“The global challenge that all of our customers are facing is rising operating costs, specifically for food, labor and related expenses such as healthcare. What this is doing is putting tremendous pressure on business margins, particularly because most operators have little upward pricing leverage. This means that Singer Equipment has to help our customers reduce their operating costs, as well as sell them the most appropriate products.
“Some of the services we provide include analyzing sales patterns, searching for less-expensive product alternatives, and rationalizing and simplifying procurement. If we can reduce the number of deliveries to a customer by consolidating repeat orders or cut back on the number of different products being bought in a single category, we’ll be able to save those operators money and become an ally in lowering their operating costs.”

“We’ve been seeing sales picking up steam since the end of Q2 2011, we’re up over this time last year and we expect to see positive growth of 5% to 8% by the time we’re in the last quarter of this year. Some of the growth is due to the increase in our product costs, such as for paper goods, which have gone way up this year. We’re also seeing price increases by our equipment manufacturers. The outlook for 2012 is still murky.”

“The issues that concern me most are the debt crises in the U.S. and the Euro zone, and global terrorism. I should add that I’m still sleeping, soundly. Most nights.”

“I’ve had two meals so far in 2012 that stand out as particularly memorable. The first was an anniversary meal that my wife and I shared at Amada in Philadelphia. We love tapas style dining and everything from Jose Garces.
“I had my second great meal recently in Florida, at Zuma Japanese restaurant,  with several close industry colleagues. The menu is filled with interesting contemporary dishes and the concept has branches in London, Hong Kong, Istanbul and Dubai, as well as Miami.”

“What our industry needs most now is closer collaboration between all parties and a commitment to learn more and respond to each other’s problems and needs. That’s the only way we’ll be able to supply operators with the specific products they need to achieve their goals.
“Our problem is the difficulty we all have in trusting each other. We can resolve that best by building personal relationships with our business partners and breaking down barriers of secrecy among our organizations. The struggle for pricing leverage too often costs all of us, because it diminishes the efficiency that comes from coordinated planning. The more we collaborate, the more savings we can deliver, especially on chain restaurant projects where cooperation pays the biggest dividends.”

“I’d like to take my family and visit the great national parks of the American West, so we could share the incredible landscape while camping, biking and hiking.”