Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/964617
26 FEDA News & Views Serving the Underserved Local has always been the focus for Chefs' Toys, starting with its business hubs. According to Krepistman, that's what the dealership's seven locations and new distribution center are, strategically-located nerve centers of activity targeting underserved pockets in the densely-populated Southern California market. "We don't really think of our business as a typical cash-and- carry or retail operation," he says. "As soon as we have a lot of customers calling from an area that is underserved, we open a hub. It's all about trying to make it convenient for our unique market. e traffi c here is so horrendous that when you get into your car, you really have to use your time wisely. ere's nothing that takes place in 10 minutes or 15 minutes; everything is an hour or more. So, part of our thought process is always to off er a complete solution." e decision to acquire the design fi rm Michael Blackman & Associates in 2016 follows that logic, along with Chefs' Toys' investment in rebuilding its website and aggressively pursuing ecommerce sales. For the past year, that's taken precedence over opening another hub. "We are not proclaiming to the world that we're going to be No. 1 in ecommerce; we're focusing on our own backyard," says Krepistman. "We just want our customers, the customers that love Chefs' Toys. ose customers are going online while I'm asleep and buying things. at's what Steve's vision of the hub is about. e best customer is the one that we can drive our truck to and the best Internet customers for us are our own customers." And some of those customers are on Amazon, which is serving as a petri dish of sorts for Chefs' Toys. Every company should have one, says Tim Ogilvie, the best-selling co-author of the book "Designing for Growth" and founder of the consulting fi rm Peer Insight. "As an established business, you've got all these promises you're keeping to your current customers—you have to stay focused on that. But that may not have a future," said Ogilvie in an interview with Co.Design. "So, the question becomes, 'Where, within the company, can you explore heretical questions that could threaten the business as it is—without contaminating what you're doing now?" Dickler and Krepistman haven't come to any conclusions on their go-to-market strategy, but they are dipping a big toe in the water. "We shipped 105 orders today on Amazon, and that was just something we did on the side to try and make some money while we were building the website," says Krepistman, who sees partnering with Amazon as just another common sense move in a series of givens. "It's no secret that if you're an Amazon seller, you have to pay a 12 to 15 percent fee, so if people are buying product on Amazon, they're paying 12 to 15 percent more for it online," he says. "We're Amazon-Prime certifi ed and sometimes our regular customers place their orders on Amazon. We're happy to sell on any platform if it makes them happy." ■ Why Their Customers Love Them: They're from Their World "As a trained chef with a staff of many ex-chefs, we know how to prepare most types of food for individual portions as well as mass feeding. This experience makes us a resource for our customers," says Chefs' Toys' President Steve Dickler before launching into an example. "A very prominent Italian restaurant, who is Mike's [Krepistman] customer, has three locations," he says. "The chef's signature dish is a braised lamb ragout over pasta. It was so popular that he had six rondeaux on the stove in each restaurant, for hours and hours, so he could tenderize the meat. "We called our local rep and arranged for a loaner demo model of a cook-and-hold oven, and helped him set it up at one of his restaurants. After two days of dialing in the recipe, he was able to cook all the lamb overnight for the three locations and then hold it until the next morning. He was so ecstatic. Now his product is more consistent, uses less energy, cooks with no labor, and frees up his precious range space." What Makes Them Successful: Starting from the Bottom Up "Over the years, there are times when I have looked back and said, 'Wow, I'm glad I told that dishwasher not to buy a $90 knife that was going to get stolen, and suggested he buy the $20 knife," says Dickler. "That person is now a corporate chef. "When we walk into a kitchen, we try to help everyone—the dishwasher, the fry cook, or the chef. That's really the secret of our success, building relationships from the bottom up instead of the top down." "IN THE BEGINNING, WE CONCENTRATED ON MAKING THE SHOWROOM AS BIG AS POSSIBLE," SAYS CHEFS' TOYS' PRESIDENT STEVE DICKLER. "IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN YOUR WAREHOUSE, IT SHOULD BE DISPLAYED ON YOUR FLOOR. WHY WOULD YOU HIDE IT IN THE BACK?"