Ralph Venturanza is juggling a lot. There’s the laundromat he and his wife recently opened. A full-time supply chain job. Three kids ages 13, six, and two. And ongoing Navy Reserve obligations that had him deploying just days after we spoke.

“It’s a whirlwind,” he said, with a laugh that made clear he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ralph served 10 and a half years on active duty in the Navy before transitioning out in 2019, affiliating with the Reserve the same year, without a single gap in service. He made Chief Petty Officer in 2023 and shortly after commissioned as a Supply Officer, a role that mirrors his civilian career in supply chain and materials management. That operational background, he says, is exactly what prepared him for entrepreneurship.

“All my experience throughout the years in the military really helped us shape the business to where it is today,” he said.

The idea for a laundromat started with an Instagram post his wife came across, a former nurse who had built a successful laundromat venture. The timing clicked. Both came from entrepreneurial families, and both knew that a corporate job, however stable, came with no guarantees.

“Being employed at a Fortune 100 company is great,” Ralph said, “but it’s great until they don’t need you anymore.”

After initial sticker shock, they stumbled onto a closed laundromat just a mile from their original site, available for bid. They won, landing the location at roughly 40% below their original estimates, with minimal down payment and in-house financing.

Laundry Works soft opened in January, with key support from Veteran Business Project. VBP connected Ralph with an attorney who helped negotiate a strong lease, the kind of early guidance, he said, that set the business up for success from day one.

His approach since opening has been simple: be there for the neighborhood. If someone arrives after last wash, his employees are asked to help them anyway. He’s also brought his own kid on as a summer worker, paying him and teaching him the value of hard work in the process.

“It’s an exchange of ideas and knowledge,” he said. “We’ve been blessed by this opportunity, I just hope it’s infectious.”