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46 • FOODSERVICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES • MAY 2015 department has grown to more than 100 people and counting. "It is amaz- ing how hard it is to get top talent for systems, designers, programmers. They are in demand," Garber says. "So the future here is training more managers and getting more top talent." For most dealerships, the IT depart- ment focuses on making sure the com- pany's email system works properly, and that the accounting systems and maybe even the website stay up and running. For Garber and the IT team at Clark Associ- ates, that's just the beginning. This group works with the other divisions to provide some of the technological support neces- sary to facilitate better customer experi- ences and communication among team members — all of which lead to growth and make the company more effcient. "What the individual businesses want to accomplish in the technology arena, they work with me on," Garber says. "We have a huge team that can be moved from one division to another. We don't just have Webstau- rantStore programmers; we have programmers. Some will work on the WebstaurantStore system. Some will work on our internal systems, Clark Pro, etc." And like all of the other divisions within Clark Associates, the IT depart- ment embraces that spirit of continuous evolution and improvement. "We have a lot of things coming up that will be pret- ty impressive," Garber says. "We give all of our programmers experimental time like Google does and it's really branched out into some areas that we did not expect. So it is going to be interesting to see how our customers respond. Across all of our channels we have so many users that we get so much feedback in a couple days that we know pretty quickly if something is going to work." Technology Forward The company's technology-forward stance ties to its relentless pursuit of effciency. "We are trying to automate and remove man hours," Gene Clark says. "Doing so removes cost from the system and allows us to provide real value. We are an innovative force because we are always looking at things differently." In fact the company's willingness to embrace technology provides a competi- tive edge in a tight, price sensitive market. "I have always been about driving eff- ciencies, and technology helps with that," Fred Clark says. "Effciencies lower costs and the more you lower costs the more competitive you are in the marketplace." The company is not afraid to develop its own custom solutions to meet the unique needs of such a diverse enterprise. "You can build something that could replace fve or six employees and those sort of effciencies give us an advantage," Garber says. "Ever since I started here Fred has been technology Just because it is a cash-and-carry model does not mean The Restaurant Store does not rely on relation- ships to drive its business forward. Steve Leaman (left), vice president of The Restaurant Store, says customers look to leverage the insights of longtime employees such as Walt Montgomery.