...department went the greatest lengths but received the least amount of acknowledgement in helping the company achieve its success over the past year.

If the foodservice equipment and supplies industry had such a designation, it would go to Paramount Chairman David Friedman, FE&S 2005 Hall of Fame inductee. If you have never met or heard of Friedman, you are not alone but there is little doubt that you are familiar with his work for it has touched virtually all corners of the foodservice industry.

David Friedman was born in 1922 in New York City and his family moved to Providence, R.I., two years later. Like many from that era, Friedman began learning the lessons of the business world at a very young age. His father was an auctioneer, liquidator and owner of dry goods stores. As a way of contributing to the family business, a 14-year-old Friedman began making trips to New York City via steamship to buy for his father's stores.

Oddly enough, it was the auction portion of the family business that had a significant impact on Friedman. "In the auction business one learns a lot about why people go out of business," Friedman says. "You hear the same excuses about why it was not their fault and soon learn that people never tell you the whole story. Ninety-nine percent of the time it was not their fault, which was a good first lesson for me as a businessman and is why we are always accountable to our customers.

"There is an old saying out there that goes, 'The one who will put you out of business is your customer,'" Friedman says.

In 1940 at age 18, Friedman quit his job at National Paper Co. and gave in to his entrepreneurial spirit. "I knew a little something about the auction business so I bought a few lots of items and sold them," he recalls. "I made more money doing that than I did in five weeks at National Paper."

At the same time Friedman was testing the entrepreneurial waters, Eli Feingold was struggling to hire and retain a salesperson for Paramount Fountain and Restaurant Supply, a fledging company that distributed whipped cream machines to ice cream fountains in New England. After watching her husband hire nine different salespeople, none of whom stuck with the company for longer than a cup of coffee, Feingold's wife suggested he meet with Friedman, whom she had come to know while the two worked at National Paper.

Feingold hired Friedman in September, paying him $22.50 per week. Friedman was given the farthest flung regions of the company's territory and had to provide his...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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