MEMBER SPOTLIGHT FACTORY: Richard Packer, American Metalcraft, Inc - Aug/Sept 2024
Meet Richard Packer, American Metalcraft, Inc:
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MAFSI Member Spotlight profiles individual members, and their lives outside of commercial foodservice.
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Name: Richard Packer
Company: American Metalcraft, Inc
Title: President & CEO
Years in "The Biz": 29 years
Interviewed by: James Mincks, Principal, Kelly-Mincks
In our interview with Richard Packer from American Metalcraft, he shares some personal favorites and industry insights. His top non-work activity is vacationing with his wife at the Waldorf Astoria Resort in Cabo San Lucas. His guilty pleasure? Pretzel Rods dipped in Mertk's Cheese from Wisconsin. Want to know more? Read on.
- What's your favorite non-work activity, and why? (update all questions)
Going to Cabo San Lucas with my wife. There’s a place called the Waldorf Astoria Resort at Pedregal where they built a tunnel through a mountain to get straight to the resort. It’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen. It's just one of those bucket list ones that you can't afford it all the time. We try and go there at least once or twice a year. - Guilty Pleasure: What can you not live without? (e.g, Reality TV, specific junk foods, 80’s hair bands, etc.)
It's gotta be pretzels. It's disturbing that it's pretzels, but lately, it's been pretzel rods. If I’m really feeling a little weird, then I get a tub of Mertk's Cheese that comes out of Wisconsin, and I just start dipping it into that. It's probably not good for me, But I'm not a sweet person. I'm a salt person. - If you could eat anywhere for your next meal, where would it be and why?
In New Orleans at a place called The Gumbo Shop. They have the best jambalaya and the best gumbo you ever had. My parents used to have a timeshare there, so it reminds me of them. - What’s one piece of advice you have for a young person in the industry?
It’s ok to ask and not sit back and wait. Fight for everything. Everything that's happened to me in my career is because I fought for it or because I asked for it. It's like, can I do that moving forward? Every little job increase I've had when I started at American Metal Craft 29 years ago as their sales manager, every step from there was, “You don't like signing checks?” I'll sign checks. I can do that. Is that alright? Can I handle that? Sure. Okay. Can I do that? Okay. I'll do that. Union contract. I'll do the union contract.
You build your reputation. If you don't ask for it, they're just gonna keep doing how they've done it. But you just need to be aggressive, assertive, and responsible. - What is your favorite foodservice trend that you see right now?
This widening up of the world. When my kids come home, they don’t ask for a steak. They talk about a new Zimbabwe restaurant that is really good. Or let’s have Indian or Jamaican tonight. Growing up in a small town in Central Illinois, we didn't have that. It was Lum's, Hardee's, or some of these old chains that don't exist anymore, and it was always the same thing. Now, it's just like the world's your oyster. - What’s your favorite part of being a MAFSI member?
We are tried and true MAFSI supporters. We don’t change our representatives very often. We stick with the representation and MAFSI helps support that path. It's a unique thing about our company how long my sales team has been with us. I think the newest person is 7 years right now. The longest one is 16 years. I've got reps that have been with us for 30 years. I've got some reps that have been with us in the twenties. We like to find people that fit in with our family, and MAFSI's helped us do that.
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