Advice/ thoughts wanted on possible business idea

Hi All

This is not about property but I feel sure I can get some helpful advice from successful business people here.

The scenario is that there is a need (according to a friend in the industry) of someone to collect, wash, dry, press and fold the sheets, towels etc, from the smaller resorts in the area that I live in. There are literally dozens of these resorts and they have been dropped by their previous launderers because it’s more cost effective to only deal with the larger resorts.

This friend in the industry has started her own business recently as a contract cleaner and has the contracts on a few of these resorts.

It seems on the face of it that if I could lease some commercial space, the equipment, a van, and get the required licences to conduct a business, employ some people preferably with experience, that I could meet this need.

So, to my way of thinking, if I approach the resorts to confirm that there is a need and see what they are willing to pay for the service, and compare that with the costs of providing that service, I’d have a good idea of whether or not this would be worth looking into in more detail.

One thing is that it is a specialist service so I would want contracts for some of the resorts before outlaying much money. Is this possible? If so, it would dramatically reduce the risk.

Any thoughts or advice are welcome. Such as where to start, for example.

Thanks