A lot has changed at Stafford-Smith Inc. since 2001, the year FE&S first recognized the Kalamazoo, Mich.-based company as Dealer of the Year.

Last fall Cris Gross assumed a new role at Stafford-Smith Inc. as VP sales and marketing. The new role comes with a renewed focus on street sales. After two decades as regional sales manager, the FE&S 2009 DSR of the Year says he is enthused about building even closer connections to customers and helping guide the slew of Stafford-Smith new hires into the industry.

With a goal to move back to his wife’s hometown to raise his two young children, Paul Roeske interviewed and received job offers from two companies in Traverse City, Mich. — one was Stafford-Smith.

Michigan-based foodservice equipment dealer promotes longtime associate Ziolkowski.

When it comes to well-rounded foodservice industry veterans, it would be difficult to find someone comparable to Cameell Hanna Jr.

Thirty years ago David Stafford Sr. bought Stafford-Smith Inc., a Kalamazoo, Mich.-based foodservice equipment and supplies dealership, from his father, and the company has been on the rise ever since. Under Dave's leadership the company has expanded the services it offers and has steadily extended its reach throughout the country.

Jim McCune is a classic learn as you go DSR. After McCune began his career in 1973 as a truck driver for Lansing Food Equipment, he worked his way up the ladder, becoming a sales rep and eventually owning the company.

Unwavering professionalism rooted in a pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps work-style has helped define the career of Stafford-Smith's Cris Gross, FE&S' 2009 DSR of the Year.

Mike Van de Bogert, regional manager for Stafford- Smith Inc. in Kalamazoo, Mich., spends a lot of his time passing along the wisdom he has gained throughout his career to the less experienced DSRs on his staff and most of them ask the same thing.