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Photo by Frank Aymami
T H R E E - T I M E H O N O R E E
Loubat
Equipment Co.
Nature of business: food service equipment and supplies
Where based: New Orleans
Employees: 19
Average starting salary: $21,000
Median salary: $30,000
Average employment time: five years
Benefits: health care with 60 percent coverage, dental, vision
and prescription plans, 401(k) with 6 percent match, day care
options, employee recognition program
Wait time for benefits: three months
Paid days off: 27
Web site: www.loubat.com
From left: Loubat Equpiment Co. employees Aimee Sandrock from purchasing and Erin English and Felicia Fernandez from sales prepare
a faux feast.
Felicia Fernandez likes selling the practical
and trendy kitchenware Loubat Equipment
Co. offers.
But what she finds most satisfying is talking
to her customers, many of whom come
through the doors of Loubat’s showroom at
4141 Bienville St. on a regular basis.
“They give us feedback,” said Fernandez of
Loubat’s loyal clientele. “I can ask, ‘How did that
under-counter refrigerator work for you?’ and I’ll
know right away whether we hit the target.”
In return, chefs and restaurateurs who regularly
congregate in Loubat’s showroom are
constantly prodding the staff for information
and details on the latest commercial kitchen
products.
“Maybe they saw something when they
were on a trip to New York. They don’t know the
exact name and can only describe it, and then
we research what it is they are looking for,” said
Fernandez. “It’s an exciting process, especially
when you find exactly what they want.”
And getting to know customers makes the job
more enjoyable on a social level, employees say.
“We have a good customer base,” said Judy
Watterman, sales manager with Loubat, who
has been in the food service industry for more
than three decades. “They can be chefs, purchasing
agents, people from schools and hospitals
— basically anybody who is from a facility
that serves a food product.”
“And because this is such a specialty business,
we really get to know our customers,”
Watterman said. “It isn’t like a more typical
retail operation where it is one customer after
another. This is more a situation where you get
to know the customer as a person. And I think
that very much adds to the environment that
we have here.”
“We are always busy here,” said David
Ybarzabal, Loubat warehouse manager, who
points out that those showroom conversations
lead to orders his department fills. “It’s fun
because the idea always is: If we don’t have it,
we will get it for you,” he said.
“I like those kinds of challenges,” said
Ybarzabal, who works with a staff of four. “We
have things coming in and going out all of the
time, and that keeps us hopping, which is good.”
But beyond the business of the day, Ybarzabal
also appreciates Loubat because “they treat you
like an individual. You are not just an employee
here. We have good benefits and get a paid holiday
for our birthdays. And several times a year
they even treat us to lunch,” he said.
Massages and snowball days, Halloween
costume parties, a $250 employee finder’s fee
and door prizes at company meetings are a few
of the extra bonuses designed to boost morale
throughout the year.
“Those are the kind of things that make you
feel like they care about you, and that means a
lot,” Ybarzabal said.•
— Garry Boulard
December 14, 2009 63