How The Mat Menifee Is Redefining What a Laundromat Can Be

Jessica Dougherty opened The Mat Menifee in October 2025, a first-of-its-kind neighborhood laundromat and espresso bar in one of California's fastest-growing cities. In under six months, she's built the #1-rated laundromat in the city, grown to a team of 12, launched a refillery and community wellness program, and is preparing to sign papers on a second location in Temecula. All of it running on Cents.

At a Glance:

• #1 Rated laundromat in Menifee on Yelp

• ~6 mo Time to plan a second location

• 3,500+ Instagram followers

• 100% Coinless from day one

From Marriott Ballrooms to Laundry Machines

Jessica Dougherty's career doesn't follow a straight line. It follows a standard of excellence. She started her professional life as a hospitality manager at Marriott International, where she spent a decade training frontline staff and auditing hotels across the Western region. "I'm used to being involved in top-tier brands and superior service," she says. "It's very important to be number one."

After leaving Marriott to raise three children alongside her husband's demolition business, she went back to school and found her calling in nursing. For the last 15 years she's worked in a pediatric cardiac ICU, one of the most demanding units in medicine.

The laundromat idea had been on the table for years. Her husband always believed it was a smart business. Jessica wasn't so sure. "That does not feel like something I would be proud of," she told him. But about four years ago, her washer and dryer broke down around the same time and her perspective started to change. There was a laundromat just three miles away, but it wasn't a place she felt comfortable bringing her clothes. The nearest one she trusted was 12 miles out. She'd make the drive, sit in the parking lot scrolling her phone, and wonder why no one had built something better in her own community. That frustration turned into a business idea, but only on one condition. "It has to be something I feel good about bringing into the community," she said.

They started building it together. He passed away during the journey, and The Mat is, in no small way, a tribute to him and the business they set out to build.

Not a Laundromat. A Community Hub

Menifee, California is one of the fastest-growing communities in the state, drawing transplants from Orange County and LA who are accustomed to a higher standard of experience. Jessica saw an opening. "I wanted to bring a boutique, small business style to the community. Something elevated," she says.

During her research she came across a couple on the East Coast who had blended retail and laundry under one roof, and it clicked. She reached out to a personal contact whose family has owned a coffee bean ranch in Guatemala for generations, and they partnered to build a full espresso bar inside the laundromat. The interior, all industrial chic and warm materials, looks like her own home. That was entirely intentional. "I want people to come in, sit, drink their coffee, do their laundry like a Saturday morning in their own home and hopefully meet people and bring something back to the community," she says.

People have taken her at her word. Women doing laundry have exchanged phone numbers and made plans to meet up. The space has hosted networking events and wellness drop-ins. A functional medicine practitioner holds free health workshops there now. The patio is available for community events.

The Mat has also grown into what Jessica calls a refillery and apothecary, stocking non-toxic, eco-friendly detergents that customers can purchase by the ounce and refill their own containers with. She's exploring adding a mini dry-cleaning machine. New signage is in the works to reflect everything the space has become: laundry lounge, espresso bar, refillery, and apothecary all under one roof.

Everything Under One Roof

• Coinless self-service laundry with 28 washers and 28 dryers, accepting app, card, and tap-to-pay powered by Laundroworks

• Full espresso bar using single-origin Guatemalan coffee beans, open 6am to 6pm daily

• Fluff and fold drop-off service with 4-hour turnaround managed through Cents

• Refillery selling eco-friendly detergents, fabric softener, and dryer balls by the ounce

• Apothecary merchandise including wellness and laundry products

• Patio event space and community wellness workshops

• Charity partnerships with a local women's shelter and military families

Mother, Daughters, Mission

The Mat was originally designed as a partnership. Jessica would continue nursing while her husband gradually transitioned to running the laundromat full-time. Sadly, he passed away before he ever got to see it come to life.

Their older daughter, Cadence, had just graduated from university. Moving home wasn't in the plan, but after her father passed she came back anyway and stepped into the general manager role without hesitation. "She brought a more trendy, younger, more diverse perspective," Jessica says. "I believe she's definitely drawn our college-age crowd." Their younger daughter, Samantha, artistic and creative, took over merchandising and social media entirely. The result is over 3,500 Instagram followers before the location had even been open six months, and branded merchandise distinctive enough to earn attention from across the industry.

Jessica is open about the hard lessons of building something from scratch. "I've earned my MBA the hard way," she says. "I had no idea what I was doing at the start." Signing a lease before permits were approved meant paying 18 months of rent before the doors ever opened. The city's conditional use permit process alone took over a year. Her advice to anyone starting out: know what your landlord, the water department, and the city each require before you commit to anything. "Be very solid on that before you pick a location."

Why They Chose Cents and Went Coinless from Day One

Going coinless was never a debate. Jessica's customer base, younger professionals and families relocating from LA and Orange County, expects a modern payment experience. The question was only which platforms to trust with it.

Cadence, the family's self-described tech person, took point on the vendor research. She evaluated multiple laundry management platforms before landing on Cents for point of sale and Laundroworks for the payment system. But what turned a recommendation into a firm decision was something harder to put in a spreadsheet. "The customer service is what closed the deal," Jessica says. "Once we reached out, the service we received was phenomenal." Their Cents rep Justin has been a big part of that experience from the start.

The Mat now runs fully coinless. Customers pay with credit, debit, tap-to-pay, and laundry cards through Laundroworks, with the full operation managed through Cents. No quarters, no coin jams, no friction. Just the kind of clean, modern experience the brand was built around.

The Next Chapter

Less than six months after opening, Jessica is signing papers on a second location, a 4,100-square-foot building she's purchasing in Temecula. She's working with a lawyer to develop a franchise model. Growth at this pace is rare in the laundry industry, and she's clear-eyed about why it's working. "It really has morphed into what I wanted it to be," she says. "People sit, they talk, they meet each other." The community she set out to build has arrived.

Pickup and delivery is scheduled to launch in June 2026. Her team of 12 is handling day-to-day operations. Her daughters are running the floor. And Jessica plans to keep her nursing position until August 2027, giving herself the runway to make sure everything is built to last before she steps away fully.

"I don't think I'm anything special," she says. "It just took a lot of hard work. Anyone could do this." For Jessica Dougherty, the next chapter isn't just more locations. It's more proof that a laundromat can be something worth being proud of: a place where a community comes together, a brand worth building, and a legacy worth leaving.