There's a new business in town that's cornering the market on "hunkiness."
Beginning in July,
College Hunks Hauling Junk will dispatch well-trained, personable, and well-groomed staff to whisk away those piles of debris, useless furnishings, old appliances and electronics, and other unsightly items and scraps that invade the space of any household or commercial office.
"Will 'hunks' really show up at your door?" says Clark Burkle, owner of the new franchise. "We say yes. That's because each and every staff member represents the acronym of what 'hunks' stands for."
Hunks, Burkle explains, stands for Honest, Uniformed, Nice, Knowledgeable Service. While being a student isn't a qualifier for being on the College Hunks team, image, customer service, and reliability are when it comes to serving clients.
"We're very solid about setting and keeping appointment times," says Bill Willbrandt, Burkle's business partner. "We don't just give you a window or time range. We're working hard to bring professionalism to what's sometimes considered a 'dirty job.'"
The College Hunks franchise will be the first in Greater Lansing for the national company. With headquarters in Tampa, Fla., the franchise offers home movers, officer movers, junk removal, donation pick ups and moving labor services across the United States and Canada. Burkle's operation is one of a handful in Michigan, and among about 50 nationwide.
The East Lansing-Okemos based College Hunks will focus on the junk removal side of the franchise for starters, then expand into local moving services come fall. Burkle says he and Willbrandt decided the franchise would be a good fit for the area—both based on the availability of a labor pool, a mobile university community, and the growing population of downsizing seniors.
"One man's junk is another man's treasure," says Burkle. "A lot of what we remove we'll recycle. We'll be working very hard to minimize what goes into a landfill and to find a home for every piece we collect."
Burkle plans to hire eight part-time employees. The franchise will have two trucks—one for junk hauling, the other for moving come fall.
Source: Clark Burkle, Owner, College Hunks Hauling Junk and College Hunks Moving
Writer: Ann Kammerer, News Editor
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