Jeff Biesold, Vice President of Merlino Foods, Visits JCU
Professor and Director of the JCU Center for Career Services Antonella Salvatore welcomed a special guest to her Made in Italy class, Jeff Biesold, Vice President of Merlino Foods, on February 21st. Merlino Foods was established in Seattle in 1900 by Italian immigrant Angelo Merlino, who aimed at providing a piece of Italian food culture to Italian-Americans.
Today Merlino Foods is owned by the Biesold family and operates as a family restaurant, food-service, and bakery purveyor. Jeff Biesold told students about his company’s mission and the values that enable him to keep the business going.
Merlino Foods presentation
The very first priority for Merlino Foods is 100% order fulfillment and reliability. Merlino Foods does everything possible to fulfill customer requests, including getting items from any corner of the world, and delivering them when and where the customer wants. “By listening to your customers and giving them what they want, you can build a pretty successful business,” says Mr. Biesold. He explained that together with products, Merlino supplies customer service, and these two things should always go hand-in-hand.
Merlino Foods is not just about affordable prices. It is all about getting the best for the customer. Quality is the number one factor for Merlino Foods’ team in selecting products. The company maintains relationships with various foreign producers from whom Merlino Foods can order what its customers need. Mr. Biesold says that his team always has an extremely careful and serious approach to choosing the right partner, as opposed to businesses that put profit and personal interests over quality and decency. Fortunately, Merlino Foods always strives to choose partners that share the company’s values. As Mr. Biesold clearly states, “If we find that a company is not being honest, we immediately discontinue the partnership. We always think about our clients and our company.” Customer trust is the key value for Merlino Foods, and this value motivates everyone in our team to work their best.
(Anastasiia Shmatina)
