Breaking Bob Kearn leads COIT Cleaning since 1982 • COIT named after San Francisco's iconic tower, founded 1950 • 570 employees, operations in US, Canada & Thailand • 10 lines of service: carpets to mold remediation • GreenEarth dry cleaning across all California locations • Family business. National franchise. 75-year legacy. • COIT acquired Minneapolis, Santa Rosa franchises under Kearn's watch •
Breaking Bob Kearn leads COIT Cleaning since 1982 • COIT named after San Francisco's iconic tower, founded 1950 • 570 employees, operations in US, Canada & Thailand • 10 lines of service: carpets to mold remediation • GreenEarth dry cleaning across all California locations • Family business. National franchise. 75-year legacy. • COIT acquired Minneapolis, Santa Rosa franchises under Kearn's watch •
Running a Legacy, Not Just a Business
The company was named after a tower. Lou Kearn started it in 1950, not far from San Francisco's COIT Tower, with a novel process for cleaning draperies and a 100% satisfaction guarantee that was genuinely radical at the time. By 1982, Bob Kearn had taken the helm - and he hasn't let go since.
That's over four decades of one person steering the same ship. In an era where CEOs cycle through companies like seasonal menus, Bob Kearn's tenure at COIT Cleaning and Restoration Services is quietly remarkable. He didn't just inherit a cleaning company. He built a franchise empire from Burlingame, California, stretching from the Bay Area to Minneapolis to Bangkok.
COIT's model is simple by design: offer enough services that you're always useful. Carpet dirty? COIT. Drapes need refreshing? COIT. Flooded basement? COIT. Mold in the walls? COIT. The ten-service playbook means franchise owners have multiple reasons to knock on the same door, multiple times a year, deepening relationships instead of chasing new leads.
Because we have ten lines of services, franchise owners have multiple opportunities to get into the home several times a year to offer various cleaning services and deepen the relationship with our customers.
- Bob Kearn, President & CEO, COIT Cleaning and Restoration Services
The Ten-Door Strategy
Most service businesses fight for a customer once and hope they remember the number. COIT's approach, as articulated by Bob Kearn, works differently. When a franchise operates ten distinct service lines - carpets, draperies, upholstery, tile and grout, wood floors, air ducts, dryer vents, specialty rugs, outdoor stone, and emergency restoration - every room in a customer's home becomes a conversation.
Kearn has described this as a relationship-deepening model rather than a pure customer-acquisition play. It's a subtle but significant distinction. In a fragmented industry dominated by single-service specialists, COIT positions itself as the one-call solution for a homeowner's entire cleaning and restoration lifecycle.
The result is a retention play disguised as a service menu. And it works. Under Kearn's leadership, COIT has maintained a loyal customer base that returns not just for carpet cleaning but for the full range of services as life happens - moves, floods, fires, renovations.
COIT is committed to providing the most efficient, environmentally-friendly cleaning processes available today.
- Bob Kearn
The environmental commitment wasn't just talk. Kearn led the installation of GreenEarth dry cleaning machines across all of COIT's California company-owned stores - a move that predated the broader consumer push toward eco-friendly services. It aligned the brand's legacy of technical innovation (Lou Kearn's original patented drapery process) with a forward-looking operational philosophy.
COIT began franchising in 1962 - 12 years after founding - giving it over 60 years of franchise development under Bob Kearn's multi-decade watch.
COIT by the Numbers
1950
Founded
Near San Francisco's COIT Tower
1962
Franchising Began
12 years after founding
570
Employees
Company-wide workforce
$34.7M+
Annual Revenue
Specialty cleaning & restoration
44+
Years as CEO
Bob Kearn's tenure (since 1982)
3
Countries
US, Canada & Thailand
Four Decades at the Wheel
1950
Lou Kearn founds COIT near San Francisco's COIT Tower with a patented drapery-cleaning process and a 100% satisfaction guarantee.
1962
COIT begins franchising, laying the groundwork for a national network that would expand across three countries.
1970
COIT expands into upholstery and carpet cleaning, diversifying from its drapery-only origins.
1976-1980
Bob Kearn earns his BS in Marketing from the University of Colorado Boulder.
1982
Bob Kearn becomes President and CEO of COIT Cleaning and Restoration Services - a position he continues to hold over 40 years later.
2012
Under Kearn's leadership, COIT acquires the Minneapolis/St. Paul franchise, expanding its Midwest footprint.
2013
COIT expands into Mohave County, Arizona and Laughlin, Nevada, growing the franchise network in new markets.
2014
Acquisition of the Santa Rosa franchise and installation of GreenEarth dry cleaning machines in all California company-owned stores.
2026
COIT continues as a family-owned operation with 570 employees, franchise operations in three countries, and Bob Kearn still at the helm.
The Tower That Named a Company
Lou Kearn had a problem with draperies. Not a personal one - a technical one. Existing cleaning methods were rough on delicate fabrics, inconsistent in results, and rarely came with any kind of guarantee. So he invented a better process, patented it, and built a business around it in 1950, not far from one of San Francisco's most recognizable landmarks: COIT Tower.
The name stuck. And so did the philosophy. The satisfaction guarantee that Lou put at the center of COIT's value proposition wasn't a marketing gimmick - it was an operational commitment. If the result wasn't right, COIT would make it right. That standard has persisted through Bob Kearn's tenure as a core brand principle.
Family businesses carry an unusual kind of pressure. They have to honor what came before while still adapting to what's coming next. Bob Kearn has navigated that tension for over four decades - maintaining the handshake-quality promise of the original business while building the operational and franchise infrastructure of a modern multi-national service brand.
The expansion into Canada and Thailand is evidence of that balance. COIT isn't chasing growth for growth's sake; it's extending a proven system into new markets where the underlying demand - homes, buildings, floods, fires, and the inevitable mess of living - is universal.
The satisfaction guarantee that Lou Kearn built into COIT's foundation in 1950 is still there - four generations of customers, ten service lines, and three countries later.
- COIT Brand Heritage
Service Coverage at COIT
Drapery & Blinds
Original
Water Restoration
Emergency
Mold Remediation
Specialized
Illustrative of COIT's service-line breadth under Bob Kearn's leadership
Going Green Before It Was a Headline
When most companies in the cleaning industry were still debating whether eco-friendly operations were worth the investment, Bob Kearn made the call. GreenEarth dry cleaning machines went into every California company-owned COIT store - a commitment to what Kearn described as "the most efficient, environmentally-friendly cleaning processes available today."
The GreenEarth process uses liquid silicone (a substance derived from sand) rather than the harsh chemical solvents traditionally used in dry cleaning. It's gentler on fabrics, gentler on the environment, and gentler on the air quality of the homes COIT serves. For a company whose entire business model depends on being invited back into people's homes repeatedly, the alignment of environmental responsibility with customer trust is not accidental.
This kind of operational commitment - investing in new technology before the market demands it - reflects a leadership style built on decades-long thinking rather than quarterly metrics. When you've run the same company for over 40 years, you tend to plan in different time horizons than most executives.
Things Worth Knowing
Named after a landmark
COIT gets its name from San Francisco's COIT Tower, near where Lou Kearn started the business in 1950.
The original innovation
Lou Kearn patented a drapery-cleaning process that was novel enough to anchor an entire franchise system that would span 75+ years.
Ten services, one customer
Bob Kearn's franchise logic: ten service lines means a franchise owner can earn revenue from the same customer for carpets, drapes, upholstery, tile, air ducts, and more - all in the same year.
Colorado roots
Before taking over COIT, Bob Kearn studied Marketing at the University of Colorado Boulder, graduating in 1980 - two years before becoming CEO.
International reach
Under Kearn's leadership, COIT expanded from a Bay Area business to an international franchise operating in the United States, Canada, and Thailand.
40+ year tenure
Bob Kearn has been President and CEO since 1982 - making him one of the longest-serving executives in the specialty cleaning and restoration industry.
COIT's Story on YouTube
COIT Cleaning and Restoration Services maintains an active YouTube presence covering their services, restoration work, and company history. The official channel features walkthroughs of their cleaning processes and restoration projects.
What Four Decades Teaches
There's a kind of leadership that gets forged in longevity. Not the kind that comes from riding a wave, or from catching a market at the right moment, but from staying in the room long enough to see the trends cycle back. Bob Kearn has watched the cleaning industry absorb new technologies, new competitors, and new consumer expectations across more than four decades. He's adapted to each one without abandoning the operational core that makes COIT recognizable.
The SIC code 7380 - Detective, Guard, and Armored Car Services - doesn't fully capture what COIT does, but the facilities services framing is accurate. These are businesses that operate inside the lived reality of people's homes and workplaces. Trust is the product. Reputation is the moat. Consistency is the competitive advantage.
Bob Kearn's version of that story runs through a family name, a San Francisco tower, a patented process, and now a franchise network touching three continents. It's a story still being written from an office on Hinckley Road in Burlingame, where COIT has been headquartered long enough to become part of the Bay Area business landscape.
The work is unglamorous by design. Clean carpets don't make headlines. Restored flood damage doesn't go viral. But the customers remember - and apparently, they keep calling back.