"From the pandemic we will learn and emerge stronger." That was the proclamation most heard during the most critical moments of the quarantine period. The entrepreneur Elisabet Branchat took note and did not back down after seeing her business go to waste. She had launched a startup for renting baby equipment, aimed at tourists visiting Barcelona who urgently needed strollers, portable chairs, or other devices to make their stay in the city more comfortable. However, the lockdown and border closures ruined everything. But in the blink of an eye, everything can change. And for the better. Now, Branchat successfully celebrates the opening of the first physical establishment of Bubuclean, a workshop for cleaning and repairing childcare equipment, located on Montseny street, in the Gràcia neighborhood.
"We saw that there was a strong demand for car seats or baby bassinets, among others, on second-hand pages, and all buyers demanded the same thing: that the items be in perfect condition," says Branchat. So the businesswoman met with her colleague and friend Luciana Salvador, an expert in digital marketing, to develop a project that would satisfy these requests. "We realized this gap, because people want to have products sanitized and don't know how to do it, or simply don't dare. And there is no such service in Barcelona," they add.
Both are the founders and, for now, the only employees of Bubuclean. They started the initiative with a website and working in a domestic environment with the limitations that entailed, such as lack of space or lack of tools. Although these circumstances did not prevent a good reception from their clientele.
To begin, customers bring their strollers —the main product they work with— and a preliminary report is made to assess their condition and everything they would need to be spotless. Later, they proceed to vacuum the dirt, remove stains with organic products, wash the textiles, structures, and wheels of the vehicle; repair any faults that may exist —Elisabet Branchat has an engineering background—, eliminate viruses and bacteria with a steam treatment, dry by hand, and finally, another document is drafted with a description of the process and any imperfections that could not be resolved. "People say we do magic because everything looks so impeccable," Salvador comments with a laugh.
The procedure can last between one and three days, all depending on the demands of each item. They receive a couple of orders daily, have completed over a hundred commissions, and offer a courtesy vehicle so that families are not left without a stroller while the process is carried out. The price varies according to the dimensions of the product, so the cleaning of chairs and carrycots ranges between seven and ten euros, while the washing of strollers, depending on their accessories or complements, costs between forty or sixty euros, with offers for packs of two and three strollers.