Mentor Shala, TriMark Marlinn

When Mentor Shala decided to make a career change, he made a rather significant one.

Shala, who has a background in biology and pre-medicine, began his professional career in a quality control role in the laboratory field, working in the industry for three years. Friends of his who had worked at TriMark Marlinn kept asking Shala if he wanted to take a different path. As it turns out, he did.

Shala has been with TriMark Marlinn, based in Bedford Park, Ill., and part of TriMark USA since April 2016, beginning his career there as an estimator before becoming a field manager. In his current role as a contract sales executive, he maintains a diverse client base that includes several chains and multiconcept operators.

Q: How do your experiences working in a lab and serving as a field manager for TriMark shape the way you approach working with clients?

A: If you look at my background and how it applies to what I do today, a lot of the quality control is trying to find and solve issues. I’m trying to be as helpful as I can in order to prevent bigger issues or to understand a process better. How that applies to what I’m doing now is in the design and builds we do. I’m always trying to understand why our customers do what they do and how they came about the processes that they implement. When you’re in quality control, you want to ask the right questions and know why we’re doing things and how they can be done better. 

Q: How have your customers evolved with the changing foodservice marketplace?

A: Customers are leaning on stuff that makes them more money. Before, they were willing to take risks with concepts and if they failed, they failed. Now I’ve seen in the market that a lot more people are less likely to take risks and are more looking toward things that make them money. They’ve stuck to their projects that made the money and we’re doing a lot less of the one-off concepts.

Q: There is a variety of different equipment and supplies from which to choose. What steps do you take to ensure you find the right solution for your customer?

A: I know a little bit about everything but not enough to be an expert. I lean on our local reps a lot and I lean on the factories a lot. We have a great team here at TriMark. I lean a lot on my coworkers and a lot of other salespeople, too. When a customer comes with a request and I don’t have an answer, I’ll make sure that I tell them ‘I don’t know the answer,’ but I will happily go and get the answer for them. 

Q: What advice would you give someone who is just starting in the business?

A: I would tell them that it’s a great business and there are no shortcuts here. You have to put in the time and the work to learn what you need to be successful. You’re never going to be an expert on everything; that’s impossible. To be an expert on everything is just not realistic. But if you know enough about everything and you know whom to go to with questions, you can be successful in this industry. 

DSR 3-2-1

Mentor Shala, TriMark Marlinn, sits down with Jason Wange, Foodservice Powerplant Network, to talk about being named an FE&S DSR of the Month.

Find more episodes of DSR 3-2-1 here.

Foodservice Equipment & Supplies Presents DSR 3-2-1 is sponsored by Salvajor.