2008 Top Achievers

By Amelia Levin, Sr. Associate Editor -- Foodservice Equipment and Supplies, 6/1/2008

Every business, at some point or another, will face a turning point in its existence. Whether in the form of a management or ownership change, financial strains, mergers, buyouts, or other factors beyond one's wildest dreams, every business faces a critical moment in its history where it will have to adapt to the forces of change.

FE&S' class of 2008 Top Achievers have all faced, worked through, and excelled beyond these types of challenges. Our two dealer award winners weathered Hurricane Katrina to come back bigger and better. Our service agent honoree has leveraged the technology of the day to make the industry more appealing to younger generations. Our consultant Top Achiever has gone through four decades of consulting work to build his business and help grow the many associations in which he's been active. And our manufacturers' rep award winner has updated the rep's role in the supply chain by taking on new technologies, such as e-publishing and paperless offices.

With all the talk about recessions, rising gas prices and other economic woes, it's easy and understandable to adopt both a cloudy short-term and long-term outlook for the foodservice industry specifically, and the business world in general. But FE&S' group of Top Achievers demonstrates that any company in the E&S industry can overcome these obstacles, even the most unimaginable ones, to grow stronger and longer-lasting. It just takes some mental power, creativity, ingenuity and most of all, confidence.

For these reasons and many others that you will come to understand as you read on, it is with great pleasure that FE&S presents its 2008 class of Top Achievers.

(Left to right) Vice President Cam McCall, President Christine Briede, Outside Sales/Treasurer Doug Tyler and Chairman Henri Louapre.

Paul Watts

President, Associated Food Equipment & Supplies Inc., Gulfport, Miss. -Dealer

Despite the countless TV segments and newspaper articles covering the aftermath of Hurri- cane Katrina in 2005, unless you lived in the area, it could be difficult to really and truly comprehend just how widespread the destruction was.

Drive down any street in New Orleans, away from the untouched French Quarter area, and even after a half an hour, you'd still see abandoned houses, grassy patches where destroyed homes were torn down, and boarded-up buildings.

Near Gulfport, Miss., home of Associated Food Equipment & Supplies Inc., the path of destruction extended on at least a 40-mile stretch, all the way inland from west New Orleans, east through the beach towns, including Waveland and Biloxi, straight to the coast, says Paul Watts, president of the dealership. While Associated's building luckily had only minor wind damage, “more than 70 percent of our customer base was gone, literally destroyed,” Watts says.

All of the area casinos, which account for 40 percent of Associated's business, were entirely destroyed or shut down. As a matter of fact, “All the establishments and restaurants along the beach were wiped out,” he says.

Watts and his team worked countless hours trying to get their business and their customers, back on their feet. During all that time, Watts says, “not one staff member complained or said, 'why me?'” even when 70 percent of the staff homes were destroyed and uninhabitable.

The hardworking and passionate people that make up the Mississippi dealership, and their ability to persevere through such an extraordinary challenge as Hurricane Katrina, are among the reasons why Foodservice Equipment & Supplies presented Associated Food Equipment & Supplies Inc. the co-award for the 2008 Top Achiever-Dealer.

“That's the great thing about the people we have here,” Watts says. “Everybody was shocked after the storm, of course, but not once when we were open for work did anyone ask to leave. The first thing I wanted was to make sure after the storm that everyone was safe and OK.”

Everybody was, even though their homes were not. Many staff members sought shelter with family and friends, while others paired up with each other to find places to live. “For our folks it was the better part of six or seven months before the last person was back in their homes, and four people were living in FEMA trailers,” Watts says. “But the thing I'm most proud of is that there's not a person here that missed a paycheck. My partner and I made sure that we took care of our people first.” Watts' partner is Steve Horlock.

The clients, naturally, came next. While phone lines were down, which, luckily for Associated lasted only a week, the company's sales team hit the street to visit clients that were not open yet and left flyers to provide a lifeline for them. “We want to be viewed as a partner in rebuilding. We want our clients to know that we are here and ready to help as they build their business back, from full-service design work to supplying the final tabletop item.”

A big part of getting through the storm's aftermath rested on the ability to improvise and remain flexible during tough times. “I told our staff there is no handbook on what to do after you just lived through the worst natural disaster in U.S. history,” Watts says. “We just had to work our way through it, and realize that if we can make it through the short term, then we can make it through the long term.”

The challenge was that customers didn't, and frankly couldn't, pay their bills owed to Associated. “Clients were trying to get their businesses back open and they weren't as concerned about paying the bills like they had before the storm, so we obviously had some initial cash-flow issues.”

Associated has overcome those issues these days, raking in $13.5 million in sales last year. FE&S ranked Associated as No. 70 out of 100 in its 2008 Distribution Giants survey. The company has come a long way since its inception in 1983. When Watts and Horlock bought the company in 2001, after joining Associated as a sales rep in 1996, following 12 years in the freight business, his first goal was to improve upon the dealership's use of technology through software upgrades, cell phones, e-mail and other tools.

After Katrina, the dealership received a big boost from their buying group, which, Watts says, “came through with a marvelous gift from the other SEFA dealers and the SEFA office, it was just incredible. It was really overwhelming.” The money, he says, made it possible for Associated to give their employees additional income in order to get back on their feet.

More light came from the end of the tunnel when two casinos reopened about four months after the storm, followed by more and more. In addition to renovating and supplying casino kitchens, Associated also worked with the American Red Cross and Bell South, supplying mobile kitchens to feed emergency workers. At one point, Associated helped equip a 45-foot-long kitchen trailer.

Finally, business was growing again. “By April 2006, we built a second warehouse on our property in anticipation of more growth,” Watts says. “We added another salesperson, and now we have 19 team members. My philosophy was a little different in that even though it was a rough time, instead of cutting people, I wanted to add people to our team who could go out and get the business that we would have missed otherwise. I felt like we had to be proactive in the situation vs. reactive because when a client was ready to move, we had to be ready to move with them or we'd be left behind.”

A strange thing kept happening, Watts says. “So many times, if customers got through on the phone with us, they'd seem surprised, and say, 'Oh, we didn't know you were open.'” The ironic part was Associated was alive and kicking, and the customer wasn't open.

Essentially, that irony serves as a reminder that there's still a lot of work to be done. “The biggest issue here now is insurance as far as people rebuilding their businesses, and it's a particular concern among the mom-and-pop restaurants,” Watts says. “We're still not anywhere near pre-Katrina levels, and we anticipate that to be the case for at least the next eight to 10 years. My hope is that the insurance issues will be resolved in the next year so people can start rebuilding their businesses, or at least make it cost-effective to go into business.”

Watts sees schools as the next foodservice segment to grow in the short term, now that federal dollars are starting to be spent. And while Associated has long capitalized on its smallwares sales, thanks to the dealership's extensive hotel/casino network, the company has been providing more heavy cooking equipment as more businesses continue to renovate and rebuild, Watts says.

For the moment, Watts says he doesn't have plans to expand territories too far beyond the Southern region, but that could change after his area rebuilds. “I always say you have to take care of your own backyard first,” he says. “Right now, we're just focusing on helping our existing customers.”

Watts resides with his wife, Judy, in Gulfport, Miss., near Starkville, Miss., where he grew up.

Loubat Equipment Co.

New Orleans — Dealer

Look closely at the outside of Loubat Equipment Co. in the heart of the Mid-City neighborhood in New Orleans, and you can still see the faded yellow line where the floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina rose and fell. Now, fuzzy, green caterpillars inch up and down the exterior walls, a sign of life and metamorphism, symbolizing the 133-year-old dealership's perseverance through one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history.

At the front door of the office building and warehouse, an “X” marks the spot, indicating that military personnel inspected the building in the humid days after the summer 2005 storm. A “zero” means no one in the building perished, but not every door around town had that stamp. Nearly three years later, so many “X's” still pervade — some on homes long since abandoned or populated with FEMA trailers, and others on boarded-up stores. For many, and particularly Henri “Fritz” Louapre, Loubat's chairman and co-owner, and a NOLA native, the “X” represents a permanent reminder of how not to forget, but yet, still move forward.

“We're thinking of hiring an artist to create an iron or metal 'X' that we can leave on our doors,” Louapre says casually, but his words are a metaphor for the impressive challenges his company has overcome. The first foodservice equipment dealership in New Orleans to garner so much of the restaurant capital's business, and the first business to open in its neighborhood after Katrina, Loubat has proven to be a leader in the E&S world (the dealer ranked 99th on FE&S' 2008 Distribution Giants ranking), and even beyond as an inspiration to all organizations facing major obstacles. For this reason and other reasons, FE&S named Loubat Equipment Co. as the co-winner for the 2008 Top Achiever-Dealer Award.

Back in 1875, Hillaire Loubat founded the Loubat Glassware & Cork Co., which later merged with L. Frank, a broadline food distributor where current owners Christine Briede (president), Cam McCall (vice president) and Doug Tyler (outside sales and treasurer) worked at the time. In the late '80s, the Loubat L. Frank Co. split into two, with Loubat Equipment Co. focusing on commercial cooking equipment and becoming the dealership it is today. Louapre had already been working for the company the others joined.

“When I started at Loubat in 1993, the company was only doing about $2 million in sales, and now it's a little over $7 million,” says Briede, the majority owner of Loubat who, as president, oversees everything from sales to marketing to administrative duties. But, she says, she doesn't run the company alone. Witnessing the interaction between the four company leaders, it's evident they've been close friends, or even like family, in addition to longtime business partners.

“We work together by playing on each of our strengths,” Briede says. “I'm very organized and I have a marketing background, so sales and marketing was a natural fit for me. Cam is strong in operations so that's where his main responsibilities lie, Fritz heads up the engineering department as his forte, and Doug excels at street sales, working closely with our top clients like Dickie Brennan's and other restaurants and hotels in the French Quarter.”

Housing a staff of 19, the Loubat building consists of office space and a 22,000-square-foot warehouse stocked with equipment, supplies and furniture. Just beyond the front door, a cash-and-carry room stocked with kitchen accessories, electronics, knives and other supplies where people from all walks of the community stop by.

When Katrina hit in August 2005, the cash-and-carry room was first to go. “It was a mess, we had to clean everything out and threw a lot of supplies away,” Briede says. But, she says, they were lucky. Set above ground, floodwaters didn't enter the building. Water damage occurred when the roof, windows and doors gave way to the hurricane winds.

The group weathered the storm in Baton Rouge, La., returning to the office on Oct. 3. Coming back, Briede describes the scene as similar to a sepia photograph. The flood water was so muddy and dirty that when it receded, it stained the buildings brown, she says. There were no green leaves or grass, only the brown of dying tree trunks and shrubbery that once was. “The water just killed everything,” Briede says. “It looked like a war zone.”

Loubat was the first business to come back to the area, breathing a sign of life to the area where many other businesses and residents had abandoned their homes.

During mold removal and other cleanup, the Loubat team sat huddled together at desks piled in the middle of the room. “We worked like that for about a year,” Briede says, who now enjoys a window office with a feng shui design, which has helped put smiles on everyone's faces.

Worse than trashed offices was the communication problem, Briede says. With phone companies slow to get the city back online, employees relied on their cell phones. The main line was forwarded to Briede's home phone answering machine. She says the company was lucky to have internet access in just a couple weeks after the storm when a lot of other companies waited much longer.

It took a full year and then some for the company to receive insurance reimbursements, and again they were luckier than the majority of NOLA folks. Insurance continues to plague the city, Briede says, which she believes has contributed to slow construction efforts and housing market woes.

“Going through what we went through, it really makes you appreciate what you have,” Briede says. “We really appreciate one another a lot more, too. When everything's taken away from you, you don't know what your future is going to be like. When you slowly start to get your life back to some sense of normalcy, you're very grateful.”

Before the storm hit, Loubat was easily known as the major equipment dealer in town, with high-profile clients like Dooky Chase's, Café Adelaide and the Dickie Brennan restaurants. Loubat has also outfitted acclaimed Chef John Besh's restaurants August and Luke.

Loubat has acted like an aid worker for the foodservice world, helping so many restaurants get back on their feet when they needed to most. The company closely supported Dickie Brennan, when his steakhouse's lower-level kitchen suffered extensive flood damage.

“Things are still difficult for a lot of our clients because they're having trouble getting employees and if they find them, it costs them a lot more to hold onto them,” Briede says. “The seats just aren't being filled like they used to.”

At the moment, Loubat's restaurant work makes up about 23 percent of its business, with 30 percent of business coming from general contract work. After that, the dealership's business is a mix of work with hotels, caterers, churches, government agencies, and schools and hospitals, which Briede foresees being the next avenue.

“I'm predicting schools and hospitals are going to be a big growth market for us because a lot of them are still closed and will need to come back online at some point,” she says.

Outside of the office, Loubat continues to support the community, donating equipment and gift bags for culinary events.

Briede says the Loubat team remains more focused on the short term for now. “We've always had long-term goals, but after Katrina, it's like let's just take one foot at a time.” Even if that one foot really is one giant step after another.

Michael Johnson, FFCSI

Principal, Culinary Design Center LLC, Atlanta - Consultant

At the Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI) annual conference last year in Atlanta, the association recognized Michael Johnson, consultant, founder and princi- pal of Culinary Design Center LLC in Atlanta, for his work in serving on the conference planning committee, designating him and other committee members as the host of their own tables during the closing awards ceremony. For fun at Johnson's table, guests matched up pieces to a puzzle, which eventually showed a photo of him and his wife of 40-plus years, Patricia.

It could be said that Johnson's always putting together pieces of a puzzle; both in his kitchen design work, and in his uncanny ability to collect, analyze and communicate information in the E&S industry. A voracious reader, and active member of a variety of associations, Johnson has a reputation for having a wealth of knowledge about the industry, and really, everything else.

Quiz him on the latest cooking equipment, and you'd think he worked for the manufacturer. But his greatest skill is leveraging this information for the last “40 something years” in order to be better at what he does. It's no surprise, then, that Foodservice Equipment & Supplies has presented Johnson with the 2008 Top Achiever-Consultant Award.

“A consultant has to study whatever problem the client has, and put forth one or more solutions that would resolve that problem, even if that initially makes the operator/owner uncomfortable,” Johnson says, referring to the harsh decisions about budget, space and other concerns that operators are sometimes reluctant to make, but that consultants are trained to make.

“If you understand the process by which a particular restaurant or kitchen is going to be working, you can design what I call the 'heart of that house,' not the 'back of the house,' so it functions properly with a minimal amount of labor,” he says. “It's like your own body, if your heart isn't functioning correctly, then your body's not working right.”

Thinking of kitchens as virtual assembly lines makes sense for Johnson, considering his background in architecture and engineering. An equipment dealership in Detroit hired Johnson as a draftsman, during which time he worked at night toward his degree at Wayne State University.

After eight years with the dealership, Johnson was recruited by Frank Hilliker, thought to be one of the first foodservice design consultants, Johnson says. They were a perfect match: Johnson wanted to start his own consulting business, and Hilliker wanted someone to head up another franchise branch. At the time, Hilliker had a home-base in St. Louis, with branches in Chicago, Cincinnati and Topeka, Kan. A year after Johnson set up shop in Atlanta, however, Hilliker passed away. Eventually, Johnson became the only remaining office under the name Hilliker Associates Inc. He's been there ever since, 40 years to be exact, changing the name to Culinary Design Center just a couple of years ago to give potential clients a better idea about his firm's capabilities.

In his work with other supply chain members, Johnson stresses the importance of communication. “Being able to communicate your ideas in written, spoken or graphic form so they're understood by most people is an important part of being a consultant,” he says.

Consultants work with a range of professionals, from operators to dealers, manufacturers, architects, interior designers, contractors and other consultants. “If I'm a designer and the operator wants to issue a request for proposals, write menus or conduct other analyses, I will find an MAS consultant for them who can do that work. You need to be honest with yourself and others — I know what I know, but I also need to recognize what I don't know so I can bring in the right people to do the job.”

Working with others outside the industry also helps Johnson expand his knowledge base. “I attend a lot of different functions, including chef events and activities, and I listen to their concerns,” he says.

At an American Culinary Federation event in Atlanta, a chef brought up the then unusual idea of inviting farmers to some of the association's meetings. “He said it would be a good idea because we should know where we get our food, and we need to get the Georgia farmers together to see what they're growing and what they could grow.”

Since then, the group of farmers that invited them to ACF events in the Atlanta area has grown from 10 to more than 450, along with dozens of companies interested in the “farm to fork” and “green” movement.

“We need to look at sustainability, whether it's in regard to energy, food or the materials we use,” Johnson says. Throughout his projects, Johnson has strove to cut down on material waste by increasing the overall efficiency of his designs, and by using the same materials for various applications. For example, Johnson worked with an interior designer to cut up extra ceiling tile for a divider wall, rather than order new material for the wall.

To say Johnson is an active member of the foodservice industry would be an understatement. In addition to FCSI and the ACF, he has also served as secretary for the United Culinary Chefs Association, and currently serves on the board for the Continuing Professional Standards (CPS) the Americas. Johnson also served as president of FCSI from 1993-1994 after moving up through the ranks as a board member for several years prior. In 2005, he won an honorary award for an original project remodel, and later that year, became an FCSI Fellow for the society. He's also a member of FCSI's Educational Foundation.

“I have to keep busy for my wife, so I can get out of the house,” Johnson jokes.

His next move? Possibly teaching, Johnson says. “I'd like to find an opportunity to teach some of the people in this industry what I know. I'd like to prevent what I've learned over these 40-something years from going to waste.”

Johnson has already made waves in this regard. Through his service with FCSI's educational foundation, he has made an effort to reach out to younger generation folks, including those considering the foodservice industry as well as engineers, industrial designers, and other professionals who wouldn't necessarily consider the foodservice industry as a career choice.

“We definitely need to bring in new people,” Johnson says. “Most young people now are going to college, and when they come out they want a position, not just a job. We have to understand that not all the people who are good in this industry will come from the hospitality schools.”

Johnson resides in Marietta, Ga., with his wife, Patricia, and has two children, Sheri, 38, and Eric, 35.

Jeffery Couch

President, Preferred Marketing Group (PMG), Van Nuys, Calif. – Manufacturers' Rep

There's a reason the word “marketing” exists in “Preferred Marketing Group.” Sure the word represents the California- based firm's commitment to marketing products for the manufacturers it represents, but it also symbolizes the marketing ability that Jeffery Couch, PMG president, has shown since he bought the company in 2002. And, the more marketing power Jeffery Couch has, the more marketing power his manufacturer clients have.

“Our middle name is marketing, and that's really what we do, local marketing,” Couch says. Case in point: PMG publishes four different newsletters, three coming out four times a year and another one six times a year (bimonthly). They include a general, bimonthly PMG news and industry updates newsletter (“A Word From Preferred”), one for the school segment (“Making the Grade”), one for multi-unit operators (“Solutions”), and one for PMG Lite, the company's new division focusing on sanitation and safety supplies.

“We also send out some e-newsletters, and would like to do more, but the problem is not everyone wants more e-mail in their inboxes,” Couch says.

Customers and industry members literally eat this stuff up. The information is incredibly thorough, and by the looks of the newsletters, you'd think PMG had a full magazine staff housed in their offices. In reality, the company has a full-time staff of 20.

Beyond publishing newsletters and other educational materials, PMG also holds regular events at test kitchens in the area, often at the Southern California Gas Co., where customers can listen to guest speakers such as other end-users, foodservice directors and others talk about different equipment they use, while PMG's corporate chef prepares lunch for the group using the products. “We organize everything and sponsor it, but we take a backseat to the whole thing,” Couch says. “Instead of just us doing sales presentations, we try to show end-users what other end-users are doing and what equipment they use and like. It's more of a peer-to-peer event.” Between 40-to-60 people attend the events, which occur about four or more times a year.

That said, Couch has sought to position PMG as a firm that's dedicated first and foremost to service. “We want to be viewed as a company that adds value to the channel, and I think that comes from the services we provide,” Couch says. “We also want to be viewed as trustworthy and professional. We work very hard to promote our brands and try to provide solutions.”

Couch's service-oriented mindset likely stems from working as a chef in restaurants to his work for Garland/U.S. Range and Niagara Restaurant Supply, an equipment dealer. Growing up in Ontario, Canada, Couch's first job as a young person was in fast-food. At 19, he went on to receive his certificate as a professional chef through training at Fanshawe College in Canada, spending some time as executive chef for a fine-dining restaurant.

Over the years, after getting fed up with the long hours and with hopes to settle down with a family at some point, Couch thought about other jobs in the industry, particularly the business of designing cooking equipment.

“My thought process was it would be great for someone from an end-user background to design the equipment.”

He set his sights on Garland in Canada, after years of working with the equipment. Couch remained more than persistent in trying to get hired there, working at an equipment dealer for a year and a half while also calling Garland until finally a job opened up on the sales team. After a while, he was promoted to group product manager and relocated to Pennsylvania, where he worked closely with Bill Fero, then the owner of PMG.

Later, Couch was put back into sales after developing convection oven controllers and a series of other equipment for Garland, becoming the vice president of sales and marketing for Garland/U.S. Range. Eventually, Fero recruited Couch to work for PMG with the idea that he'd eventually take over.

“I had a really strong foundation to build off on,” Couch says. “We wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for the business model that Fero created, and which was in place when I came to PMG.”

Still, PMG has continued to grow. In addition to starting up the newsletters and educational events, Couch has also worked to improve the firm's web site, where customers can view products online as well as get CAD drawings, event info and industry news. PMG plans to launch a revamped web site (www.pmgnow.com) and a PMG Lite web site by the end of the year.

In the meantime, the company has also gone paperless after months of transferring existing files to software databases. “We've created our own internal project follow-up using this software, and everyone is centrally connected,” Couch says. There are eight satellite/home offices around the territory, while the rest of the staff members work at the headquarters in Van Nuys, Calif.

“We have really strong people in all areas that work together well,” Couch says. “Some people only focus on institutional clients. Some people just focus on design consultants. And some people focus on certain types of dealers. Our goal is to be focused on the needs of specific sets of customers, instead of being everything to everyone.”

That specialized service philosophy also served as the intent behind creating the PMG Lite division, which focuses on sanitation and safety products. “Now, we're doubling calls at the dealership and multi-units, but this allows us to provide them with reps who focus solely on supplies/sanitation, or those who focus solely on equipment solutions,” Couch says. “This gives us double visibility in the field.”

In the long term, Couch plans to continue promoting PMG as a brand, using PMG Lite as a growth vehicle. He also seeks to grow the company's territory as well.

“The industry changes so much and I think it's changing for the better, but as manufacturers, dealers and consumers become bigger businesses, I think reps also need to become bigger businesses and develop some successful tactics to handle these changes in the market,” he says.

Couch resides in Simi Valley, Calif., with his wife, Sue, of 21 years and two sons, Matthew, 19, and Tanner, 15.

John Swanson

President, Bildon Parts and Service Inc., Livonia, Mich. – Service Agent

Visit the You Tube web site and you'll find Foodservice Equipment & Supplies' 2008 Top Achiever-Service Agent award winner. That's right, John Swanson, president of Bildon Parts and Service Inc., made his TV debut early this year in “Foodservice Careers-A Solid Choice,” a video he made with Tina Reese, former president of the Commercial Food Equipment Service Association (CFESA) as a way to educate the younger generation about opportunities in the foodservice industry. Swanson just began his term as president of CFESA in May.

Although Swanson chuckles when asked about the project, the fact that he dove into the web-video and social networking world shows he's not at all afraid of technology. Rather, Swanson uses new technology not only as an educational tool for others, but also as a way to stay abreast of changes and competition in the field, which in part, makes him a true leader in the E&S industry.

“The foodservice industry is quite a bit behind,” Swanson says in referring to the pace at which the industry has adopted not just internet technology, but also smart kitchen technology. “In the back rooms of restaurants you would think people could access the internet at any time, but that's unfortunately not the case.” And, he adds, “I think it's going to be a few more years before the smart kitchen becomes a reality.”

Enter You Tube. The video, produced at Schoolcraft Community College in Livonia, Mich., includes interviews of service agents and other industry members about their work in foodservice, and was created with the idea in mind that as foodservice equipment becomes more complex and “smart kitchen” technology finally takes off, operators will require more help servicing their facilities. That said, Swanson and Reese sought to tap into a vast labor pool consisting of high school, technical high school and college students, as well as recent graduates, to recruit more service agents in the field. In addition to demonstrating Swanson's dedication to CFESA and the industry, the You Tube video also proves that Swanson can “walk the walk,” not just “talk the talk,” when it comes to the topic of recruiting the younger generation.

Visit www.bildoninc.com and you'll find a clean, easy-to-navigate web site with an extensive online parts catalog and a tutorial for helping newcomers navigate the site. “We try to provide education to end-users via our web site with the online parts and service catalog that customers can access 24-7 to purchase parts, read service bulletins and find other information,” Swanson says. “We're really trying to promote what we do and who we are. There are a lot of other CFESA-certified companies that have to meet the same standards, so it really makes it more difficult to distinguish yourself. It does help, though, that there are so many tools of technology out there to help.”

The Bildon site also features links to manufacturers' web sites and contact information for the agency's 24-hour emergency hotline.

“We do all of our troubleshooting here through an in-house technician who works in the service department and takes calls,” Swanson says. “As equipment gets so sophisticated, more people have been having a hard time programming the computerized control panel and operating the equipment. If you don't have a good handle on them, they're difficult to use and often you need someone to talk you through it. Sometimes, it seems that technology is going faster than the rest of us.”

In many ways, Bildon Parts and Service has grown significantly over the years, too. Back in 1969, Swanson's father, Don, partnered with Bill to start the service company. (Get it? Don plus Bill equals Bildon!) At that time, the company primarily serviced household equipment. “It progressed from there to the commercial side of the industry,” Swanson says.

After breaking into the business at age 16 washing floors and trucks, Swanson went out on the road as a service tech and at age 35, ran the parts and service departments. After his dad passed around 1995, Swanson and Bill's son Gary Galbraith purchased equal parts of Bildon, and both currently manage the company.

So, what's the No. 1 trick to keeping his business going for so many years? “The most important trait in this business is honesty and consistency of service,” Swanson says. “I seek to portray first and foremost that we back up what we say we're going to do, and that our customers get what they pay for.”

One way Swanson says he establishes trust with end-users is by providing them with basic technical tips over the phone. In the case of minor problems, Swanson's team will often work with the customer over the phone to make minor repairs before sending out an agent. “There's nothing worse than us sending people out there and charging them 90 bucks to plug in a piece of equipment,” Swanson says. “It doesn't work for us or the customer to do those kinds of things.” It also helps Bildon save on costs for gas.

Swanson doesn't just take care of his end-user customers, he also seeks to connect with other E&S industry members. “If a manufacturer or dealer or sales rep has a problem, they can call us and know we will take care of them,” he says. “That's the way I would like the industry to perceive us.”

In talking about the future, Swanson points out a couple goals he has as the current president of CFESA. One, he says, is to better educate end-users and all industry players on the importance of proper start-up installation in order to prevent repeated service calls. This includes better training during the installation process, or working with manufacturers and dealers to train the operator during this step in the process. “That's a place we can really support the industry, by training the end-user how to operate a piece of equipment when it's first installed, which causes less problems with the equipment over time,” he says.

Swanson also seeks to build upon CFESA's membership as president. “There has been a lot of consolidation in the industry,” he says. “Service companies are buying service companies, and some companies are being bought out by manufacturers. According to our bylaws, this excludes them from being voting CFESA members because we are an association of independent businesses.”

But Swanson says this has been a serious problem. “They're talented people and we lose them. Maybe we need to do some tweaking of the bylaws, or at least talk about it. It's a sign of the times for sure. As an association, we need to figure out a way to deal with the quandary and also keep these productive members.”

Still, while the industry's current roster of players continues to undergo a transformation, Swanson's willingness to embrace the technology of the day will allow him to help propel his company and the industry to a brighter tomorrow.

Swanson resides in Canton, Mich., with his wife, Patricia, of 35 years. He has one daughter, Jeanine, and son-in-law Jason, son John, his wife Lisa, and 7-month-old grandson Cooper.