E-mail Article
Print Article
One thing that strikes you when you visit the headquarters of Sterling Services Inc. in Canton, Mich. is that the company has class. The building may be in an industrial park, but the interior is classy. The rooms are furnished with stylish, contemporary furniture, everything is neat, and the walls are adorned with prints by the famous photographer Ansel Adams, Picasso and others.
It's the type of environment you would expect from a company that caters to customers that want a high class service. And that's the message that owners Ray Friedrich and Chris Peppo want to convey.
Businesses today want top value for their money, and Friedrich and Peppo aim to provide it. Sterling Services, founded in 1986 when the partners were nearly fresh out of high school, offers state-of-the-art vending, contract foodservice, catering and an unattended convenience store called "Fast Track Convenience."
Building a successful vending/foodservice operation in Greater Detroit is no small accomplishment, given the high caliber competition and the struggling local economy.
A veteran vending operator might have advised Friedrich and Peppo to try their luck elsewhere when they decided to get into vending, but the youthful duo simply didn't know any better. They were merely following their hearts' desires.
Beginning at the bottom positions in foodservice
Upon graduation from high school, both men worked in restaurants. They loved the restaurant business and wanted to go into business for themselves. They didn't have a lot of capital, so they kept a close watch for any and every opportunity to get into foodservice. When a new hotel opened in one of the suburbs, they approached the general manager and asked if they could do the hotel's catering.
They didn't get the catering gig, but when they were visiting the hotel, they noticed a proposal from a vending company to lease vending machines. They thought the company was charging a hefty price for the machines, and told the manager they were sure they could do a better job.