products.

"When Candace started the business she was using commercial products, too," said Kelly. "She started getting really bad allergies and developed something almost like asthma. When you're breathing in bleach all day, and then you mix in ammonia, it can be deadly. She realized that she could do this green and it would work just as well for disinfecting."

For example, the BioShield floor soap, which the Uhlhorns stock in their retail space, lists three ingredients: plant oils, water and linseed oil.

Barbara Clenin of Total Health Chiropractic and Rehabilitation Clinic said she uses 2 Chicks' services as a way to accommodate her clients who have allergies.

"We see nearly 300 people a week in the clinic and so many of them suffer from allergies to different smells and substances," said Clenin, who also uses 2 Chicks for her home and a Downtown loft. "We had had some complaints from patients about our disinfectants, but the product lines that (2 Chicks) use have cut down on patients' sensitivity."

2 Chicks also uses washable cloth towels instead of disposable paper towels, 100 percent recycled toilet paper, and can scent their dust-free vacuum cleaners with essential oils if requested.

Kelly said they happened to buy the company at one of the worst times economically, but found that many of the customers who cancelled their cleanings to save money had returned.

"A lot of people are working longer hours than they were before, and they just don't have time to do the cleaning," Kelly said.

In the future, the Uhlhorns hope to open an East Memphis office as their client base spreads to Germantown and Collierville, and they plan to offer more services, like pet-sitting and house-sitting, which Kelly said people have requested.