December 2021 - 22

T E AMS
EVEREST ICE
AND WATER
SYSTEMS
Team leader: Ben Gaskill,
Director of Sales
Team members: Dan
Doromal, Director of
Operations; Gilbert Ramirez Jr, Marketing Manager;
Chris Beech, Service Manager; Jon Black, Operations
Manager; Jordan Flores, Account Manager
Everest Ice and Water Systems is a small but
mighty team that has been pushing on constantly
doubling their sales year after year, succeeding and
expanding upon that. This year, while so many other businesses
are having an issue keeping afloat, Florida-based
Everest Ice and Water has seen business rise in sales by
over 112% with its three-year growth rising to 218%. With
this success, the team has been able to get Everest Ice and
Waters systems on the Inc 5000 for 2021.
There have been a variety of initiatives the team has
taken this last year to combat the challenges that have
come up. There have been new programs in place to keep
account of what supplies are in stock, when they must be
ordered to not have any shipping issues, as well as more
clear and consistent communication between department
heads. This has led to a drastic reduction of over 65% in
shipping times with smaller windows of having a product
out of stock for manufacturing. The teams have been constantly
sourcing new vendors for their products, focusing
on more local vendors so that there is less of an issue for
delays in shipping of products. They have forged dozens
of new partnerships, and this has allowed the company
to lower the cost of purchasing by almost 15%, which is
typically unheard of.
FEDERAL
MACHINE
Team leader:
Kristen Miller,
Senior Distribution Support Specialist
Team members: Jennifer Cogdill, Lead Distribution
Support Specialist; Opal Hobbs, Distribution Support
Specialist; Emily Mehlin, Distribution Support Specialist;
Margaret Antenucci, Distribution Support Specialist
The Federal Machine distribution support team overcame
a myriad of challenges throughout the year including
the downsizing environment of the in-person workforce,
vendor displacement from long attained locations and
22 Automatic Merchandiser * December 2021
FIXTURELITE
Team leaders: Steve Orlando,
Cofounder and President, and
Troy Geis, Cofounder and Chief
Executive
The Fixturelite team has
led the industry in turning
spaces into places that people want to be; places they
can use to escape from their work environments and call
their own during break and meal times. The team consists
of graphics, design and space planning experts, logistics
professionals, manufacturing craftspeople and customer
success enthusiasts who bring products and solutions
together to create customer experiences that exceed
expectations and assist with improving employee morale
and greater employee retention and recruitment.
The team has grown their logistics, product merchandising,
graphic arts and graphic design teams, and put
consumer experience and culture captains in place to help
the operator see the revenue and customer loyalty opportunity
in creating better spaces. Orlando and Geis share
best practices and knowledge about what has worked well
and what hasn't in their 10 years of experience as operators
and nearly seven years in their Fixturelite leadership
roles. The Fixturelite team continues to be focused on the
customer journey and experience. They go beyond micro
market fixtures by providing the tools and resources
necessary for an excellent first impression on day one of a
micro market grand opening.
Orlando and Geis not only put their dedication into
their company, but they also participate in moving the
industry forward as speakers for the NAMA Show, CTW
and the Aramark National Accounts Team Conference.
offering equipment innovations to overcome bacterial
and virus spread in the breakroom. Over the last two
years, a lot was required to change the process of lead
generation. There were many phone meetings and less
face-to-face meetings, however, this team showed up
every day, and made hundreds of calls each day, working
with distributors, vending operators, and locations
to make changes to improve the breakroom service of
locations. Through their efforts, more than 600 locations
improved services and 450 operators were served a better
situation than during the pandemic. The goal over the
past two years was to help those that needed it and this
team succeeded in that mission.
December 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2021
