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44 • FOODSERVICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES • MAY 2015 worked. Weaver quickly branched out into other areas and within three years was heading the department. When Weaver started with the company there were seven people in the purchasing department, including Fred Clark. While she and Fred Clark remain in purchasing, today that department has 65-plus people, with another 8 to 10 college students set to join the company after graduation this spring. "Fred loves purchasing and will always be involved in purchasing, and he's pretty savvy when it comes to that," she says. To help accommodate the company's growth Clark Associates is constructing a new 22,000-square-foot facility on the site of its Lancaster head- quarters. This will bring the purchasing department to one campus — right now it is spread out over three different locations. "We operate as one company and we operate as one unit. Our company has three main channels of distribution, and as buyers we are responsible for buying, pricing and picking the items that are sold in each of those channels," Weaver says. "So we have to understand each channel's service level and the per- sonality of the customer buying whether it be from the website, in the stores or through the traditional distribution model." Sales growth, gross proft dollars and inventory investment represent three key metrics Weaver uses to measure the progress of her part of the business. "The pricing is different within each channel, but not too far off from each other because all channels need to remain competitive," Weaver says. "Pricing is transparent these days. Thanks to the internet we are able to see competitor fyers, web pricing and even shelf prices online." Another strong example of how centralized business services can help the company thrive is the IT depart- ment, led by Charlie Garber, chief information offcer. Nine years ago, while studying computer science at Millersville Uni- versity, Garber saw an ad that said Clark Associates was looking for someone to work in the areas of developer and IT help desk. "I already had four part-time jobs at that point and thought why not give this a try? I liked it so much that I quit my other jobs and started here full time," Garber says. "Foodservice was never on my radar. I never worked in a restaurant. For me it was all program- ming. I thought I could make anything work online and it turns out we can sell restaurant supplies that way." When Garber started with Clark, the IT team had all of three members. And the company employed one web designer, who worked in print. Today, Clark Associates has a separate team that handles print projects and the IT The relationship Clark Food Service Equipment has with its customers ranges from a negotiated one that takes the form of an account manager regularly calling on an operator customer to determine their smallwares needs to a turnkey, architectural relationship that helps a customer design and build a new foodservice operation. Still, technology plays an important role in its success. "We use the best of technology to get the best of the relationship, now and in the future," says Gene Clark, president of Clark Food Service Equipment (middle).