Mark Resnick is serious about selling high quality supermarket equipment. And after building his own ice processing and distribution business in Richmond, VA – City Ice –nearly 30 years ago, he’s returned to the family business that his older brother Bill Resnick founded more than 40 years ago.
That business, Resnick Supermarket Equipment, (RES) is now part of the Resnick Group, and is owned and run by Bill’s son, Daniel “Butch” Resnick, and his partner Rick Swift. From an industry perspective, the company consists of a remanufacturing division (RES), a steel fabricating organization (Sullivan Fabrication) and a sales and distribution arm – Supermarket Parts Warehouse (SMPW). It is the latter company for which Mark Resnick serves as chief operating officer.
Since all three firms are located close to each other in Sullivan County, NY in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, the companies together create a seamless organization that caters to virtually all the equipment demands of its customers.
Mark Resnick’s return to the company was not only an opportunity for the food industry entrepreneur to expand the reach and visibility of SMPW, but also to promote the company’s new core brand, “Real Steel™,” a line of customized shelving designed for supermarkets and convenience stores that Resnick claims can carry 20 percent more weight than today’s conventional shelving and last longer than the OEM products.
“This is not an exotic business,” Resnick stated at his office in Woodridge, NY. “We’ve got thousands of SKUs – door gaskets & door parts, defrost heaters, wire shelving, fan motors and blades – in our warehouse and can service supermarket retailers nationally, but our point of separation besides being the only company to cater to the supermarket/grocery industry is our trademarked ‘Real Steel’ line of case shelving. The concept was to design and build shelves like they were made 20 years ago by using more steel in our shelf production and by also adding a heavier powder coating to the product which also gives Real Steel greater shelf life. We’re also using heavier gauge steel which we laser cut for greater bracket support and add extra struts for stronger under shelf support.”
In essence, SMPW is offering its customers an opportunity to replace their existing shelving from leading manufacturers such as Hussmann, Hill Phoenix, Kysor Warren, Tyler and Zero Zone with SMPW’s “Real Steel” line that he claims in many cases surpasses the quality of those traditional equipment brands at competitive prices with a much shorter wait time than what has been seen as industry normal.
“This remains a family operation, so our ‘speed to shelf’ remains a priority. One of the things that has made the entire Resnick organization successful is our attention to customer service. We’ve been involved in the supermarket business virtually all of our lives and know our products and customers well. If we receive an order by 10 am and that item is in stock, it will be shipped by the end of that same day. If we need to manufacture a part, it will likely be shipped within two weeks,” Resnick noted.
Currently, about 15 sales and administrative employees work at Supermarket Parts Warehouse, part of a team of more than 100 associates who are employed by the entire Resnick organization. Along with its direct sales capabilities, the company utilizes about a dozen independent equipment reps nationally.
“When I returned to the family business in 2018, I created a list of ‘need to do’ items that I thought were important to grow the company. We needed a new catalog, a more creative marketing approach; we created and needed to promote the ‘Real Steel’ brand aggressively; we needed to improve our packaging; we needed to increase our inventory by 50 percent, and we needed to upgrade our technology including our website,” Resnick proclaimed. “We’ve checked off a number of items on that list and all those goals will have been met by the end of this year. We’re positioned well for the future and I firmly believe we can provide a difference to retailers looking for quality products at affordable prices with excellent customer service from a company that been devoted to the supermarket industry for more than 40 years.”