Maribeth Angelo did not expect her summer job at Hotel and Restaurant Supply would be the start of a successful career. She credits her father, Bill Wolfe, who serves as the company's executive vice president, for both the suggestion of the summer job and the post-college suggestion of accepting a counter sales position there.
When U.S. interest rates began dropping, it was good news to most people. For Gina Vitagliano, a bank manager, this development prompted her to seek a new career. "One of my customers, the general manager at a small foodservice equipment and supplies dealership, offered me a job, and I decided to take it," says Vitagliano.
Eric Hsieh has always enjoyed eating out. In fact, growing up, he rarely ate at home. "My family in Taiwan was in the foodservice industry, so that may have had something to do with it," he says.
After managing a pizza franchise for a number of years, Eric Harrison, Supplies on the Fly, knew he wanted to be in sales. He joined his first foodservice equipment dealership in 2003 and was determined to educate himself about every aspect of the industry along the way.
At 15 years old, Chiasson worked every day after school at Associated Food Equipment and Supplies Inc., the Gulfport, Miss.-based company founded and owned by her aunt and uncle, Lonnie and Roberta Shelton. She graduated college from the University of Southern Mississippi with a degree in accounting and was well on her way to a successful career as director of finance for an area hospital.
Jack Burks, Session Fixture Co., seemed destined for the foodservice industry. After almost four decades serving in numerous capacities, he now considers it a fixture in his life.
Michael Scheiman started his career cooking at some of the country's most notable restaurants, including New York's Nobu, Tribeca Grill and Soho Grand Hotel, where he earned accolades as a rising star chef. Scheiman then found his way to California Café in Palo Alto, Calif., as the executive chef.
With more than three decades of industry experience under his belt, Jim McMahon wears many hats handling contract sales and design at ADE Restaurant Services. His diverse background may have something to do with this: McMahon began his career at Illinois Range remodeling McDonald’s restaurants before joining Kochman Consultants to produce the KCL Cad Library for the foodservice industry.
Marc Zimmerman started his hospitality industry journey as a yacht club maintenance man in Marblehead, Mass., at the age of 15. Foodservice entered the picture when he became a pizza delivery driver at Café Vesuvius and a cook at 5 Corners Deli — while still in high school.
After serving in operations at California Pizza Kitchen, Pei Wei Asian Diner and Cheesecake Factory, Nikki Roughley wanted a change of pace. “I started a family and wanted to get out of operations, so I moved over to the facilities side at Pei Wei Asian Diner,” she says.
After joining Noah's Bagels out of high school, Mariah McManaman felt she found a home in the foodservice industry. Nine years later the equipment side started calling her name and she wound up working for an independent manufacturers' rep firm. That eventually led her to Avanti Restaurant Solutions, where she's resided for the past 12 years.
Although Luke Gradishar has only worked 2 years as a full-time member of his family’s 67-year-old dealership business, Grady’s Foodservice Equipment and Supplies, he has been involved in the company for as long as he can remember.
Cliff Macbeth, Dealer Designer and Project Director, CMA Restaurant Supply and Design, Kirkland, Wash., says he got started in the foodservice industry by mistake in 1973, after graduating from Ohio State University with two architecture degrees. There was a glut of architects in the market at that time, so he took a job as a foodservice draftsman.
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.
Majoring in industrial organizational psychology at California State University in Long Beach and simultaneously working as a trainer and bar manager for a restaurant company was instrumental in Gilles Brochard's career at TriMark R.W. Smith.
Andy Dalton knew he wanted a career in sales, but wasn’t clear on what he wanted to sell. After stints selling mobile homes and cell phones, a friend convinced him to give restaurant equipment sales a shot.
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.
