Last month, golf fans around the world found themselves glued to their television screens or personal devices, soaking up the majestic beauty of the Masters Tournament, which takes place in Augusta, Ga.
It’s an event that evokes nostalgia, given the historically challenging course on which it is played, the eye-catching surroundings and the event’s many traditions. These elements often lead people to describe the annual event as “a tradition unlike any other.”
FE&S has something similar with its annual Dealer of the Year Award. During my nearly two decades with the magazine, I’ve had the opportunity to visit past winners’ facilities and am often struck by the reverence with which they treat this time-honored form of recognition that celebrates foodservice equipment and supplies dealers — not only for what they do but also for how they do it.
It comes as no coincidence that for the fourth time in 41 years, FE&S is recognizing Wasserstrom as Dealer of the Year (page 26). Wasserstrom is now 122 years old, and over the course of the company’s history, there have been only two constants: change and the Wasserstrom family. Company leaders like Brad Wasserstrom and Eric Wasserstrom rely on its history of dealing with major moments like Prohibition and the two world wars to understand how to deal with modern challenges. In applying those lessons, Wasserstrom remains flexible, future-oriented and customer-centric.
The company is system driven, process driven and data driven, yet Wasserstrom understands you win with people first. Technology is a key instrument in the Wasserstrom employees’ toolbox, one that helps the dealer’s frontline personnel add value and sit on the same side of the table as its customers. By the same token, the company has a well-crafted reputation for being honest and up-front with its supply chain partners. Issues arise, and sometimes vendors may not like the message, but the company is always open and honest, vendors tell me.
We live in a day where social media is flooded with tons of “remember this?” posts about legacy retail brands that are no longer in business for various reasons. Closer to home in the foodservice industry, many generational businesses are forced to make difficult decisions about their futures as they try to gain scale or find the next generation of leaders to drive the company forward. Wasserstrom remains a steady and evolving force whose presence continues to raise the industry’s overall level of professionalism.
It takes vision, commitment and collaboration to make all of this happen. Another example of those three attributes coming together to create best-in-class results is the Tony & Libba Rane Culinary Science Center at Auburn University, recipient of the FE&S 2024 Facility Design Project of the Year Award (page 48). The project team put in a lot of time and effort studying and researching its options, and it shows by how successfully the facility met its objectives.
Achieving such results is not as easy as Wasserstrom or the project team for the Rane Center at Auburn University make it appear.
