For the second consecutive year, a harsh economic climate took its toll on foodservice equipment and supplies dealers. In 2009, 64 of the top 100 E&S dealers reported a decline in sales, and according to FE&S estimates, 11 dealers were flat or experienced lower sales than in 2008. All told, FE&S projects sales among the top 100 dealers declined by $583 million, or 11.89 percent, in 2009.

In response to lagging sales, many dealers chose to change their buying-group affiliations with the hope of squeezing better pricing and rebates out of their manufacturing partners. Over the course of the past year the equipment-and-supplies community witnessed the birth of onebuying group, the dissolution of another and a lot of churn among the remaining dealers and buying groups. Whether all of this activity benefits the industry or just a select few continues to the subject of hushed debate among the dealer and manufacturer communities. Only time will tell.

There is much information about the industry’s top 100 dealers by sales volume. Here are a couple of data points that caught our eye:

• Average sales per salesperson among the top 100: $1.78 million
• Average sales per employee for the top 100: $465,313

We hope that you find this data informative and useful. And, as always, if you have any ideas about how to improve this study, don’t hesitate to let us know.