Vincent Chhim, Rose’s Equipment, Portland, Ore.
Sean Farrugia, Account Executive, Great Lakes Hotel Supply Co., Southfield, Mich.
Dan McDevitt, Account Executive, Restaurant Equipment World, Orlando, Fla.
Like many college graduates, Lee Rose was not sure where he was headed with his degree in communications from Augusta State University. “I dated a girl who was making smallwares deliveries for an equipment dealership and helped her out,” he recalls.
Jeff Mair, Sr. Outside Sales and Design, Berlin’s Restaurant Supply, North Charleston, S.C.
Working in the restaurant industry from the ground up for more than two decades has served Scott Ellerhorst well in his sales, design and consulting career in C&T Design and Equipment Co.’s Cincinnati office. “I started in high school bussing tables at restaurants, moved up to washing dishes and eventually became a general manager,” he says.
Lynell Johnson, Dealer Sales Representative, Culinex, Grand Forks, N.D.
When Jeff Fortier joined his family’s company, Fortier Inc., 18 years ago, the main concern was his unfamiliarity with the products he’d be selling. “I was doing well as sales manager for a sunglasses company out in Virginia, and didn’t know much about the foodservice equipment industry,” he says. “But my uncle Rick said he could teach me, and I knew that learning about a gazillion different products wouldn’t be an obstacle for me.”
Larry Fruchtman worked on the operator side of the foodservice industry for almost three decades, starting in quick-service restaurants as a busser and moving through the ranks up to general manager of a fine-dining restaurant in Atlanta. He then spent more than 11 years as manager of a private country club.
In 1998, Melanie Gitlin joined Fayetteville, N.C.-based Thompson & Little as an administrative assistant not knowing what she would become just 12 years later.
Nick Pope had visions of becoming a chef while attending culinary school and working at an equipment dealership part time. He realized being a chef wasn't for him when he took a 12-hour class that ended at 2 a.m. "It put me over the edge," he recalls.
Even though Nick Goldring has been with Culinary Depot for eight years, now serving as the company’s New York sales rep, he still considers himself to be a “junior in the industry.”
It wasn't until Jim Bologna took a cooking class while working toward a degree in hotel hospitality at Michigan State University that he realized his calling. He went on to earn his Associate's Degree in Culinary Arts, and worked as a chef for more than 20 years.
Foodservice Equipment & Supplies is the longest-running publication serving the decision-makers of the nearly $15 billion E&S industry.
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Foodservice Equipment & Supplies (FE&S) is the one media source that connects equipment and supplies manufacturers and service providers with the full distribution channel including news, trends and best practices for foodservice equipment dealers, specifiers, operators, and supply chain partners.
