Ex-ZZZZ Best Executives Launch Novelty Carpet Cleaners
Two blocks from the old Reseda headquarters of ZZZZ Best, the carpet-cleaning company founded by Barry Minkow, another fledgling carpet-cleaning company is up and running, headed by several former ZZZZ Best executives.
Novelty Carpet & Upholstery Care was founded July 14 by three former ZZZZ Best executives as a cleaning company for residential and commercial rugs and furniture. Its 21 employees were all recruited from among the 1,030 ZZZZ Best staffers who lost their jobs when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ceased operations in early July amid charges of fraud in the company’s insurance restoration business.
But Novelty’s principals insist that they had nothing to do with ZZZZ Best’s downfall, and that they have no ties to Minkow, the discredited ZZZZ Best chairman.
Novelty President Jack Polevoi says the new firm is off to a quick start and did $20,000 in sales during its first two weeks.
Successful Ploy
Novelty is relying on ZZZZ Best’s established telemarketing strategy and advertises a ZZZZ Best-like offer to clean carpets and rugs in two rooms and a hall for $39.95.
“It’s obviously very successful,” said Robert Doyle, Novelty’s 26-year-old vice president and ZZZZ Best’s former director of residential operations. “It worked very well for them at ZZZZ Best.”
Novelty is also trying to negotiate leases at five of the former ZZZZ Best branch stores as well as buy some of ZZZZ Best’s equipment, Polevoi said. However, it did not purchase any of ZZZZ Best’s assets sold at a recent bankruptcy proceeding.
Polevoi began working for ZZZZ Best in March as a consultant to the company’s commercial division, which handled business, hotel and janitorial cleaning jobs. His twin brother, Jerry, who ran ZZZZ Best’s commercial division for Southern California since April, is Novelty’s secretary and treasurer.
Jack and Jerry Polevoi, 40, previously founded the All-American Building Maintenance Co. in Pasadena, which cleaned high-rise office buildings and shopping centers in the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.
Neighbor of Minkow’s
Jack Polevoi says he met Minkow last December when he moved into a house two doors away from Minkow’s $698,000 residence in the gated community of Westchester County in Woodland Hills. In April, Polevoi joined the 21-year-old Minkow on a trip to Chicago for an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Polevoi was also at Minkow’s side at a Los Angeles news conference in April when ZZZZ Best announced it intended to acquire KeyServ, a nationwide carpet-cleaning company. Polevoi said he was active in ZZZZ Best’s negotiations with KeyServ.
Although Doyle acknowledged that rumors are flying that Minkow is a behind-the-scenes investor in Novelty, Polevoi maintained that Minkow has nothing to do with the new firm.
“These employees said, if he has anything to do with this, they wouldn’t be here,” Polevoi said during a recent interview in Novelty’s cramped, makeshift offices.
Savings Lost
Some ZZZZ employees, Doyle said, lost much of their savings when the company’s stock collapsed. The former ZZZZ Best workers also saw their last paychecks bounce as the company had only $30,000 left in cash when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Subsequently, the company has sued Minkow and others for $25 million, charging fraud and theft involving ZZZZ Best’s insurance restoration business. And Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates has alleged that Minkow was part of a scheme to launder narcotics profits for organized-crime groups.
But Polevoi said Minkow had avowed his innocence during their brief encounters in the neighborhood.
“To me it looks like the same Barry Minkow,” Polevoi said. “It’s like, ‘no big deal.’ ”
