Vending Market Watch Report

Industry pulls together to help Hurricane Katrina victims
Vending and OCS operators and suppliers serving the Gulf States shared the grief and loss, both material and psychological, from Hurricane Katrina in late August and early September. Two weeks later, many businesses were still trying to track down the whereabouts of some employees. Businesses in all but the most severely affected areas were up and running, but face a long road to recovery.

Automatic Merchandiser attempted to contact operators and suppliers in the affected regions. By the end of the second week following the storm, many companies in the affected regions still did not have working telephones.

The only positive aspect of the tragedy was the outpouring of support given to people in the industry from their colleagues and, in many cases, even competitors.

Vending and OCS operators nationwide joined many of their suppliers in trying to help hurricane victims recover by donating food, beverages, money and supplies.

A.J. Palermo, owner of Long Leaf Canteen in New Orleans, La., was able to get ahold of most of his employees the week the hurricane struck. He attempted to contact New Orleans-area customers to see if he could service them from his Houma, La. location.

Displaced from his own home, Palermo was living with Chuck McMath, owner of M&M Sales, a Canteen franchise in Lafayette, La.

The Standard Companies Inc., one of the nation’s largest OCS companies, had a disaster plan in place and relocated its operating headquarters from New Orleans to a temporary facility in Dallas, Texas. Anthony Gregorio, president and CEO, said the company was maintaining its service to customers nationwide, and that only a handful of routes in the affected areas were disrupted.

After one week, all of Standard Companies’ routes were back to normal except for those in New Orleans. Gregorio said that some inventory for routes in affected areas was reallocated.

Gregorio said a transition team went into action setting up the new facility the weekend before the storm actually struck New Orleans. Over the course of the week the storm battered New Orleans, the entire Standard Companies headquarters staff relocated to the Dallas facility, which Gregorio said is the size of two Wal-Mart stores.

Standard Companies employees are currently staying in temporary housing facilities, he said, and the company is making use of production facilities outside of New Orleans. Distribution and repair operations were relocated to a facility in Lubbock, Texas. The company has accounted for almost all of its employees, he said, and none were seriously injured at this writing.

As for the company’s New Orleans facility, Gregorio said reports indicate the building has not been seriously damaged, but he is not sure when it will become operational.

Gregorio said many friends in the industry, including competitors, reached out to help the company.

Community Coffee Co., a roaster and OCS provider based in Baton Rouge, La., did not suffer damage to its facility. The company attempted to contact all its customers and notified them that its routes were fully functioning.

All three nationals, Aramark, Canteen and Sodexho, worked to make sure employees were accounted for.

Sodexho, which had 30 locations and nearly 1,400 employees in the affected regions, went as far as hand delivering paychecks and wiring money to employees. Funds were made available to cover temporary housing, damage to primary residences, replacement of personal effects, and temporary transportation.

Aramark worked to ensure the safety of its employees, customers and communities. Since evacuees began arriving in Houston, Texas from the Gulf Coast areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, Aramark served meals to as many as 26,000 evacuees seeking shelter at Reliant Park, which includes the Reliant Astrodome, Reliant Arena and