March/April 2018 25
By Stacy Ward, Editor in Chief
stacy@feda.com
COMING FROM
A PLACE OF
"YES"
When you start here,
everyone has a greater
chance of walking away
with a win, says Central
Restaurant Products'
Chief Marketing Officer
Keith Kidwell.
THE LEGACY COMPANIES' TERESA ASBURY (LEFT) AND CENTRAL RESTAURANT PRODUCTS' ELIZABETH PRICE SAY THEY ARE FOCUSED
ON BUILDING SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIPS, NOT THE NEXT TRANSACTION.
W
hen asked about the complexities of the distributor-
manufacturer relationship, and occasional claims that the
concept of win-win is dead, Central Restaurant Products'
Elizabeth Price is surprisingly candid about where her company used to
fall on the subject and how its perspective has evolved. "The old Central
was much more about arriving at a winning outcome for Central," she
says. " Years ago, if a manufacturer would have come to us and said, 'We
really believe in this product and we'd like you to stock it,' we probably
would have said, 'Well, we'll have to see some sort of sales on it before
making a commitment. We can't take the risk.'"
Now, the focus is much more long-term, less transactional and driven
by a willingness to work outside the lines, with the intent of walking away
with some version of a win for both the distributor and the manufacturer.
"We're really working to understand our manufacturers because we want to
build sustainable relationships," says Price, the distributor's vice president
of merchandising. "If one of our partners feels strongly about something and
