This article appeared in the May 29 2012 print edition of the Scuppernong Reminder and began the ongoing series of stories on businesses in the Tyrrell County Chamber of Commerce

 Located just outside of downtown Columbia, is a unique business that that provides an important service to Tyrrell County and the surrounding area.

Whitecap Linen started in Manteo, NC in Dec. of 1999. Bob Oakes, the owner of Village Realty in Nags Head,saw the need for a commercial laundry location in the Outer Banks area to serve restaurants, hotels, motels, and resort rental properties. The old ice plant building on Hwy 64, (Main Street) was purchased for the initial location. Within two years, the operation had outgrown that location, and purchased land at the current location in Columbia, NC, to expand. In 2011 the company added service for area health care facilities for their customer base.

Angela Brickhouse, Administrator at Whitecap Supply Company discussed the function and purpose of Whitecap Linen as well as the company’s role in the community.

“We are a commercia laundry and linen rental and sales company. We launder customer owned linen for Resort Property Management and Realty companies, as well as our own inventory,which is rented to restaurants, health care facilities, resort properties, motels,and hotels. Our sister location in Powell’s Point, NC delivers linen to resort rental houses, and makes the beds using rental linen owned byour company. In addition, we rent Special Event linen to the individua lor group for receptions, reunions, corporate events, and so on.

Whitecap Linen serves the area of Eastern North Carolina, recently expanding into areas east of I-95. Since inception, the company hasworked to be a good neighbor, and steward of the precious coastal environmentwe have in Tyrrell and Dare Counties. We areunique at Whitecap Linen—not in our facility, but in our commitment toour customers. We provide the best product in our industry, along with top notch customer service. We far exceed the normal in the level of service given on a daily basis. “

Much of Whitecap Linen’s business is still seasonal, so their number of employees varies during the year. From December to March, only a regular full time staff of about 30 people is working. The company begins adding seasonal staff before Easter, and expands to a 24/7 operation from early June to Labor Day week, when we close second shift. The staff then shrinks as the work load decreases, until they are back to their regular staff.

In 2011, Whitecap Linen’s Columbia location’s total income was just over $4.3 million dollars. The location processed over 5,374,000 pounds of linen in 2011.

“We are gaining new customers every week, as weexpand west and south of Columbia. Thanks to our loyal customers, we expect significant increases in income andpounds processed for 2012,” said Brickhouse.