FE&S 2010 Best in Class Awards

Published on Thursday, September 30, 2010

Written by The Editors

Our subscribing foodservice operators, dealers and consultants offer their take on the best of the best among foodservice equipment and supplies manufacturers in FE&S' 10th annual Best in Class Study.

Every foodservice equipment manufacturer has a product or service it believes is superior to the competition. But the only way for those products to truly be considered "best in class" is to provide value in multiple ways as defined by the customer. With that in mind, Foodservice Equipment and Supplies proudly presents the data from our 2010 Best in Class Study.

During the past few months FE&S asked its subscribing foodservice operators, dealers and consultants to evaluate the manufacturer community on seven critical characteristics that affect the way they approach purchasing equipment and supplies. These seven performance factors are:

• Product quality
• Product value
• Product design and aesthetics
• Service and support
• Sales representation
• Product inventory and availability
• Product information availability

Those participating in the survey prioritized these factors in order of importance and then rated the individual factories they work with in a given product category on these attributes. The individual results were then combined with those from other participants from the category to create a composite score and ultimately identify those manufacturers that the readers of FE&S feel are the best in their class for each of 48 product categories. These comprehensive results shine a bright light on those factories that establish the benchmark for understanding and meeting the needs of the entire distribution channel.

• Overall Best in Class (below)
  
• Dealers
• Consultants
• Operators

Best in Class: Overall