Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/42495
The President's Message What Do MAP, Deli Meat and Rebates Have in Common? not a new concept, it just didn't creep into my regular vocabulary until the issues began visibly hitting us in the pocketbook. Little did I know what an impact Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) would have on our industry. Now I know that MAP and MRP poli- U Jim Hanson, President Best Restaurant Equipment & Design, Inc. jhanson@bestrestaurant.com cies are a bit controversial, and I've heard both sides of the a r g ument fo r and against it. As one who believes in a "free mar- ket" economy, I have to say that I think most dealers (mainly those of us whose main business is NOT Internet-based) agree with and support manufacturerswho have a good MAP and/or MRP policy. But we have to also understand that the real intent and legality of the policies, is for the protection of the good name and reputation of the manu- facturer and their product. It's NOT to protect dealers really; that just happens to be a side benefit. I think youwill find that the subject is amply covered in this issue of News & Views, so I'll cover another touchy sub- ject, namely the decades-long question of "Who is the Customer?"Well, some- times you come up with answers in the dandiest places, like the golf course. I was at a chain's golf outing event earli- er this summer and, as the groupings sometimes pan out, someone didn't show up, so our foursome became a threesome. The players were an inde- pendent rep, a factory vice president of sales, and me. As we were getting to the first hole, I 4 FEDA News & Views p until just a few short years ago, I thought MAP was just something I got when I rented a car.While it is heard the vice president say to the rep, "Well,with just the three of us,we'll get an extra shot and, hey, no customers to contend with so we can relax." Really? (So I guess there's no question about it any more,we dealers are officially con- sidered chopped liver.) Not that I mind somuch being consid- As one who believes in a "free market" economy, I have to say that I think most dealers (mainly those of us whose main business is NOT Internet- based) agree with and support manufacturers who have a good MAP and/or MRP policy. ered deli meat, but what amazes me is how some,at the factory level,conceive that things get done in the field. It's almost as i f they bel ieve that once they've built a bridge to the "end user" and opened the line of communication, the right products materi- alize at the end user's restaurant , hooks itself up to the right mechanical connec- tions and is ready to go. After 35 years in this business, while I realize many things have changed, I can tell you with certainty that the services dealers provide are as essential today as theywerewhen I started.Unfortunately, I believe that it's this lack of under- standing of the value that dealers bring to the table that drives many problems in our chain of distribution. One of themanifestations of this"lack of understanding" is when a factory allows an end user to dictate that the dealer's revenue agreement, namely "rebates," can be negated by another continued on page 36