CCI Celebrates 20 Years In Business

2020 marks the 20^th year of business for CCI, Card Concepts, Inc.

“As with many things in life, time has flown by” said CCI’s President Steve Marcionetti.  “I remember our first card system install as if it were yesterday”

20 years is no small feat considering CCI is a small family run technology company that exclusively services the vended laundry industry.  The company was founded by the Marcionetti family; Dion and his two sons, Steve and Andy were inspired to develop a product after having experience with other systems that did not fully meet the needs of a progressive store owner.  The Marcionetti family was not new to the Laundromat business; prior to starting CCI, Dion Marcionetti had been deeply involved in the industry for twenty years and had started his own Laundry distribution company (Laundry Concepts).

LaundryCard, the company’s founding product was designed to eliminate the burden of coin collection from laundry operators. It was the first product of its kind to introduce a color touch screen interface with impressive redundancy capabilities for the time.  “It took us about a year to develop Laundry Card, and once we installed it into a few locations in Chicago, we reached out to a few ‘Distributor Friends in the Business’ to see if they would be interested” says Steve Marcionetti.  “It did not take long to realize that the same issues we had with the available products at the time, were also issues for others and LaundryCard seemed to fit the need, quickly growing in popularity”.  Since 2000, LaundryCard has been installed in over 1,200 Laundromats across the US and is still one of the companies most popular products.

In 2012, the company launched its second product called FasCard, which was designed to help bring credit and debit card acceptance to existing coin machines.  “Credit and debit card acceptance was becoming more mainstream in all kinds of small businesses; it was a good time to introduce an offering specifically designed for Laundromat owners who wanted to add credit cards, without eliminating coin acceptance.”  FasCard evolved quickly and is already on its second iteration. The F2 card reader is the first of its kind, color touch screen enabled payment device for Laundry Equipment.  Since its inception, FasCard has been installed in over 1,500 locations nationwide.

Innovation has not stopped at CCI, just last year they introduced their latest offering, the FLEX system, which provides a coinless operation to store owners using wireless card readers and cloud-based technology.  As the name implies, the FLEX system is flexible, providing a cost-effective solution based on the desired functionality.  Loyalty Cards, Credit/Debit, Mobile App, or NFC payments are all possible with FLEX; operators choose what’s best for their business and only pay for the capability that suits them.

Although the company prides itself on quality and innovation, CCI’s reputation comes from its dedication to customer support.  “When we started CCI, we knew we had to be available when store owners needed us, so we have always provided twenty-four hour a day technical support, 365 days a year,” says Steve Marcionetti.  “Laundromats are weekend and evening businesses; it only makes sense that you would have support available during these times.”.  “Everyone at CCI has the same customer focus that I had when we first started the company, and it’s our commitment to patience, availability, and reliability that has helped us form such a loyal distribution and customer base”.

“I’m proud of the past 20 years, but even more excited about the future,” Says Marcionetti.  “Even with all the new options that are now available for payment, very few vendors can show 20 years of commitment to this industry.  We are in it for the long haul and will be there as the business evolves, always committed to our customer.”

To learn more about what CCI products can do for your store, contact us today!