Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/66147
The President's Message Size Doesn't Matter A s Ray Herrick and I prepared for my termas FEDA President,one of the topics we talked about is the makeup of FEDA's membership. There are more than 287 members in FEDA ranging from small to large, with the average size being about $12 million. Our members are located in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Canada. Our focus emphasize the value FEDA members bring to the foodservice industry. The other side of education is the Brad Wasserstrom, President The Wasserstrom Co. BradW@wasserstrom.com ranges from institutional work to public bidding, high-end independent concepts to national chains and retail stores. There really are no two FEDA dealers alike. However, my goals as FEDA President aremore focused on what we have in common, the issues we all face, and what we can do to improve the state of our industry and our businesses. Perhaps the most important role of My goals as FEDA President are more focused on what we have in common, the issues we all face and what we can do to improve the state of our industry. Association's role in providing educa- tional opportunities for FEDA members to not only learn but also share ideas in order to improve the profitability of our dealerships.Ensuring our employees are well trained and have the proper tools to provide quality and professional advice, products and services, is in the best interest of all foodservice dealers and will also remain a key item in the FEDA mis- sion. Two new areas we will get involved in are social media and the recognition of foodser- vice manufacturers that FEDA and its leadership is advocacy. FEDA must continue to be the voice of ourmembershipwhen it comes to chan- nel issues (such asmanufacturers selling on a direct basis); legislative matters (including the interior design industry's push for regulation); and the setting of industry standards (for example new technologies like REVIT). Collectively our voice is stronger than that of any sin- gular voice and that is why advocacy will remain a key tenet of FEDA's mis- sion. Closely tied to advocacy is education. We must educate our channel partners, legislators and other foodservice stake- holders in howchannel issues can affect the dealer community as well as the industry at large.We must take the lead inmaking sure the dealermodel is taken into account in key channel debates and 4 FEDA News & Views are the best at supporting dealer-based distribution.The details on both of these initiatives are yet to be worked out. However,we have formed a committee (that will be led by Joe Schmitt) to look into social media; particularly how to use it to better serve,communicatewith and engage themembership.The details regarding the manufacturer recognition initiative will be finalized in the coming months, culminating at the FEDA Executive Retreat this fall. There is a lot ofwork ahead for FEDA. However, we have a great staff, led by our wonderful Executive Vice President, Ray Herrick, an energetic Executive Committee and a Board of Directorsmade up of some of the finest continued on page 36