Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/128820
AutoQuotes by the Numbers A close inspection of the stats is a valid indicator of how much information passes through the channel on a daily basis, how many times a project iterates and is rendered at different levels, and how much effort is necessary in the channel for a kitchen to move from schematic design to final completion. By CEO Ken t Motes, km otes@ aqn et.com utoQuotes started in 1990 as a pricing tool for foodservice equipment dealers. In those days, every FEDA dealer's office had a wall full of printed catalogs, a six-foot-long alphabetically sorted loaf of printed price lists, and a stack of spreadsheets handwritten by pencil: Item No, Qty, Mfr, Model, Spec, Markup, Sell, List, Discount, Net. … Next to the rack was a monthly flyer of price list dates called the "Info Expeditor." Most of us have been in the industry long enough to appreciate the convenience that comes with technology. At least that was the thinking behind A 1 0 FEDA New s & View s AutoQuotes more than 20 years ago. It was our idea that a PC with a hard disk, a keyboard, a monitor, and a multivendor database was a way to simplify the tedious and exacting tasks of dealer quoting. Today AutoQuotes has 25,000 subscribers throughout the distribution channel: consultants, dealers, reps, and manufacturers. Ten percent of subscribers are international and represent the UK, Canada, Mexico, and 25 other foreign countries. In the UK version, CaterQuotes, pricing is in £'s, dimensions are metric, and specs are written in the British foodservice dialect. AutoQuotes is also available in the Spanish language. FEDA members make up 55 percent of all AutoQuotes subscribers and 98 percent of the Association's membership subscribes. So it goes without saying that we are dedicated exclusively to developing tools and distributing content to the foodservice equipment and supplies industry and the relationship to FEDA continues to be fundamental and progressive.