increase 90 days prior to give our reps and dealer customers advanced notice,” Shannon says. “For projects that are expected to ship more than six months out, our reps can add a multiplier to cover a future price increase.”
“The optimist in me believes some parts of the supply chain will become more stable in six months.
— Will Means President
Champion Industries
Although there’s an inherent risk in locking in prices, it’s a valued part of the customer experience. “We are still providing quotes,” Means says, “but we will give guidance that prices are limited to a certain timeframe. This is a major departure for many in our industry who have been used to a long selling cycle with relatively stable pricing.”
Emerging Trends With an eye on the future, some see the struggles of the past year and a half as a prelude to emerging trends in foodservice. “Customers are looking for equipment that saves them labor and helps ensure food safety,” Means says. “These trends were present before the pandemic, but now there is a huge acceleration and urgency to their needs.”
Perlick has launched multiple new commercial bar solutions over the past year that have emphasized operator efficiency and ergonomics to help alleviate bartender fatigue. “With the current labor shortage, which is not expected to change anytime soon, operators need to do more with less,” Shannon says.
Though Maahs believes the demand for smaller batch production will persist as high-volume food production applications such as business and industry continue to rebound, the labor shortage is top of mind in how Alto-Shaam designs products. “Equipment solutions that reduce labor and training or provide a more intuitive operation for
24 FEDA News & Views
less-skilled staff are key for operators today and going forward,” he says.
Moving Forward
A labor shortage, remarkable inflation and unprecedented shipping delays – one of them would be a significant problem on its own, but all three together can be crippling. What needs to happen to move past these hurdles and return to something resembling normalcy?
“There’s no magic pill,” Maahs says. “Material is very expensive because of the supply and demand equation and the logistical issues. There are no containers, ports are overwhelmed and there are no trucks or trailers, which also comes back to the labor shortage. Then there’s the fact that global economies are not as open as we are. It all needs to work itself out and I believe it will, but not this year. It will be into 2022 before these things are smoothed out.”
According to Means, getting back to normal isn’t the end goal. “Once we are in a more stable environment,” he says, “we need to focus on how we can mitigate the impact of major swings in future demand. My hope is that our industry responds by strengthening current partnerships. We can work toward better forecasting and the willingness to carry stock at each stop of the supply chain.”
“The optimist in me believes some parts of the supply chain will become more stable in six months,” he adds. “In discussions with our vendors, who are the largest suppliers in steel and other components, they are letting us know the supply chain disruptions will last into 2022. Thankfully, we are a strong industry and we will rise to this occasion and be better for it.”
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