Product quality and local service are the essential ingredients for customer satisfaction.
Pentair sets the benchmark for water quality with its treatment, filtration and RO systems. Its foodservice division saw double digit growth in 2022 but Sales Director Karla Van Ryckeghem is not complacent. She believes customer satisfaction and loyalty needs to be earned and retained every day. And that requires a team dedicated to delivering outstanding service and focussed on what it does best.
“As I reflect on the last twelve months, I take heart from the increasing number of new and familiar faces who placed their trust in the Pentair Food Service business,” says Karla. “We have enjoyed steady growth and that is a reflection of our customers’ loyalty to our brands. In particular Everpure, which this year celebrates 90 years on the market, is representative of the value, enduring quality and exceptional service Pentair delivers across Europe and around the world. But that growth is also testament to an outstanding team who truly understand our customers’ needs.” Against a difficult trading climate, sales of Everpure treatment and filtration products for coffee and point-of-use water dispensing have been strong and Karla expects those upward trends to continue in the year ahead.
Strong growth in coffee water treatment and point-of-use water dispensers
“For the coffee business, Pentair has a solution for every water issue, every application and every budget,” continues Karla. “The better the water, the better the coffee, and for many, water is the point of difference in the drink they serve. Whether it is Everpure Cartridges, Claris Cartridges or our industry-leading range of reverse osmosis solutions, our customers recognise Pentair as setting the gold standard for water treatment.
“Meanwhile the sales growth we have seen in filtration for point-of-use water dispensers reflects not just a consumer demand for healthier, purer water, but a societal rejection of single use plastic bottles on environmental and economic grounds. Again, the Everpure Precoat and FC families of filtration cartridges lead the market and sit inside many of the leading water dispenser brands.
Knowledge, experience and dedication
Long-standing Pentair customers recognise that the company has always been more than ‘just a manufacturer of water treatment products’, especially in Europe. Pentair has a stated vision to build its business through empowering its employees to deliver the best for their customers. Karla explains more, “While customers receive quality in our products, through our employees they get knowledge, experience and dedication at every interaction. Our customers also ‘feel’ the difference of dealing with a cross-functioning European team, who are working together to ensure their water is the best it can possibly be.”
“That personal touch will be invaluable as we ramp up our Total Water Management (TWM) offer. With Total Water Management we will be offering a turnkey service to those customers who trust us with the control of every aspect of the water in their business – from water analysis before it enters the building, the selection of the right products for each application, its treatment specification, its installation and the subsequent maintenance plan. TWM covers all catering equipment categories that use water, and provides owners of bars, restaurants and hotels peace of mind while allowing them to focus on their core business. TWM is managed by a team of Pentair experts who are in turn supported by a network of proven, trusted service providers.”
Pentair.
The water treatment partner you can trust
“This time last year I spoke about the resilience of our industry as it recovered from the enforced lockdowns across Europe,” recalls Karla. “Now there are inflationary pressures impacting consumer spending, but I am confident that our customers will show resilience again. Just as before, at Pentair we will do everything we can to support them, not just with quality products but with a responsive, dependable and local service, wherever in Europe they may be based. Furthermore during 2022 our commitment to serve the foodservice industry was further evidenced by the acquisition of Manitowoc combining two category-leading brands; Everpure for water treatment and Manitowoc for ice machines. We look forward to an exciting 2023.”
