Foodservice operators, dealers and consultants rank the top foodservice equipment and supplies manufacturers.

Achieving best–in-class status means excelling in key areas, it means reaching beyond the benchmark and, ultimately, it means the industry recognizes the effort. It's a desirable club.

FE&S' annual Best in Class Study identifies those foodservice equipment and supplies manufacturers that earn the right to join the club. Our exclusive research stems from the seven critical characteristics that impact purchasing decisions for operators, dealers
and consultants:

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

Survey participants prioritize the above factors in order of importance, then rate individual factories they work with for a given product category on these attributes. Our research team then combines the individual results with those from other participants from the category to create a composite score and identify those manufacturers that the readers of FE&S feel are Best in Class.

The following pages detail the results* of FE&S' 2017 Best in Class Study and highlight those factories that establish the benchmark for understanding and meeting the needs of the entire distribution channel. Congratulations to those earning recognition as Best in Class.

*In some instances, among the specific audience segments, the data proved inconclusive. When that was the case, no winner was declared.

 Here we proudly present the winners from our 2017 study.

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