ABC Honors Top Suppliers

Eleven manufacturers and three individuals were honored last month at Allied Buying Corp.’s 2017 Fall Conference in Rosemont, Ill.

The annual Supplier of the Year Awards honoring extraordinary contributions to the group were determined through rankings by ABC and its dealers in the areas of sales growth, market penetration and profitability as well as the quality of their products; sales managers, manufacturer reps, and customer service staff; and service levels.

The Vollrath Co. received the Tom Wilhelm Distinguished Supplier of the Year Award as the group’s top overall supplier.

Ten manufacturers were honored as ABC’s Suppliers of the Year:

Smallwares: Cambro Mfg. (Runner Up: Dexter Russell/Chef Revival)

Tabletop: Libbey Foodservice (Runner Up: Churchill)

Table Service/Buffet: American Metalcraft (Runner Up: Tablecraft Products)

Light Equipment & Furnishings: Nemco Food Equipment (Runner Up: Vitamix)

Heavy Equipment: Lakeside Mfg. (Runner Up: Intermetro Industries)

A new award for Outstanding Sales Team was presented to Tablecraft’s Tiffany Hughes, Sandy Hoyt, David Burnside, Corki Van Wagnen, Paula O’Connell, Jeff Tait, above with ABC’s Tom Venetis

Karen Pierce of Libbey Foodservice was once again named Supplier Sales Executive of the Year, an award based on excellence in the areas of professionalism, knowledge of product line, problem solving ability, and timely response to customers. ABC’s David Ellingson and Tom Venetis presented the award to Pierce.

As this was her sixth consecutive win, ABC created a one-time Hall of Fame award for her; other sales executives now have a chance to win the award that Pierce has dominated.

And finally, Supplier Retirement Awards were given to Dick Blatchford, retiring Sales Manager of Homer Laughlin China, and Bill O’Donoghue, retiring V.P.-Foodservice Sales from Intermetro.