During its recent Fall Conference held at the Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare, in Rosemont, IL, Allied Buying Corporation recognized extraordinary contributions to the group with its annual "Supplier of the Year" awards. The criteria employed by ABC dealers in the voting process are tied to quality in the areas of “people” (sales managers, reps, customer service); products and service levels.
ABC introduced a new award, designated the “Tom Wilhelm Distinguished Supplier of the Year” Award. This award is homage to ABC’s retiring Executive Director, Tom Wilhelm. The award is voted on by the ABC membership and given to the top OVERALL supplier. The inaugural award had a first place tie between two outstanding ABC suppliers: The Vollrath Company and Libbey Foodservice.
The Vollrath Company: Dennis Park, Paul Egbert, Paul Bartelt, Marty Patterson
Libbey Foodservice: Karen Pierce, ABC President Marty Monnat
ABC’s Suppliers of the Year for 2013 are:
Smallwares: Spill Stop, Runner Up: Dexter Russell
Tabletop: Diversified Ceramics, Runner Up: Walco
Table Service / Buffet: Service Ideas, Runner Up: American Metalcraft
Light Equipment & Furnishings: Nemco Food Equipment, Runner Up: T & S Brass and Bronze
Heavy Equipment: Continental Refrigeration, Runner Up: Intermetro
L/R Nemco (Light Equipment & Furnishings) Joe Ciecierski, Jason Guilliam, Michele Wibel / Continental Refrigerator (Heavy Equipment) Kevin Brown / Diversified Ceramics (Tabletop) Tony LaPorte; / Spill Stop (Smallwares) Robert Silverstein, Debbie Silverstein / Service Ideas (Table Service/Buffet) Andy Krawczyk, Megan Blohowiak, Christina Brandt.
ABC SALES EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
Dennis Park of The Vollrath Company, and Karen Pierce of Libbey Foodservice were each selected from many outstanding candidates to receive the “Supplier Sales Executive of the Year” award. The selection was based on excellence in the areas of professionalism, knowledge of product line, problem solving ability, and timely response to customer needs. They were each presented with a bronze lion as a symbol of their dominance in the industry jungle.
Karen Pierce, Libbey Foodservice / Dennis Park, The Vollrath Company