Our subscribing operators, dealers and consultants cast their votes for the best of the best among foodservice equipment and supplies manufacturers.

Operating conditions in today’s foodservice industry are as tight as they have ever been. The cost of food, raw materials, labor and even fuel continue to rise, applying pressure to margins that were already razor-thin for all members of the supply chain. Further, consumers are more value conscious than ever, while operators continue to face the challenge of trying to drive greater revenues and efficiencies out of their existing four walls.

As a result, the pressure is on operators, consultants and dealers to pick manufacturer partners that will meet a variety of performance targets, including product quality, product value, product design and aesthetics, service and support, sales representation, product inventory and availability and product information availability.

Those are precisely the attributes we asked our subscribing foodservice operators, consultants and dealers to evaluate the manufacturer community as part of FE&S’ 2012 Best in Class study.

Individual results were then combined with those from other participants to create a composite score and identify those manufacturers that the readers of FE&S feel are the Best in Class for each product category.

While every foodservice equipment and supplies manufacturer contributes to the industry’s success in their own way, these comprehensive results highlight those factories that establish the benchmark for understanding and meeting the needs of the entire distribution channel.

Here we proudly present the winners from our 2012 study.

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

Best in Class: Overall